... From whom did ‘the church’ originally get the capital and wealth it has used to build up its business enterprises? From the members, paying their tithing. Whether those tithes were paid fifty years ago or five days ago, they have still facilitated the construction of the church’s portfolio of business holdings.
If I sell drugs, and then buy a casino with the profits, and then use the profits from that casino to buy a hotel, is it really straight up for me to say that ‘no tithing money was used for this hotel purchase’? It makes the church look very much like it is playing a shell game. Why not just admit it? Who cares? That would be a lot less lame than pretending tithing had nothing to do with the church's ability to buy malls.
I bet the General Authorities could come out and say, ‘We each get a million a year and take four month vacations in Hawaii because God told us to,’ and you’d have Relief Society women crying with gratitude at the pulpit next fast Sunday, bearing their testimonies about how grateful they are to have a prophet, in ‘these the latter days’ and stuff, and how wonderful it is that they get to rest from their incredible pressures, etc. Tal Bachman, board post ‘The Mormon Shell Game of Tithing Funds’
A Rough Summary of UK Scandal of Morg Tax Relief, Greed and Dirty Tricks:
World criticism and weighty glut of opinion that the Morg is no way worthy of its rich tax relief status or passing the legal test of being for the public good, sees a rump of creeping cases before the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and Charity Commission (who award charitable status). Religion per se might not necessarily past the test of being for the public benefit, and therefore worthy of tax relief status:
The Court of Appeal, academic advice and Charity Commission runs up against a rump of conservative MP opinion (viz Daily Mail 2012):
'So much for Christian charity! Plymouth Brethren lose battle for tax relief because ‘they’re doing no public good’
By Tim Shipman (November 2012)
‘Plymouth Brethren founder John Nelson Darby;
‘MPs are demanding an inquiry into the Charity Commission after the watchdog banned a Christian group from charitable status on the grounds that religion is not always for ‘public benefit’.
‘More than 50 MPs from all the main parties have signed a Commons motion calling on the charity regulator to think again, amid fears that hundreds of religious groups could be stripped of their tax-exempt status, threatening their very existence.
‘They accuse the Charity Commission of ‘politically correct bias’ against faith groups after it ruled that the Preston Down Trust of the Plymouth Brethren Church – which has 16,000 members across Britain – is not entitled to charitable status because it does not do enough good works in the community.’
As reported on this board the Morg enjoy charitable status and tax-exemption here in the UK. The Court of Appeal upheld decisions by the Charity Commission in recent years to question the charitable status of cults (e.g. Plymouth Brethren) and ruled that religions per se may not necessarily be held to be in the public good. The recent ruling in favour of Scientology is certainly a setback, but work continues long-time with the Charity Commission to monitor the cults/corporations masquerading as religions. esias, board post 23rd February 2015, ‘A Rough Summary of UK Scandal of Morg Tax Relief: Greed & Dirty Tricks’
Note: The Mormon Church is more interested in shopping malls and cattle ranches than in helping the poor. By its own admission, the Mormon Church gave $60,000,000 in humanitarian aid last year. It is spending 15 times that for shopping malls.
In January 2006, from the Church’s PR department, (Deseret News Publishing Company): Edgley said, ‘that since 1984, the LDS Church has donated nearly $750 million in cash and goods to people in need in more than 150 countries.’ That averages to 37.5 million per year or about $3 – $4 per Mormon member went to the poor. The total of $750 million in 22 years spent in cash in goods to people in need is only half what the church is spending on these malls. Only Half!! The Mormon church is spending less than 1% of its income to help the poor. Is the Mormon church really a charitable organization? Please Mormons – Do not give your hard earned money in tithing and other offerings to the Mormon church. It does not need your money nor does it spend what it receives appropriately. An organization that spends 15 – 20 times more on real estate to develop malls than on helping the poor is, by any definition, a corporation, not a religion. An average American Mormon gives thousands of dollars in tithing, yet only a few dollars of that donation is for the poor ... It is time for the Mormon Church to open its books. Why does a church need to be so secret with its finances? Infymus, board post updated January 2006, ‘Malls to cost £1.5 billion’ [north of 5 billion]
Salt Lake City building officials gave the 22-story high rise at 222 S Main a certificate of occupancy Monday, but it looks like few workers will be occupying it for now.
The building’s developer, Hamilton Partners of the Chicago area, has only 20 percent of the building leased, said Bruce Bingham, a founding partner of Hamilton, at a roundtable discussion of downtown development Tuesday. That’s the same occupancy rate that was reported in April ...
City Creek Reserve is spending more than $1 million a day on construction, and the project ultimately will cost around $3 billion, said Chris Redgrave, a KSL executive who also chairs the Salt Lake Chamber’s Can-Do Coalition, which is looking for ways to jump-start the downtown economy. Deseret News article 3rd November 2009 Laura Hancock
What is the church doing while all this is going on? Spending $3 billion on a mall and luxury condos nobody needs. Building more ugly meetinghouses and temples. Repeating the same boring crap they have been spewing for years.
It’s interesting to note the church went out of its way to invite president Bush to speak at BYU’s commencement. The president who did in the US Constitution with the Patriot act. Bush couldn’t make it so they got VP Dick Cheney who seems to like Mormons to plan CIA torture techniques.
So not only does the church basically do nothing to save the nation. It kisses the butt of those who are doing it in. This isn’t the vision Ezra Taft Benson painted when he said the Elders of Zion would save the US Constitution. Maybe he was referring to the Jews instead. Rubicon, board post 21st October 2009, ‘The Nation is Hanging by a Thread. Why Isn’t the Church Saving It?’
The LDS church since 1985 has given a combined $1.3 Billion in cash and service value to the poor as humanitarian assistance. (This breaks down to about $350M in cash and about $950 in non-cash service & in-kind donations. In any event $1.3 over 26 years is about $50 million a year in value.) That comes out to be on average about $3.5 per year per current member (# listed above). That’s extremely low ...
Holland: ‘There is no money in our church except what the members offer ...’
The $3-4 billion mall is owned by City Creek Reserve Inc, a company of the Church, according to their own website ... Selling penthouse apartments for $1.5M and stores that will sell liquor.
So if Holland says all the money comes from the members, and the church spends about $50M a year on Humanitarian aid, and it spends $3-4 billion on a mall in a few years (2008-2012), where are its priorities?
Certainly not with the poor. What kind of steward would I be to give money to building a mall instead of helping the poor?
More research shows the church owns:
AgReserves Inc. – the largest producer of nuts in America (circa. 1997)
Hawaii Reserves Inc – Miscellaneous church holdings in Hawaii. Along with the Polynesian Cultural Center (the leading paid visitor attraction in Hawaii) and Brigham Young University – Hawaii, Hawaii Reserves generated revenue of $260 million for the Hawaii economy in 2005.
Farmland Reserve Inc – 228,000 acres (923 km²) in Nebraska; 51,600 acres in Osage County, Oklahoma; and over 312,000 acres (1,260 km²) in Florida (Deseret Cattle and Citrus).
Bonneville International Corporation – the 14th largest radio chain in the US.
Deseret Morning News – a daily Utah newspaper, second-largest in the state of Utah.
Beneficial Financial Group – An insurance and financial services company with assets of $3.1 billion.
And MANY more.
The land alone is estimated worth $20 billion. The profit-companies are estimated worth another $15 billion. The Church owned land, campuses and temples are worth billions. When all is said and done, conservative estimates put the combined wealth of the church and its affiliated corporations at around $60 billion. Jesus Smith, board post 22nd December 2011, ‘Holland: There is no Money in Our Church Except What the Members Offer’
Building a shopping center in the height of the real estate bubble and in the midst of the online shopping revolution was a really inspired decision. numbersRus, board post 31st May 2017, ‘Great News from City Creek’
We have a few business interests. Not many. Most of these were begun in very early days when the Church was the only organization that could provide the capital that was needed to start certain business interests designed to serve the people in this remote area. Gordon B Hinckley, Ensign November 1999 article, ‘Why We Do Some of the Things We Do’