Act III ... Dissenters & Exiles ... Control over the Mormon story has become ever more important. ibid.
Fawn M Brodie: No Man Knows My History. ibid.
In 1950 when Juanita Brooks published the first full account of Mormon complicity in the Meadows Mountain Massacre; she and her husband were shunned by members of the church. ibid.
In a single month in 1993 the LDS Church excommunicated six prominent Mormon scholars. ibid.
The President’s vault, otherwise known as F-vault one of a series of six vaults located in the Granite Mountain church site in Little Cottonwood Canyon – next to where the granite blocks used in building the Salt Lake Temple were quarried. The front of the vault complex is manned and womened by employees and missionaries who duplicate genealogical microfilms to fulfill orders from Church Family History libraries all over the world. The six vaults are connected by a corridor protected by a many ton steel door that supposedly can withstand a nuclear blast and are located far into the mountain at the rear of the complex. Each of these six vaults is cavernous and contains microfilm, discs, and other data files for financial, membership, genealogical and other church records. Until the Mark Hoffman episode, access to the vault was restricted to those with official church business only (although at one time tours were conducted there for the public).
Mark Hofmann was given unfettered access to the remote F-vault that reminded me of the warehouse in Raiders of the Lost Ark where the Ark of the Covenant was eventually placed. It is the only vault that contains artefacts, relics and original church documents such as pioneer journals and anything related to early church history. This is probably the most secure vault in the country – with the possible exception of the US gold reserves storage at Fort Knox. There are rumors that the vault contains Joseph Smith’s Jupiter talisman and seer stones among other items. You’d think the place would be organized and items would be stored logically, but at least at the time I saw it, everything seemed in disarray on dusty shelves and in piles. But it was evident that almost everything in there was ‘old’.
Mark was given access to this vault and apparently had a co-conspirator who worked for him at the vault complex. It was discovered after Mark Hofmann was exposed, but never reported to anyone outside the inner circle of the inner circle of those who worked inside the church around this issue, that the church had actually paid a lot of money to Mark Hofmann for documents that it already owned, and that these documents had been taken out of the F-vault. This was too embarrassing for the church to admit to anyone, but resulted in unbelievable restrictions to church history documents. The only access by anyone, even General Authorities to the F-vault is now granted only by Gordon B Hinckley. Former Church Insider, board post 6th January 2006, ‘Mormon Mafia, Inside Stories, Mark Hofmann, Steve Christensen’
... another fact about the church that is not commonly known and is a bit scary is that the overwhelming majority of church security are former CIA and FBI agents. The church’s security operation is as state of the art and sophisticated as any in the world, with the possible exception of the US security agencies.
Millions have been spent on encryption technology for communications. (This resulted in part by the media monitoring church security radio traffic and reporting the death of Spencer Kimball, before the news was relayed to the first presidency.) At the time of its purchase in the mid-80s for several million dollars, the church was the only owner of an encrypted communication system that was developed for and to a large extent by the CIA.
Many of you will remember the Clinton white house scandal involving FBI records that resulted in the suspicious death of Vincent Foster. The Clintons were digging up dirt using FBI files on their enemies.
Similarly, the church keeps records of this type on all members of the church as well as non-members whom they deem to be a potential treat to the church. ibid.
When driving up the canyon just after the ski resorts, there is a hairpin turn on the left side to go up to the vault. I had never noticed it before working there. There is a gate that you have to go through to get up to the parking lot. At the gate, you push a button and they ask who you are and you tell them and they let you up. No exceptions. You have to wait for them to look at you in their security camera every day. They are not messing around up there. When they lifted the gate, we would drive to the parking lot and then I would get out and go in the big metal door that led to the desk where the security guard checked your badge every day ...
Layout of the Vault: After you check in you go down the hall and to the left. I wish I could draw it up, maybe I’ll work on that. After the corridor you can only go left into another long hallway. Along this there are little sections on either side that are work areas for people who are programming microfilm and microfiche ...
At the end of the long main corridor on the left is a hallway that goes back to a small kitchen with vending machines and a phone (no cell phones in there as far as I remember) and behind the kitchen a large room with tables for eating and lots of chairs that are set up once during the monthly devotional and for holiday parties ...
So that is about it. Other than those little titbits, the only other possibly noteworthy things about working there were: it was hard to get a raise and they had a ceiling that I reached during the one year I worked there. That was a deal breaker (as Liz Lemon would say) for long term employment but they weren’t budging as far as raises went. Molotov, board post 29th October 2009, ‘Working at the Mormon Church Granite Mountain Records Vault’
Early Monday morning I was talking to a TBM [True Believing Mormon] business associate about the hurricane that was hitting the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. I was shocked when he started to joke about it and say that, ‘Well, I guess God is going to baptize New Orleans whether they want it or not.’ He also said ‘it was about time God cleaned out that pit of sin.’
I was shocked; this was right when we were not sure if we were going to loose thousands of lives. Now we know that New Orleans missed a direct hit and instead hit Mississippi. I guess God has a hook in his aim and he needs to work on it.
How can someone think this way? Battle-Ax, board post 30th August 2005, ‘A Mormon’s View on Katrina’
One thing I have noticed about Church projects is how they LOVE to toot their own horn about how much service they are doing. Service to get converts and tithing. The stake will swoop into a small town in our area each year and clean it up. I think a couple years ago they passed out T-shirts, just like the Katrina thing. So they become walking billboards and do it for ulterior motives. Primus, board post 29th June 2007, ‘Meaningful Service and Church Projects in General’
My phone rings and it’s the first counselor in the bishopric all excited because he had come up with a great service project. ‘Let’s finish the Bishop’s basement for him!’ Fallible, board post 24th July 2006, ‘Service Project – Finish the Bishop’s Basement!’
This new program is pretty simple. It basically amounts to inviting members of the Church to participate in the cleaning of their buildings in such a way that by their sacrifice, they will come to honor and respect and love these beautiful houses of worship. David Burton, Presiding Bishop, LDS Church News
Salt Lake City is the headquarters of the Mormon Church. But it’s not as saintly as it appears. Today it’s under siege, terrorised by a gang whose agenda is simple – to be the baddest around. It’s a strange place – where violence and religion co-exist ... The religion of Crippin. Gangland s3e5: From Heaven to Hell, History 2008
23rd July 1992: it was the eve of the State’s biggest celebration – Pioneer Day. Thousands of people flooded the downtown area, eating, drinking and setting off fireworks ahead of the next day’s parade. Hidden amongst the crowd were members of the Crips … Mr C noticed Crips from a rival set ... Within seconds the festive atmosphere turned to terror. Mr C pulled the gun from his trousers. ibid.
The city is perceived to be white, conservative, squeaky clean, and the last place you would expect to find gangs. But close to three hundred gangs call this valley town home ... Among them are an estimated one thousand Crips, divided into numerous smaller sects. The gangs are motivated by one thing – reputation. ibid.
Like many Crips in Utah, Mr C was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. ibid.
The city has a dark underside: with drive-by shootings, drug deals and robberies by gangs like the Crips. Within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or LDS, these two worlds are strangely intertwined. Salt Lake City may seem like an unlikely place for gang activity, but the Mormon Church inadvertently brought the problem to its own doorstep. ibid.
In 1987 Salt Lake police saw the first evidence that gangs like the Crips had arrived. ibid.
The violence escalated but city officials were always in denial. ibid.
By 1993 parts of Salt Lake felt like a war zone. And the Crips were at the centre of it. The city continued to deny it had a problem ... Denial is part of the problem. ibid.
Some of these kids carry the Book of Mormon with them while they are gang-banging. Sgt Ron Stallworth, Salt Lake Metro Gang Unit retired
I’ve even arrested kids who were out all night doing beer and robberies and they are completely intoxicated, and there are asking, how long is it going to be because they have to go to Church and fulfil their Church duties. Detective Merino, Salt Lake PD