Church Membership Status - who can find out and how?

The upper-crust forum for scholarly, polite, and respectful discussions only. Heavily moderated. Rated G.
Father Francis
Bishop
Posts: 492
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 12:59 pm

Re: Church Membership Status - who can find out and how?

Post by Father Francis »

Dizzy wrote:
Sat Apr 22, 2023 6:38 pm
You need to be in "good standing" to buy garments.
You do not need to be a current temple recommend holder.
If you were ever endowed, and someone could convince a Distribution Center clerk they were you, they could find out if you were currently purchase-eligible.
I don't know what, if any, safeguards are in place.
Did that change at some point? I remember my parents showing their recommends at the distribution center when I was a young TBM being dragged around on errands.
Don Bradley
Star B
Posts: 113
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2020 2:41 am

Re: Church Membership Status - who can find out and how?

Post by Don Bradley »

Marcus wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:23 am
Don Bradley wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 5:48 am

The church is extremely fastidious with its privacy rules.
it absolutely is not.
Don Bradley wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 5:49 am
Family members, even if they have had leadership callings, would have absolutely no access to your membership records.
Again, not accurate.
What membership and/or excommunication records have you attempted to look at, and with what success?

The church makes it impossible even for spouses to access each other's ordinance records via FamilySearch, makes disciplinary records permanently inaccessible, even at any time distance from the death of the person disciplined. I know this from direct experience. I first tried to access such records in 1987. And I've had the church repeatedly deny access to disciplinary records from as far back as 1850 despite allowing me to see literally everything else I asked for.

On what---if any---experience are you basing your opinions?

Don
Marcus
God
Posts: 5033
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:44 pm

Re: Church Membership Status - who can find out and how?

Post by Marcus »

Don Bradley wrote:
Fri Apr 28, 2023 6:07 am
Marcus wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:23 am
it absolutely is not.

Again, not accurate.
What membership and/or excommunication records have you attempted to look at, and with what success?

The church makes it impossible even for spouses to access each other's ordinance records via FamilySearch, makes disciplinary records permanently inaccessible, even at any time distance from the death of the person disciplined. I know this from direct experience. I first tried to access such records in 1987. And I've had the church repeatedly deny access to disciplinary records from as far back as 1850 despite allowing me to see literally everything else I asked for.

On what---if any---experience are you basing your opinions?

Don
if any? Such a rude beginning to our interaction! But, i will assume that's just you being you, i.e. an immature and rude person, and ignore it the way you ignore a child who tantrums. What else can you do with grown men who act like this?

I'll start with your first comment:
Marcus wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:23 am
Don Bradley wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 5:48 am

The church is extremely fastidious with its privacy rules.
it absolutely is not.
I have a letter I received, wherein an lds member was thrilled to tell me that my name had shown up on a “Do Not Contact” list, which was distributed by the bishop in a meeting, asking people if they knew anyone on the list. She was very straightforward in telling me that my name, address, and phone number were all on this list that was distributed to everyone, even though it was also noted next to my name that I had requested no contact.

When she told the bishop she knew me, he asked her to contact me, even though I had requested no contact.

So, in other words, the lds church is NOT “extremely fastidious with its privacy rules.”

I also have a letter from a local bishop, which I received after I called both the local mission president and the SLC number they gave me to complain about being hounded by missionaries.

In this letter, which I shared with the SLC number when I called them back, he actually stated he would NOT be respecting my request to not be contacted, because God had made him the person in charge of my eternal well-being. In other words, he had absolutely no intention of being “ extremely fastidious” with any lds “ privacy rules.”

I also showed this letter to a friend of mine who is a lawyer; he said if anyone contacted me again, I had a rock-solid case for harassment and stalking in my state.

Someone must have given this bishop the same advice (maybe those SLC people i spoke to) because he never contacted me again.


Moving on to your second point:
Don Bradley wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 5:49 am
Family members, even if they have had leadership callings, would have absolutely no access to your membership records.
Again, not accurate.

But, we’ll save that for the Next post.
Don Bradley
Star B
Posts: 113
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2020 2:41 am

Re: Church Membership Status - who can find out and how?

Post by Don Bradley »

The original question was about whether family members could find out your membership status. They can't. And that's what my comments were directed to. If you're saying that board members in the word you live in may have access to your contact information, that's completely unsurprising, but, but also off topic from the question that was asked and that I correctly answered. If you believe it is easy to get another person's membership status, why don't you try it, and return and report.
"People can find meaninglessness in just about anything if they convince themselves that there is no meaning in that thing." - The Rev. Dr. Lumen Kishkumen
Marcus
God
Posts: 5033
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2021 10:44 pm

Re: Church Membership Status - who can find out and how?

Post by Marcus »

Don Bradley wrote:
Tue May 09, 2023 2:16 am
The original question was about whether family members could find out your membership status. They can't. And that's what my comments were directed to. If you're saying that board members in the word you live in may have access to your contact information, that's completely unsurprising, but, but also off topic from the question that was asked and that I correctly answered. If you believe it is easy to get another person's membership status, why don't you try it, and return and report.
Ah, so your first statement was disproven, and you’d like to move the goalposts and pretend you didn’t make two distinct statements.

So, as I said I would, I’ll move on to your second point. i know from first hand knowledge that family members can determine your membership status.

A person in my family went into my membership records, accessed my information and determined my membership status, then fraudulently sent the informaton to slc, pretending to be me, and asking for name removal. I am aware of this because i have the letter stating erroneously "at your request," and referencing my membership number. No one in my family knew from me that i had not yet removed my name for well over 20 years, and yet someone in my family was able to access the information, determine my standing, access my membership records and number, and fraudulently send the request. The lds church did not confirm the requestor, but simply processed the fraud.

So yes, in anwer to the "original question... about whether family members could find out your membership status," yes, they can.

So, to sum up, based on your two statements,

1) the lds church is NOT "extremely fastidious with its privacy rules," and

2) it is NOT true that "Family members... have absolutely no access to your membership records."
Post Reply