It's Important to Know What You Don't Know

[Res Ipsa]

You have a link to a 990 for Faith Matters?

Coud you post it, please?

Already did. Res Ipsa missed it too. Here it is again:

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprof ... /852759608

Regards,
MG

Not "missed it." Hadn't gotten to it. Thanks for the link -- it saved me the trouble of requesting them from the Foundation. It doesn't negate my point that a charitable organization interested in transparency can and will post the links to their 990s on their webpage.

Now, do the 990s obtained by Pro Public identify the members of Faith Matters Foundation, Inc.?

[MG 2.0]

Already did. Res Ipsa missed it too. Here it is again:

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprof ... /852759608

Regards,
MG

Not "missed it." Hadn't gotten to it. Thanks for the link -- it saved me the trouble of requesting them from the Foundation. It doesn't negate my point that a charitable organization interested in transparency can and will post the links to their 990s on their webpage.

Now, do the 990s obtained by Pro Public identify the members of Faith Matters Foundation, Inc.?

Do your own research, Res Ipsa. I gave you some first footing. Return and report.

You have a LOT more interest in this than I do.

Regards,
MG

[Res Ipsa]

Not "missed it." Hadn't gotten to it. Thanks for the link -- it saved me the trouble of requesting them from the Foundation. It doesn't negate my point that a charitable organization interested in transparency can and will post the links to their 990s on their webpage.

Now, do the 990s obtained by Pro Public identify the members of Faith Matters Foundation, Inc.?

Do your own research, Res Ipsa. I gave you some first footing. Return and report.

You have a LOT more interest in this than I do.

Regards,
MG

So, the answer to my question is that you didn't look?

[Marcus]

... I think I’ve already spelled it out…but here we go:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has no official connection, money trail or otherwise, with the Faith Matters Foundation.

Not that I can find anyway....

But... you didn't look. That's a very definitive statement you made, on the basis of ...what?

[yellowstone123]

Yea, the names suggest running for office; some might believe that leads to authority.

[MG 2.0]

... I think I’ve already spelled it out…but here we go:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has no official connection, money trail or otherwise, with the Faith Matters Foundation.

Not that I can find anyway....

But... you didn't look. That's a very definitive statement you made, on the basis of ...what?

Initially I actually spent quite a bit of time digging around but to no avail. Then I found the document you and Res Ipsa were interested in.

So, as a matter of fact, I did give up some time and did what I believe to be due diligence and ran into dead ends where it appeared, as I’ve said, that Faith Matters started up on its own and maintains itself as an organization through donations and conferences.

Nothing ‘sinister’ as you might hope. Or in your case, expect.

Wild goose chase. But feel free to keep it up. Like I said to Res Ipsa, you have a LOT more interest in this than I do.

Cheerio.

Regards,
MG

[Res Ipsa]

But... you didn't look. That's a very definitive statement you made, on the basis of ...what?

Initially I actually spent quite a bit of time digging around but to no avail. Then I found the document you and Res Ipsa were interested in.

So, as a matter of fact, I did give up some time and did what I believe to be due diligence and ran into dead ends where it appeared, as I’ve said, that Faith Matters started up on its own and maintains itself as an organization through donations and conferences.

Nothing ‘sinister’ as you might hope. Or in your case, expect.

Wild goose chase. But feel free to keep it up. Like I said to Res Ipsa, you have a LOT more interest in this than I do.

Cheerio.

Regards,
MG

Ah, more weapons of mass distraction. MG 2.0 made a claim. I doubt he put one second into looking into who controls Faith Matters until I started this thread. It's his claim. He made it based on no evidence. And he still doesn't know who controls Faith Matters. He admits that he doesn't know the answer, but continues to make the same claim.

The notion that Faith Matters started up "on it's own" is absurd on its face. Corporations are not some kind of emergent phenomenon. They are created by people or organizations and are controlled by people or organizations. MG 2.0 claims "it's not the church" but never really looks for an answer. I'm trying to answer the question, in part, to show how the relevant information is hidden by the foundation's organizational structure, and in part because I'm curious. I don't claim that it's "the church." I claim MG 2.0 was and still is talking out his nethers. And I think this thread makes a pretty good case for that.

[drumdude]

The internet archive is invaluable for researching this, as always.

2013 - Faith Matters.org domain is for sale. Previous to 2013 the domain was likely owned by an unrelated non-LDS group.

2017 - Faith Matters.org - About: FMF aims to create a community in which an expansive view of the restored gospel can be considered and discussed.

The 2017 Faith Matters Donate button takes you to donate to a different organization, called the "Foundation for Religious Diplomacy."

2023 - The donate button now takes you to https://donorbox.org/donate-to-faith-matters

So what is the "Foundation for Religious Diplomacy?"


Their website is now defunct: http://religious-diplomacy.org/

2011 website says "The Foundation for Religious Diplomacy.
FOUNDATION for RELIGIOUS DIPLOMACY exists to build mutual trust between people or groups of conflicting religious convictions by promoting & facilitating healthy & honest interaction with the upmost regard for the beliefs, doctrines, & practices of all."

At the bottom reads:

"THE WORLD TABLE
The World Table represents our numerous societies’ various rules of engagement in the realms of politics, academia, commerce, and religion, where our collective and individual communication affect society as a whole."

What is The World Table? Their website is also defunct.

In 2013:

"
The Table is being Set...
Take your seat on September 16, 2013 Enter your email to get updates
and notifications about development:

It's time to get real.
The World Table is a new social platform that will fundamentally change the way we interact online... and beyond. Screen shots coming soon!
© 2013 theworldtable.org |"

2014 The World Table website:

Top 3 articles are:
"Mormonism, Democracy, and the Urgent Need for Evangelica..."
"A question about Mormon Theology"
"Women push to attend LDS priesthood session FOX13Now.com"

About page: "In the broadest terms the key is to show how “heart and-mind” contests of persuasion are more powerful and sustainable than intimidating and angry coercive conflicts. This means we must learn to replace our utopian goal of tranquil co-existence (world peace) with the realistic expectation that peace can only come through the continual tension of co-resistance and collaboration between trustworthy critics and rivals.

TWT is designed as a first step for people to begin to experience their critics and rivals in a new way that can build trust between them if they desire."

Heart and Mind phrase sounds errily similar to the LDS Church's trademark "Heartsell" program...

Links at the bottom show the website was constructed with the help of companies "Living Biography" and "Brandfire."

LIVING BIOGRAPHY specializes in telling your story.

Every organization, every product, every campaign, and every cause deserves a precise and consistent message delivered to the right people, at the right time, and in the right way.

BRANDFIRE CHOOSE YOUR SITE:
Industry: Non-Profit
This site is perfect for a non-profit trying to present a clean but established presence online. There's room for videos and photos along with a nice print campaign.

January 2015, the World Table is mentioned in forbes:

However, a new SaaS software company, The World Table, believes the issues of bad or insufficient reputation are entirely fixable. All it would take is adherence to 10 easy rules. The curator of these practices is my personal friend Randall Paul who has quietly been refining these principles (along with a new technology platform) together with co-founder and partner Bryan Hall over the last several years.

After years as a real estate entrepreneur, Paul obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought where he developed a way to improve the most intractable cases of social conflict. He calls his practices for difficult conversations between rivals or critics The Way of Openness. I promptly tagged it The 10 Communication Commandments, as they resonate so fully with the vision of authentic PR and reputation I’ve been writing about as of late.

The principals of The World Table believe the Blockchain architecture that underlies Bitcoin (or a similar solution that adheres to the Blockchain principles) is a possible answer. Like Bitcoin, Blockchain is decentralized. No single institution owns Bitcoin, for example, and no single location or central authority can hold or control the results.

The company’s architects imagine the possibility of a reputation layer on top of the Blockchain where identify could be verifiable by any interested party. Identity data would continue to be owned by the individual themselves, or through the aggregate results of the opted-in users of an organization like eBay or Uber.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150511123 ... nomy-real/

https://web.archive.org/web/20150625184 ... usiness-2/

It's going to monetize civility and revolutionize social media and religious discussion using blockchain technology!

By mid 2015, The World Table website is defunct.

So who is behind all these websites? Have a look at his FairMormon profile!

https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/tes ... ndall-paul

C. Randall Paul, Ph.D., is the president of the Foundation for InterReligious Diplomacy (New York and Utah). A native of New Jersey, he has a BS from Brigham Young University in social psychology and an MBA from Harvard University. He worked as a business partner at Trammell Crow Company in the southwestern USA, where he developed many commercial real estate projects for sixteen years. He then obtained a doctorate in 2000 at the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago, writing his dissertation on methods for engaging in religious conflict without acrimony or violence. He is on the executive board of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology, and is an editor of the International Journal for Decision Ethics. Having served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France and Belgium, he has held numerous callings since, including service as a bishop. He and his wife, Jann, have five children and ten grandchildren.

So after all this, the TLDR is that Faith Matters is one of a decades long set of projects by Charles Randall Paul to try and lessen criticism of Mormonism (originally under the guise of having a civil conversation about all religions.)

Oh, and guess who's name is not at the bottom of his latest website, Faith Matters? Charles Randall Paul.

[MG 2.0]

Initially I actually spent quite a bit of time digging around but to no avail. Then I found the document you and Res Ipsa were interested in.

So, as a matter of fact, I did give up some time and did what I believe to be due diligence and ran into dead ends where it appeared, as I’ve said, that Faith Matters started up on its own and maintains itself as an organization through donations and conferences.

Nothing ‘sinister’ as you might hope. Or in your case, expect.

Wild goose chase. But feel free to keep it up. Like I said to Res Ipsa, you have a LOT more interest in this than I do.

Cheerio.

Regards,
MG

Ah, more weapons of mass distraction. MG 2.0 made a claim. I doubt he put one second into looking into who controls Faith Matters until I started this thread. It's his claim. He made it based on no evidence. And he still doesn't know who controls Faith Matters. He admits that he doesn't know the answer, but continues to make the same claim.

The notion that Faith Matters started up "on it's own" is absurd on its face. Corporations are not some kind of emergent phenomenon. They are created by people or organizations and are controlled by people or organizations. MG 2.0 claims "it's not the church" but never really looks for an answer. I'm trying to answer the question, in part, to show how the relevant information is hidden by the foundation's organizational structure, and in part because I'm curious. I don't claim that it's "the church." I claim MG 2.0 was and still is talking out his nethers. And I think this thread makes a pretty good case for that.

You can have the last word, Res Ipsa. Even if it’s not true.

Happy hunting! Hope you find what you’re so intent (are you really?) on finding. That ‘smoking gun’.

I think you will fail in this instance, however.

Prove me wrong.

I think I have better things to do with my time than continue this discussion with you. Someone else might want to hippity hop down this trail with you.

Again, you have the last word. Make it something to amaze and dazzle us.

That 990, or whatever that form was called, ought to take you somewhere.

Catch those evil doers!

Regards,
MG

[Res Ipsa]

Ah, more weapons of mass distraction. MG 2.0 made a claim. I doubt he put one second into looking into who controls Faith Matters until I started this thread. It's his claim. He made it based on no evidence. And he still doesn't know who controls Faith Matters. He admits that he doesn't know the answer, but continues to make the same claim.

The notion that Faith Matters started up "on its own" is absurd on its face. Corporations are not some kind of emergent phenomenon. They are created by people or organizations and are controlled by people or organizations. MG 2.0 claims "it's not the church" but never really looks for an answer. I'm trying to answer the question, in part, to show how the relevant information is hidden by the foundation's organizational structure, and in part because I'm curious. I don't claim that it's "the church." I claim MG 2.0 was and still is talking out his nethers. And I think this thread makes a pretty good case for that.

You can have the last word, Res Ipsa. Even if it’s not true.

Happy hunting! Hope you find what you’re so intent (are you really?) on finding. That ‘smoking gun’.

I think you will fail in this instance, however.

Prove me wrong.

I think I have better things to do with my time than continue this discussion with you. Someone else might want to hippity hop down this trail with you.

Again, you have the last word. Make it something to amaze and dazzle us.

That 990, or whatever that form was called, ought to take you somewhere.

Catch those evil doers!

Regards,
MG

More clownish strawmanning. You’ve already proved my claim many times over. You don’t know who controls Faith Matters. But you’re more than willing to claim that you do.