“The per capita wealth of Latter-day Saints today is likely higher than the per capita wealth of Latter-day Saints in the future,” he said. “What savings does is move money from the high per-capita wealth of Latter-day Saints now and transfers it to the lower per-capita wealth of future Latter-day Saints.”
See guys! The church is actually extremely progressive!
I figured I would post some of my thoughts about the whole SEC thing on this thread to give the perspective of a believing member of the church. My goal isn't to defend the church. Frankly, I'm not qualified enough in finances or SEC filings to defend the church. What I can describe is what is going through my mind, and probably many average church member's minds. Note: I didn't watch the 60 minutes episode, which probably tells you how it ultimately isn't much of an issue for me. My thoughts tend to be in two main themes.
1) The church having a lot of money isn't really too bad a thing in my mind. I hear Pres. Nelson announce 10-15 temples every six months. My honest thought when I keep hearing temples announced is, "Wow, can we really afford this?" Construction costs and maintenance costs have to be pretty large on 300+ temples plus thousands of meetinghouses. The numbers I saw in news articles yesterday were 7 billion in income, 6 billion in expenses, and 1 billion into reserve annually. I immediately thought that if there is a Great Depression type event, the 100 billion will probably be somewhere around 50 billion, which is what, 10 years of expenses? Tithing would still be coming in for that worst-case-scenario but in smaller amounts, so maybe more like 20 years expenses. I personally don't think that is too excessive. Granted, I'm not all that business minded, so maybe I'm off. But the average member isn't too business mined either.
2) It is clear someone broke the law. My initial thoughts were to try to blame it on church advisors. As a believing member, I do have a hard time admitting fault in my leaders. After hearing about the shell companies and answering machines, it wasn't as easy to place the blame elsewhere. Church leaders had to know they were at least bending rules. Now that the fine has been payed, it is clear it wasn't bending but breaking. Having said that, it is easy for me as a member to call the 5 million dollar fine a slap on the wrist and then move on. Government rules are often convoluted and sometimes contradictory. I don't think this excuses church leader's actions, but it gains them some sympathy in my mind.
This still leaves the fact that we have church leader(s) breaking the law. This one is a little more difficult to process, for me at least. I know we preach that our leaders are fallible, but our culture tends toward leader worship (something I know firsthand bothers general authorities). That doesn't make it any less difficult when we have a clear example of fallibility in front of us. Frankly, I have been worried for more than a decade that we would end up with a financial scandal involving church leaders. When this news broke, personally it was a bit of a relief. It could have been so much worse. Maybe I'm just a little cynical of human nature, but from all the types of scandals I imagined, this one is on the tame side. I suspect this isn't the same thought process as the average member, I'm a little odd that way, but that was my thought process. I know saying it could have been worse isn't the most logical or convincing train of thought, but that is my train of thought.
In summary, I could see how this might be a big issue for some people. It just wasn't much of an issue for me. Sure, it is another example of the fact that we have fallible leaders. This all would have been difficult for me when I was struggling twenty years ago but not now. Maybe that is a common situation. If someone is already struggling, this would be difficult to process. If someone is not struggling, it probably isn't much of an issue.
I think it is perfectly natural for an American church to amass a pile of treasure that it keeps for its own safety, doling out little scraps in order to make itself feel like a decent organization. That sounds like a perfect reflection of the mores of America’s respectable wealthy.
At the same time, it sounds nothing like Jesus of Nazareth.
Draw your own conclusions.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
The whistleblower came off pretty sincere while the member of the presiding bishopric was creepy and looked uncomfortable. I guess he is unused to being in situations where he does not control the situation. His long pause and response to the interviewer's question about what's the difference between secret and confidential, was really telling.
Yeah, I thought the bishop came off really poorly. He looked like the kind of bloodless creature of the establishment one would expect. He’s probably a nice, decent fellow. It’s the role that demands he behave in this strangely detached way.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Thank you, Res Ispa. I've noticed that there's been huge outrage and gnashing of teeth of late--especially among a small set of critics on a small, extraordinarily nasty, and mostly atheist ex-Mormon discussion board--regarding recent news that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has saved up a modest amount of funds for a "rainy day" and that the Church settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding minor lapses in financial reporting practices. And critics have been salivating the past week in anticipation of a related 60 Minutes story on Sunday that would supposedly represent a colossal Mormon [sic] PR disaster. I haven't followed any of the details and I haven't seen the 60 Minutes segment--my mind shuts down when I hear talk of securities, the SEC, ethical behavior, and compliance with the law and I never watch television on the Sabbath--but I recommend to your attention Tad Walch's calm, informed, and helpful recounting of the Church's inspiring Ragged Dick story.
If you keep this up, we’re going to start suspecting you are DCPGPT, and we certainly won’t need to go over to Sic et Non anymore.
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Following media inquiries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued the following statement in response to a report by U.S. broadcaster CBS “60 Minutes” news magazine program.
The Church believes in being financially responsible by carefully ensuring it has adequate resources available to fulfill its divinely appointed responsibilities. To Church members who support the work of salvation through living the gospel of Jesus Christ, caring for those in need, inviting all to receive the gospel and uniting families for eternity, we’ll continue to move forward consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ which makes this world a better place.
It’s unfortunate ‘60 Minutes’ sought to elevate a story based on unfounded allegations by a former employee who has a different view on how the Church should manage its resources.
Following media inquiries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued the following statement in response to a report by U.S. broadcaster CBS “60 Minutes” news magazine program.
The Church believes in being financially responsible by carefully ensuring it has adequate resources available to fulfill its divinely appointed responsibilities. To Church members who support the work of salvation through living the gospel of Jesus Christ, caring for those in need, inviting all to receive the gospel and uniting families for eternity, we’ll continue to move forward consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ which makes this world a better place.
It’s unfortunate ‘60 Minutes’ sought to elevate a story based on unfounded allegations by a former employee who has a different view on how the Church should manage its resources.
I wonder if the Church will allow him to keep his CTR ring.....
