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“Inside the Mormon Church’s Globe-Spanning Real-Estate Empire”

“Inside the Mormon Church’s Globe-Spanning Real-Estate Empire”

Last updated on: July 1, 2023 at 3:23 pm by Dan Peterson

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“Inside the Mormon Church’s Globe-Spanning Real-Estate Empire” 2023-07-01T15:23:06-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The seat of the Supreme Court of the United States
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

I have said here on multiple occasions that, owing to the concerns expressed by some former donors to the Interpreter Foundation, I no longer hold any political opinions and that I’m not even aware who the president is, nor when she is going to need to campaign toward earning her second (or it is her third?) five-year term. But perhaps I should be clearer: I hold no partisan political opinions. I won’t even admit whether I’m a Whig or a Federalist or a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. Put me down, if you will, as an adherent of the New Know-Nothings. However, that doesn’t mean that I’m unaware of recent rulings from the Supreme Court of the United States. Quite the contrary: I’m delighted by them. I was very pleased at the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and the past few days have brought a veritable flood of additional good news, prominently including the ruling in Groff v. DeJoy:

“Supreme Court Strengthens Religious Freedom Protections for Workers”

I’ll probably have more to say on these recent decisions, and more relevant links to share, over the next few days. Suffice it to say in this immediate context that I’m very dedicated to the concept of religious liberty — which is one of the reasons that I signed on to an amicus brief back in 2017 in opposition to the then-proposed “Muslim travel ban.”

“I had not thought that death had undone so many.” Rafael Flores (d. 1886), “Dante y Virgilio visitando el Infierno”
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Perhaps you will be interested in participating in this effort. And please feel free to share it with friends and family, via social media, and so forth: “Volunteers Needed by Rescuing Our Roots BillionGraves Project for World Record: Ten thousand volunteers are wanted to set a world record for the most participants to upload gravestones images to in 24 hours”

The grain silo at Salt Lake City’s Church-owned “Welfare Square”
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I’ve been waiting for this one, from the Wall Street Journal, for several weeks now. I had been told that it wouldn’t be as negative as some breathless previous exposés have been, and I think that that prediction has been borne out by the result: “Inside the Mormon Church’s Globe-Spanning Real-Estate Empire: From Guam to Cape Verde, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is using the financial cushion of its $100 billion investment portfolio to go on a temple-building spree.”

These two items, from the Deseret News, are worth reading in this context: Meagan Kohler, “Opinion: What the Wall Street Journal would have learned about temples from a Latter-day Saint like me: Temples are monuments, but not to wealth. They are beacons of light and peace, piercing clouds of cynicism, conflict and despair,” and, by Tad Walch, “In CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ segment on church finances, it missed the sweeping rags-to-riches history of faith: That history helps explain the church’s finances and decision-making today.”

And I highly, highly recommend this calm, lucid, well-reasoned video, which runs about seventy-three (73) minutes in length: “”Mormon” Church: Taxes, Trust, Transparency: Deeper Context”

Finally, I want to share something that was said recently in a small meeting that I attended. The speaker was an extremely successful and very wealthy tech entrepreneur: He said that he is confident that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an extraordinarily good steward of its donated funds — the late Latter-day Saint historian D. Michael Quinn would have agreed with him on that point — but that he would tithe anyway even if the Church simply burned his donations in the temple. (As, in fact, the animals donated to ancient Israelite temples were burnt.) Why? Because tithing is required by the Lord and because, thus, paying tithes is a matter of plain obedience. He would, I think, not be impressed with Jana Riess’s decision to withhold her tithes from the Church and to bestow them, instead, upon charities that she herself deems worthwhile. I am not. Such charitable activity is, no doubt, commendable. But not in lieu of tithing to the Lord’s appointed earthly representative, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, king of Salem, according to Genesis 14:18-24, but we have no record of Abraham having ever received an accounting from Melchizedek of how those tithes were used, let alone of any filing with the Internal Revenue Service or the Securities Exchange Commission, and we have no evidence that Melchizedek didn’t simply misappropriate those funds.

A mosaic in the Church of Sant’ Apollinare in Clase, Ravenna, Italy, dating to the second half of the sixth century, depicting three Old Testament sacrifices. On the left is Abel with his lamb (Genesis 4:1-16). In the center, Melchizedek presides over the sacrifice of bread (Genesis 14:18-20). The two round loaves with crosses at the center and the wine (in the two-handed pitcher between the loaves) represent the mass, or (in LDS terms) the sacrament. On the right is Abraham with his son Isaac, whom he was willing to sacrifice at God’s command (Genesis 22:1-14). All three sacrifices, of course, foreshadow the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

In the confident expectation of fanning the flames of your admirably perpetual indignation, I share with you the following abominations that I’ve recently retrieved from the seemingly inexhaustible Christopher Hitchens Memorial “How Religion Poisons Everything” File™. I hope that you will experience the same gratifying shivers of delicious horror that I did in reading through them:

“With Church Support, the International African American Museum Opens in Charleston: The museum is a sacred site and includes a Center for Family History supported by FamilySearch”

“Latter-day Saints Across Georgia Hosted FamilySearch Booths at 20 Juneteenth Events: ‘If you are a descendant of African Americans, it’s hard to find information,’ says Area Seventy Elder M. Andrew Galt”

“First FSY Facility in Asia Opens to Strengthen the Rising Generation”

“Latter-day Saint Convert Committed to Serving Others Wins Miss Utah 2023: Returned missionary Sarah Sun is the first Asian American to wear the Miss Utah crown”

“Church of Jesus Christ Provides Largest Volunteer Group at Special Olympic World Games 2023: Over 700 young adults volunteer through sponsored service conference at Special Olympics in Berlin”

“Latter-day Saint Volunteers Rally to Clean up Flooding in Ecuador: More than 100 homes receive assistance”

“Thousands Attend ‘Strengthening Families Conference’ in Abuja, Nigeria: Conference sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ was broadcast throughout the world”

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