Mormon Money
It's good that you mentioned money! With an
estimated income of 4 billion plus dollars every year, asking where all this money goes is a natural and seemingly innocent question. The "church" itself has not reported on any of it's financial dealings or status since 1963 so it's anyone's guess as to what the truth actually is. This lack of open and honest disclosure is not uncommon among organized religions although the structure and hierarchy of the LDS organization is very different than that of most other religions. The LDS system is highly centralized and controlled from the top; The Quorum of Twelve - a group of white men, always, sort of a board of directors.
The LDS involvement in the Prop 8 fight in California can be traced almost entirely to the members of the "church" in California, very little has come directly from the Salt Lake coffers. The "church" reported approximately $190,000 in expenses toward this cause to the state of CA, the rest of the money came from members in CA and elsewhere likely at the urging of the "church" but the money trail pretty much ends there for the Mormons but then we shouldn't forget that the Catholics joined with the Mormon cult to fund this hatred as well.
As I said back in November, these people took a valuable lesson away from the Prop 8 fight and clearly are applying it to politics in general and will try to go on subverting our civil rights all across the land. Andrew Sullivan focused on the Catholic involvement
today. With the yesterday's defeat of our civil rights in Maine, funded by guess who?, we see this terrible prophecy coming true again - and likely to a state near you very soon.
Here's a bit of it, lest anyone have trouble finding it:
"After Maine, where the Catholic church actually organized a second collection to raise money to prevent gay people from having civil rights, the situation shifts again. Using a tax-exempt church to raise money to defeat the civil rights of fellow citizens is not too shocking in the age of Benedict. It is shocking if one believes in a separation of politics and religion, and if one believes that the church of Jesus should stand in solidarity with the marginalized, rather than seeking to marginalize and demonize them still further.
It is time to acknowledge that the Catholic church hierarchy can no longer pretend that it isn't the active enemy of gay people and our families. That this church hierarchy—especially in its more conservative wing—is disproportionately gay itself and waging war against their fellow gays through the cowardly veil of the closet, is not new. But it is, as we flinch with the sting of defeat, harder to take than ever.
It is time to demand that gay priests who are actively fighting against the dignity of gay people own their enmeshment in injustice, stigmatization and cruelty. It is time to reveal them in this respect as the enemies of the Gospels, not the champions. "
