My ex-Mo wife has tasked me with finding an attorney as she wants to sue TSCC for not giving women the priesthood. Yes she's serious.

I am ex-Mo too, but I believe in leaving TSCC alone. Lawsuits? Really?

Won't fly. And no attorney worth his salt will take it.

If you don't like how the Mormon church conducts matters -- and I am one of many that don't -- then leaving it is the best that you can do. There's no legal right for women to have powers in a private religious organization. And there is longstanding precedent for deference to religious organizations in this matter.

She needs to sue over the BOA.

It is a non religious case and not subject to belief but commercial fraud. The BOA is SOLD in the US as part of the Triple and is represented as a literal translation of writing by Abraham.

If a college student found it on Amazon and bought it thinking it really was a book written by Abraham (purchased to study for his course perhaps) then the BOA would quickly be recognised a being misrepresented and because it is sold it is fraud.

This is no different than buying a Van Gough that is a fake, or buying the Hitler diary believing it is genuine.

If THAT case happens and the church loses then it is all over.

Small case, not religious, very winnable.

Very interesting. I can't sue about the BoA because I never believed for a moment that it was written by Abraham. It is an obvious fraud. Just look at the "facsimiles". They are laughable. I would love to debate a TBM about it.

The New Testament would fall with the same scrutiny. It claims that a story about a resurrected man is real.

Maybe she should go to a different church. There are others, btw.

I say, let her sue. It would probably be thrown out sooner or later. But she could research all the times women have sort of had the priesthood in the LDS church.

I don't know this that well so correct me if I'm wrong

- I think Joseph Smith actually ordained women in the very beginning of TSCC

- I think in pioneer days women were allowed to exercise the priesthood if their husband wasn't around and there was an emergency

- I think today if sister missionaries came upon a car wreck victim before the ambulance or the "brethren" came, that they could give a priesthood blessing

- I think the women doing the initiation thing in the temple are doing it using the priesthood

- I think they say something about everybody having the priesthood sort of in the other temple ceremony

- so I think she could make a case of women sort of already having the priesthood and sue for equal time

It would make a lot of interesting reading anyway

I don't believe women ever gave "priesthood" blessings. In the early days of the church, it was taught that the blessing of the sick was a gift of the spirit, as discussed in the NT, not a power of the priesthood. So, women did bless the sick, but they weren't declaring authority, etc...

Unfortunately I just see no legal cause for her to sue. What would she sue them for? I don't believe the church is breaking any laws by not allowing women to hold the priesthood.

Let her sue, if she can find somebody who believes they can make a decent case out of it, and you guys can afford it, then why not. It isn't going to hurt anyone, and this is how change happens, pressure.

Tell your wife that it is her project, so she needs to find the attorney AND she needs to pay the attorney's fees. The attorney is likely to want an up-front retainer fee of something like $30,000 and the total costs could easily be double or triple that amount. So she should proceed only if she has a lot of time and money to waste. She will never win that lawsuit.

A lot better solution is to spend the money on a vacation to Hawaii. Rent a place overlooking the ocean and forget about your troubles with the Mormon Church.

If (when) she loses the lawsuit you might be liable for the church's legal fees, which will undoubtedly run well into 6 figures.

Your wife has guts!!!........go for it! I like her already. Keep us posted.
It will be cheaper if you get a large group together and do it as a class action suit. Have her ask her friends to join in.

Maybe if she could show that female workers in Utah have a lower glass ceiling than in states that are not dominated by Mormonism?

If she does sue, don't do it in Utard eerr Utah or Idaho. do it in NY or somewhere the judge isn't tainted, do it in a Liberal state that hated Romney

SBN,

The new testament and the BOA are not remotely the same thing. It's nothing to do with fantastical content as that sits within the purview of religion and belief. It is about the provenance of the book and whether it is sold misrepresented as a genuine artefact which it is.

If i write a book and claim that it is the genuine diary if hitler and sell it. Even if the story in the diary is about him speaking with God or whatever, the only thing that matters is who the actual author is since I'm selling the book claiming Hitler wrote it.

This case is so simple as it does not involve any claims on religion or belief it Purely examines the BOA and whether fraud is committed selling a book represented as written by Abraham.

If you sell a book and claim a provenance or authorship it does not have it is known as fraud.

The new testament cannot be examined the same way as nobody really knows who the authors were.

Plus, there is plenty of evidence of the existence of the New Testament dating back to the third century in the Middle East.

We may debate on this board about Jesus' existence, but nobody ever tries arguing that any part of the Bible was invented by some
medieval monk. Why? because there's enough evidence to convince even Dawkins that fact or fiction, OT & NT are at least 1700 yrs old

Do not let her waste family money on this.

My guess is that a lawyer will tell her right off that she has no "standing." If she has left the church, how is SHE damaged? She's no longer a member. It's not her church.

Maybe she should sue the Catholic church to make THEM give women their priesthood.

Your wife is an ex-mo, therefore it's none of her business.

The court case in England shows how courts don't want to get involved in religions no matter how strong the evidence is. Tell your wife to talk to politicians instead, because they have the power to create legislation that tells courts what to do. Current laws allow religions to breach the discrimination laws that all other organizations must adhere to. Maybe the time has come to change that. Saying that women can not hold the priesthood is saying that they are inferior somehow, which was widely believed back in the '50's but it is not acceptable now.