They like to settle out of court so they can get those who brought suit against them to sign non-disclosure agreements. That way al their crimes and misdemeanors stay SACRED.
That's exactly what Norman Hancock did. God bless that man. It was settled out of court, but now the Church can no longer "excommunicate" you when you ask to have your name removed. No religious organization can.
Yes, and I haven't heard any disclaimers that say "Absolutely no tithing money is used to pay our high-priced corporate defense attorneys and out-of-court settlements"
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2012 12:07PM by rationalguy.
They get sued all the time. They have a huge contingent of lawyers. One of the main subjects in the "secret" portion of the church handbook is how bishops should deal with any legal threats - which is basically do nothing and turn it over to legal - exactly the same thing any big corporation would instruct you to do.
An interesting question is what percentage of tithing funds are used to hire lawyers?
I just finished reading "An American Fraud: One Lawyer's Case Against Mormonism" which I had downloaded free. It's goes into some of the suits - more into the potential for suits. Someone here had posted about the free download a week or so ago.
The big child abuse against the Boy Scouts in Portland originally named tscc, but they settled out of court, leaving the Boy Scouts to deal with it, which they still are.
I would love to see legislation put in place where a church should lose its tax-exempt status if it does not give a full accounting of tithing to its members or has been found donating any of said money towards things of a political nature, like prop. 8 or lets just say super PACs....in the interest of separating church and state.