First off, I did a search, but didn't see anything - if it's been posted already, please forgive me!

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/54477669-180/cover-mormons-smith-article.html.csp

The cover has a picture of John the Baptist with his hands on JS & Oliver Cowdery's heads and a bubble that reads "And thou shald build a shopping mall, own stock in Burger King and open a Plynesian theme park in Hawaii that shall be largely exempt from the frustrations of tax...."

"Hallelujah" says joseph smith's bubble.

Here it goes...... :-)

Good for them. It's time to blow the lid off their financial shenanigans and I just looooooove how pissed the whiny Mopologists are going to be over this.

O c'mon, where's their sense af humour? After all, this is a fictional event that is being parodied...

Edited to add: great windfall for the mormons, though. Now they can dismiss the entire article out of hand.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2012 04:39PM by rt.

Could the church pay enough to buy off all the copies?

There will be a church wide announcement that you will no longer be able to get a temple recommend if you read Business week or hang out at the news stand.

TBMs sieze upon any inaccuracy, no matter how minor or inconsequential, to dismiss outright as anti-mormon anything they find threatening to their testimonies. Unfortunately, this cover will allow them to treat a well researched and written article as anti-mormon lies before they actually read it.

As funny (and accurate) as I find the cover personally, it is too bad that even moderate TBMs won't get past it to information contained inside.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2012 06:00PM by caedmon.

My comment at sltrib

"This is great! As a disgruntled Mormon near resignation, I'm glad that someone has The fortitude to break the barrier of religious political correctness. Mormonism is an open and large target, both from their unabashed commercialism and pious and pompous claim of being The Only True Church. Karnivour Kitty, don't be so certain that "the church" will always grow. Significant cracks are starting to show if you know where to look! It turns out that WE ARE LEGION."

(Obvious Molly Mo "Karnivour Kitty" had just posted her testimonkey about growing/protected/right/best opinion of ChurchCo.)

love it!

"Sadly, the cover is a reflection of the bias and speculative nature of the article itself. It is narrow and incomplete, omitting, for instance, a good deal of information given on how church resources are used." -Michael Purdy

Mormons need to get over themselves and get a grip on reality. They keep their finances secret then cry about people speculating on how they spend the money. What do they expect? Mormons will be outraged by this report because it is truthful. The reason they won't disclose their finances is because it would validate everything in the article.

Mormonism is all about illusion. When someone injects reality into their fantasy by saying the Book of Mormon is not true, or that the church spends a miniscule amount of money on humanitarian aid, they can't be honest and admit it. They just want everyone to think the church is the most wonderful thing in the world. I hope they're ready because there's more reality to come.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2012 07:32PM by canadianfriend.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2012 06:49PM by Stray Mutt.

Here's my comment I am posting at BW and at other sites:



I have to laugh at the stupidity of this fraudulent cult!

They claim to be the "latter-day" saints, whose sole mission is to go forth to the world to warn the children of god to repent and accept gods gospel and priesthood for the "hour is nigh" when christ himself will return (to Missouri, I might add). They have traded since their founding on the notion that the the end is near and these are truly the latter days.

So how does Jesus, who according to 150 years of mormon prophetic teachings and warnings is coming soon, choose to spend the BILLIONS in resources he has amassed from donated tithing (and the investments and for-profit revenues seeded therefrom)?

NOT in a massive campaign to reach out to teach the world the truth, to save as many as possible from the consequences of sin and error, and NOT to spare no expense to communicate the "message of the restoration" to every living soul.

NO, Jesus the Christ builds a multi-billion dollar shopping mall in tiny Salt Lake City, while making his missionaries pay their own way (after they first paid their tithing, of course). Really? REALLY??

Current prophet Monson says the thing is going to last 100 years it's built so well.

So much for the "latter-day" claim. Guess Jesus isn't coming for at least 100 years, or until he can realize his real estate ROI. Don't worry sinners, you all can relax, there's plenty of time to repent. No doubt the Church of Jesus Christ of Properly Hedged Real Estate Investments of No Day in my Lifetime Saints will tip their hat when we should worry.

Mormons: you should practice the principle of magnification you want to teach others so much that is supposed to identify what people really value.

What does your church magnify and focus on??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2012 06:50PM by rodolfo.

rodolfo --

Well said! Great observations.

“The Bloomberg cover is just absurd, and insulting," wrote Daymon Smith, a Mormon anthropologist."

Daymon is correct, but it's the church that is absurd and insulting. This "church" is a joke. It's a bunch of businessmen posing as "apostles", preying on gullible people. Shine a light on them and watch them scatter like cockroaches.

That is so good I just felt like repeating it. !

What ever happened to the Reuters article? Is this actually it? Or should we be expecting another article? Or did I miss the Reuters one?

A bit confused. (Obviously.)

Great question...one I was wondering myself...

"Again, they rarely capture the whole picture."

Really? Well how about you open the books and enlighten us?! I'm sorry, but unless the church comes clean and is transparent about their finances, I don't believe ANYTHING they say. They have every reason to lie and they know if members found out where their money actually went, it's game over.

I'm am physically ill reading that response from the church. Again, someone tell me how spending 5B on a mall will uplift and relieve burdens of the poor and needy and bring them closer to Christ?

Goldenrule asks:

Again, someone tell me how spending 5B on a mall will uplift and relieve burdens of the poor and needy and bring them closer to Christ?



If the poor and needy are in need of greater blessings, all they have to do is volunteer for the "calling" to clean the toilets in the great and spacious mall.


Each store prolly has its own set of restrooms (male and female), and each of those restrooms must absorb the excrement from hundreds of rich and influential shoppers and LDS GAs over the course of time.


If there are blessings to be gained from cleaning the toilets in common, ordinary meetinghouses, imagine the EXTRA blessings one could get from cleaning the toilets in God's One And Only True Mall.


Does that answer your question?

Totally :)

Heresy,

Thanks for posting the church's response.

Upon reading it, my BS meter just hit ten....wait, the needle is going round in circles....it just blew up! My BS meter is demolished!

This BS response is so flawed and full of BS I don't know where to begin.

How about this -- "The vast majority of the income used to manage the Church comes from tithing, not from businesses or investments."

This is a good thing? Tithing is not voluntary. The church brainwashes people into believing that they must pay money to go to the Celestial Kingdom. Tithing is paid out of fear.

This church is evil and sick -- just like Joseph Smith.

I need to go find a new BS meter. Do you think the cojcolds will pay for it?

I liked this part from that link:

"Furthermore, these numbers do not reflect the Church’s extensive welfare and employment services that serve many thousands worldwide."

how many is many thousands? tens of thousands?, hundreds of thousands>? Many to me, is not much.

lol. Worldwide?? A spit in the bucket



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2012 08:40PM by mindlight.

I was waiting for someone to post about this! Everyone is bitching about the cover on my FB. And not just TBMs. Calling is tacky, crass, and disrespectful.

I guess I just don't see what the big deal is. It catches people's attention and CUTS STRAIGHT TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER.

I mean isn't the ultimate issue that the church is just another corporation and why should the American people support a "church" for all intents and purposes IS a corporation.

I think Mormons making a stink are just ashamed, as they should be. Hopefully they will get over themselves and their persecution complex (unlikely) and read it. Mormons need the info MOST of all.

I thought the article was fascinating and well-written. Mormons are burning under the sunlight of scrutiny and I couldn't be more pleased about it :)

And the Hits just keep on coming....

interesting that the tscc took down the humanitarian stats this week that made them looks so bad and give credibility to the Businessweek cover.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Inspiration or desperation?

The cover maybe tacky, but it's also true. And until the lds church open its books for all to see where it sends its money, it deserves the criticism.

+1!!!

I think this cover is saying that the church can no longer intimidate -- and there is no obligation to honor their delusional beliefs.

Title of the article

"Latter-day Lucre: How the Mormon Church Makes Its Billions"


Is this available at newstands, supermarket magazine racks or
where will these be available?

Beginning of the end for Romney.

Naturally, the Babycenter posters have their garments in a knot over this issue based on the cover alone.
http://community.babycenter.com/post/a34853530/warning_image_may_be_offensive._businessweek_cover_offensive_to_mormons