a cost/benefit analysis and the pageant have been found to be not worth it...as in not worth it to the Top Leaders in the centralized, concentrated and consolidated bureaucracy of ChurchCo.
Possible flaws in the pageants that resulted in the termination decision:
(1) They celebrate and pay homage to obviously false teachings. The "Brethren" know that it's bogus and they're embarrassed. The "Brethren" now want to downplay the bogus Book of Mormon and the stuff in it about dark skin curses and Shiz losing his head. They can't come out and reject it. But they can make the members read it in the privacy of their own home instead of making huge public spectacles (pageants) to advertise the embarrassing Book of Moron.
(2) There are reports that some of the people involved in the pageant projects were having fun. Fun not good. Fun always leads to light-mindedness and evil speaking of the Lord's anointed.
(3) The Church probably saw some potential for legal liability for accidents, etc., that may occur in connection with the pageants. Insurance against such liability can be costly. The Church doesn't want to pay for insurance to cover pageant-related liabilities.
(4) The pageants involve men wearing makeup.
(5) The pageants are held on Church-owned properties. (The Hill Cumorah was purchased by ChurchCo during the reign of Heber J. Grant.) More profitable uses are probably being planned right now. Possibly deluxe underground bunkers for the Top Leader Guys, with sweatshop factories off to the side.
“Possibly deluxe underground bunkers for the Top Leader Guys...”
My friend was an electrician who worked on the Conference Center. He told me that underground there are indeed bunkers with 6 ft concrete walls for the big guys.
Yep! Once they purge 'mormon' from the vocabulary of The Natural Man, things are going to take off! TCOJCOL-dS will be catapulted into not only national prominence, but world domination! <cackle cackle!>
Pageants must go because having fun while doing anything involving the church is a major victory for Satan. Don't fret, the handcart treks will continue.