LOL there is nothing that says religion should be a democracy. However, your comparison of LDS to a dictatorship is valid...the profit is comparable to a "dear leader" that must be obeyed.
Your user name rings a bell. Many, many years ago I was a graduate student at BYU. Oaks was the new president. He was going around the campus being briefed on research projects. He showed up for a review of mine. It was a bit windy outside. The first thing Oaks did when he came inside was to whip out a comb and comb his hair. I don't remember anything else about our interaction. But that part stands out.
Their desire for power extends to the secular realm. Their recent push to rewrite legislation mere days after the people voted to have medical marijuana legalized only shows their arrogance and complete lack of respect for others and the democratic process.
Since when has any religion been a democracy? They are all patterned after our loving Heavenly Father who rules with a loving hand or an iron fist depending on which side of the bed he got out of that day. Either he'll find your car keys or kill your first born. And no, you don't get a vote on it. In fact, zip it and do as you are told.
Mormonism used to be a theocracy. Joseph Smith was prophet and mayor of the largest city in Illinois. He was commander of a state militia a quarter of the size of the US army.
That ended when Joseph violated the first amendment and destroyed the free press and while waiting for his trial he was shot to death by a mob. Why did the mob want Joseph gone? He was running a theocracy and combined church and state and was out of control.
Then after Joseph's demise Brigham Young isolated the church and grew another theocracy until the US Government broke it up. Now the church is a privately held corporation that has a lot of political influence in the intermountain west.
This was the first thing I noticed when I became more active in the church rather than just attending here and there with friends. My life had been free reign up until then, and I found the patriarchy and bossy ladies in the church not to my liking in the least.
An example: At Relief Society, not knowing the rules, I raised my hand to make a comment (or rather correct the sister giving the lesson) on the wrong literature she was presenting. All hell broke loose, most of those in the class turned to give dirty looks and see who it was that was being so bold while the teacher railed that what she was teaching was right from the manual and, of course, she was sure it was right, not me.
At this moment in time I had had enough small incidents in the church to know that compared to the university, which I was attended at the time, where questions and discussion were encouraged, the Mormon church was waaay down on my list as a place I cared to be.
The end had begun.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2018 08:24PM by presleynfactsrock.