And, takes his extended family with him. Today's Trib;

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/12/20/wealthiest-utah-native/

Love this. Love this. Love this. What a resignation! Class and elegance.

So well spoken. Doing the right thing because they recognized it when they saw it. It's all well and good and is important to leave cerebrally because the truth on Joseph and the rest comes out. But I left on a gut feeling and on what was in my heart and I love reading what these fine people had to say.

My favorite line, “Something was not clicking for me intuitively."

Something for me was not only not clicking for me back at BYU in 73 but was actually eating me alive. I had no "anti" information, but I knew in my gut what came out of SWK was poison.

Heart. Empathy. These are mutually exclusive with Mormonism.s These people just knew it. I am glad the focus of the article was not on Joseph or the BoM or BoA or any of the rest.

He was only 'Speaking as a man-billionaire'

GNPE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> He was only 'Speaking as a ma&pa-billionaire'


The best way to speak is with your wallet, and your feet... He took his wallet... and his feet came with him.

Way to go, family

EVERYONE Is Happy/ Happier Now
Except those 'Stuck' in "the 'church'"

I'd like to read it. Alas, the Trib no longer allows me to freeload on BoJ's subscription.

I clicked on the link and it let me read the whole thing. I don't have a subscription. I guess Jesus was looking out for me today. First time ever.

I just went back to it and it won't let me in. Truly made my day the way he put everything and his relatives too.

They probably allow two or three per month. Since the site gets linked here frequently, I'm probably over the limit 99% of the time.

Call an Uber or a friend. You've had a little too much to think.

Clear your "history", then clear "Browsing Data". you'll be good to go.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2021 12:51PM by stillanon.

I can't get in without paying. I'm not sure it is worth it for this.

Can we at least say who it is? Maybe share what his shelf issue was?

Clear your "history", then clear "Browsing Data". You'll be good to go. If you need more details let me know.

It didn't work. I'll keep trying when I can muster the interest any further. Thanks!

Jeff T. Green, who is giving 600,000 to what appears to be a gay rights organization. I get that before being blocked.

Thanks, stillanon. I tried but it didn't work. I'm okay without the article since I agree with Mr. Green!

Thanks! I guessed it was a gay tolerance issue.

Check fox 13 site, it's probably the same story.

Finally, somebody suggested an ethical work-around.

Green and family and friends quit the church about 10 years ago but resigned this public way in the paper as he called out the church on all of their "sins". He chastised them for taking the widow's mite to get the $100 billion and took them to task on all they do including their racism, and treatment of LGBTQ, etc.

He said in his resignation all that we all usually would like to say and have known. Jospeh Smith's absurd founding of the church aside, none of them want anything to do with and organization that acts the way the Mormon Church does. Also noted that attending church didn't enrich his life at all. He is an RM and most of the ones who resigned were.

That is what I remember reading.

dagny Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks! I guessed it was a gay tolerance issue.


Tolerance?

He couldn't TOLERATE the Mormon 'church' and it's pittiful, hard-hearted MISleaders Any More.

It sounds like he's saying he can't tolerate hate!

OK Step by step for windows users. Click on the link. When it pulls up and wont let you in, leave that page open. Then, click on the 3 vertical dots on the top right of your browser bar. Hover your pointer over the "History " (4 rows down.) It automatically bring up a box to the left, which also has "History" Click on that. Then, it will bring up your most recent history, the Trib link should be the first one. Check that box, then go all the way right to 3 vertical dots. click on that and it will bring up 2 options. Click on the "more from this site" option, It will bring up all the Trib sites that you visited. Check each box and hit the "delete" button on the top right. It will take a second to remove. Then it leaves you with a blank screen with options on your left. One says "Clear browsing Data" Click on that. Then there's a "clear data" button on the lower right. click that. then, wait a minute and refresh the Trib story that you have open, and you're good for 4 more Trib articles. Rinse and repeat as necessary. It sound a lot more complicated that it really is. After you do it a few times, you can do it with your eyes closed. Let me know if you did it. Thanks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2021 02:35PM by stillanon.

We've identified the problem: I'm a bookish nerd--meaning I use Macs--and not the sort of nerd who gets paid a lot of money!

Alas, would that I could return to third grade and make sure I could do long division!

Thanks for that. I can see it can be useful. I learned something!

However, after I got them all deleted, it still says for subscribers only and blocked me out (which is fair).

Did you follow the second step and clear browsing data? Then refresh your article?

I think she means exactly what
she reported, that the article
is not part of the general
broadcast to the WWW, with a
per month limit; rather it is
ONLY available to subscribers
and thus is not available to her.

But I can read it just fine and I'm not a subscriber.

You must be under your limit for the month.

I read several articles per day on average

Are you reading them on your Blackberry?

Mostly on my PC, occasionally on my ipad, or on my phone if away from home.

No. Her history shows she's past 3 articles a month. Her history/data tells the Trib website exactly that. I just showed her how to clear the history to make it accessible. Don't walk into a minefield that you haven't figured out.

Thanks. I'll figure it out eventually.

Journalists need to make a living too though.

Daily Beast has the article-
https://www.thedailybeast.com/utahs-richest-native-jeff-green-blasts-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-in-resignation-letter

Hey, could Romney now quit?

notachance

https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/billionaire-utahn-resigns-from-the-lds-church

Here is another link.

    Wealthiest Utah native resigns
    from the LDS Church

    “The church is actively and
    currently doing harm in the
    world,” advertising tech
    billionaire Jeff T. Green
    writes to President Russell
    M. Nelson.  

    He is donating $600,000 to
    Equality Utah.

    Utah native Jeff T. Green,
    believed to be the wealthiest
    Utah-born pledged last month
    to give away at least 90% of
    his wealth at or his death.

    Green now lives in Southern
    California.  He's the head
    of the firm he started in
    2009, valued at $5 billion.

    The former mormon missionary &
    and BYU grad won’t be giving
    any of his money to the church.

    Green is resigning, along with
    11 family members and a friend.

    “Although I have deep love for
    many Mormons and gratitude for
    many things that have come into
    my life through Mormonism, I
    have not considered myself a
    member for many years, and I’d
    like to make clear to you and
    others that I am not a member,”
    Green wrote to Crusty Rusty.

    “While I left the Mormon church
    more than a decade ago ... I
    have not officially requested
    the removal of my records, until
    now.”

    ...ost members “are good people
    trying to do right, I believe the
    church is actively and currently
    doing harm in the world. The
    church leadership is not honest
    about its history, its finances,
    and its advocacy. I believe the
    Mormon church has hindered global
    progress in women’s rights, civil
    rights and racial equality, and
    LGBTQ+ rights.”

    Because of Green’s views on LGBTQ
    rights, he has chosen Equality Utah
    for his family foundation’s first
    major donation — $600,000.

    “We made this investment sizable
    and publicly to send a message that
    Equality Utah isn’t going anywhere.
    It is my hope and that ... this is
    the first of many contributions to
    Utah.”

    
    The article then goes on, quite
    eloquently, to cover the stories of
    the disaffection of Green's sister,
    brother, and Green's best friend
    growing up.

    He acknowledges the strength and
    purpose growing up in his tight-knit
    community and the sense of purpose
    his mission gave him.  But then we
    get the classic, 'I started reading
    church history and fell down ye olde
    Rabbit Hole..."

    The article ends with a line from his
    letter to Nelson: “Believing Mormons
    often accuse those who leave of doing
    so for simple or petty or even demonic
    reasons—this isn't my story, I stopped
    believing & attending out of principle.”

‘Tis a marvelous work and a wonder!

It is a rather long article by newspaper standards, and a fair number of the resigned spoke on the record. The reasons for leaving were the ones we typically read here. They have pedigree pioneer roots, BYU degrees, temple marriages. They live in places like South Jordan, and Farmington, both very LDS SLC suburbs.

This paragraph I think gets to the heart of the matter:

While most members “are good people trying to do right, I believe the church is actively and currently doing harm in the world. The church leadership is not honest about its history, its finances, and its advocacy,” he writes. “I believe the Mormon church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights.”

As for why the donation to Equality Utah:

“We made this investment sizable and publicly to send a message that Equality Utah isn’t going anywhere,” Green says. “It is my hope and that of my foundation [Dataphilanthropy] that this is the first of many contributions to Equality Utah.”

He notes that “almost half of the funds will go to a new scholarship program to help LGBTQ+ students in Utah,” including those who “may need or want to leave BYU.”


I think for a lot of TBMs, especially millennials, this will be, if not the final straw, certainly one more brick on the shelf, if I may mix metaphors. There may be some interesting conversations at Christmas.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2021 01:39PM by Brother Of Jerry.

> He notes that “almost half of the funds will go
> to a new scholarship program to help LGBTQ+
> students in Utah,” including those who “may
> need or want to leave BYU.”

That is a brilliant idea. Can you imagine how many suicides such assistance will prevent? How many people it would have saved when, under Dallin Oak's presidency, BYU was not [sic] torturing gay kids?

That's really great news about the scholarship program. LGBTQ+ kids will now have a better opportunity to get an education free of religious prejudice.

I'm wondering if there will be any remorse in the COB.

GNPE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm wondering if there will be any remorse in the
> COB.

Isn't remorse a feeling?

I can’t figure out why Ken Jennings is still a Joseph Smith-er.

There are many whom I imagine being in a similar situation, assuming that his intellect has whispered to him that mormonism is man-made: Turns out it is the better part of valor to just skate along on the same path of practically everyone you know. Isn't there a point in the financial life of the very well off when tithing is an important tax break?

Yes, it's a type of moral cowardice, but if there is no Eternal Truth, then there are no Eternal Consequences; you're just going along to get along.

Not all of us have the moral fiber of, say, ...    Well, never mind.

Like maybe getting the attention of dumb mule sometimes, you have to launch a plan to try and get their sure attention, firstly.

Then you might be about halfway there.

I applaud this guy and his family for conspicuously departing, and for good reason. Mormons revere “success,” so this will make an impact. At the same time, seeing where his donation is going, most morgbots will be able to put this on their shelves as them “wanting to sin,” or not being able to keep their Mormon “standards.”

Perhaps the more forward-thinking Mormons (especially the younger ones,) will see where his donation is going, and it will make an impression on them. It may in some cases cause them to assess their own values.

Let’s hope so!

Moral courage is in very short supply. Those who practice it also gain it’s benefit: peace of mind and self-respect.

Those two things are worth giving up nearly everything else.

The faithful will dismiss it because it perfectly fits the BoM narrative of people prospering and then hardening their hearts against the gospel because of their wealth.

I sense a lot of SS and SM talks starting with "Man cannot serve God and Mammon" and that rich man with the camel and the eye of the needle verse.

The billionaire has given many a platform to showcase their great faith and industrial strength testimonies. They'll show that stiff-necked sinner!

Good coverage of it here...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10334529/Utahs-richest-man-tech-CEO-Jeff-T-Green-worth-4-6-billion-cuts-ties-Mormon-church.html

Does anyone have a copy of the letter he sent with his resignation?

NYT link

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/21/us/jeff-green-resigns-lds.html?searchResultPosition=1

“ Jeff T. Green, the chief executive of a technology firm, said he was leaving because of the church’s wealth and stance on social issues such as gay rights.”

<SNIP>

“ In the letter, Mr. Green, 44, asked for his records to be removed from the church and for his only other contact from the organization to be a letter confirming that he was no longer a member. One of his friends and 11 of his family members were also resigning, he said.

“Kathleen Flake, a professor of Mormon studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said this sort of formal exit from the church was similar to a renunciation of citizenship. To return to the church, a person would have to be rebaptized.”



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2021 09:45PM by Beth.

More snipping

“Mr. Green, who now lives in Southern California, was also critical of the church’s wealth, which includes an investment fund paid for with contributions by members. The fund had $48 billion worth of stocks as of Sep. 30, according to SEC filings.


“ ‘This money comes from people, often poor, who wholeheartedly believe you represent the will of Jesus,’ Mr. Green wrote. ‘They give, expecting the blessings of heaven.’”

<SNIP>

“ He told The Tribune that almost half the money [Green is donating] would go to a scholarship fund for students in Utah, including those who ‘may need or want’ to leave Brigham Young University, which is sponsored by the church and has an honor code that prohibits same-sex ‘romantic behavior.’ “



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2021 09:54PM by Beth.

Wouldn't it be wild if it were documented that some bishop somewhere was making people pay tithing before he'd allow them to be rebaptized?