I just posted this same question in another site, but I wanted more peoples' opinions. The corporation (I can't call it a church any more) apparently cannot go for more than two days without doing something stupid. Will the leadership ever figure out that something needs to change?

I guess as long as they have proud parents who like to boast about their children's prowess as missionaries, the organization is secure. But it seems to me that that is all they have left as far as contributions to society. Thoughts? Thank you.

The data from the Canadian census should be eye opening to the corporate leaders. The drop in membership is precipitous. Unfortunately we cannot obtain such accurate info in the US.

Correlation has drained the life out of the organization.

There is little to no joy to being a member. It is mostly drab meetings and attempts to obtain corporate goals that have little benefit to individual members.

Money. I mentioned awhile back that DW ran into an active Mormon. She was selling her home because she could not afford it anymore. If she stopped paying tithing she would be fine. Paying tithing is a huge burden for many families.

The current inflation should be eye-opening to members as well. Suddenly their paychecks are not going as far, and family budgets are getting squeezed. Tithing on top of that? It's an unfair expectation for many if not most members.

I've long said that a smarter leadership would send more money back to the wards for social events. Also, give the RS their freedom once again to raise and spend money as they see fit. Return the fun aspects to the church, and it might help. The leadership loses sight of the fact that local churches/wards are about more than just spirituality. They are also communities, and community members need to have fun. This would be an easy fix, but the leadership refuses to do it.

Instead, they are putting up more temples. I guess the mentality is, "build it, and they will come." Increasingly, that is not the case. Yes, the church leadership is seriously out of touch, and I don't see that changing.

In my younger days, I was called as a Cub Scout coordinator, since I was business minded.

I raised more money than Young Womens and the Scouting program did combined every year, and the Bishop worked with me on activities for the Cub Scouts. It was for everybody, I had all kinds of boys in the pack that were not LDS. We had top notch Blue and Gold banquets, the pinewood derby was an event everybody loved. My Cub Scout leaders made sure that the boys had lots of fun and interesting meetings. Awards\Badge meetings were a family event, and everybody came. I used to have Stake Leaders stand in the wings and watch, they loved our events.

When I was a youth, we had Water Skiing, camping deep in the woods of Idaho just off the snake river, we went river rafting, winter camps that tested your skills, tubing, hiking, and all kinds of other things.

Then as you say, they sucked the life out of it, by the time I got to my fourties, it was near unbearable and all about money. Since I stopped giving the church anything, I can say that I have been very blessed, my financial situation has improved beyond measure. So this notion of blessings come with paying tithing is bunk, all my TBM neightbors struggle because they are debt leveraged up to their neck with second mortgages, credit cards, to keep paying their tithing.

Religion is such a con, and like so many others, they will not realize it until they are sucked dry.

" . . .that is all they have left as far as contributions to society."


Your line made me chuckle. I think the correct term may be "withdrawals from society." At least in a sense that they are withdrawing money like society is their own personal bank.

And they withdrew from any brotherhood of a society from the very beginning in Nauvoo as they were "in the world but not of the world" right from the start and had even the Governor ready to take action for their deplorable behavior. But, today all they get Is a little side eye from society when what they want is to be front page news again. The visit to the Pope says it all.

As a corporation it is a financial powerhouse that did not "earn it's money the old fashioned way" but did take advantage of the religion tax exemptions and loves the mites of widows.

As a church, it should now be called the Church of Grabbing at Straws. All the wrong straws at that. Their mode of operation humanity-wise is, however, done the old fashioned way--Old Testament God style.


Can a church be bi-polar?

I don't live in Happy Valley.

The latest is a pair of exposes from Canada and Australia- including lawsuit talk- regarding claims of charitable contributions by the Corporation that resulted in potentially massive tax fraud. Check it out here and in some reddits.

I would like to know the concentration of anti-depressants in the waste water of Happy Valley.