If you caught the last episode of Real Time, Mahar was annoyed at the claim that Mitt Romney has given millions to charity.

He said flat out that giving to the Mormon church was not charity and in no way was that the same as "giving to the poor."

He made an interesting observation though when he asked, "Have you ever even met a poor Mormon?" the audience and panel was speechless.

It was interesting to me because of course we all have met, known, or even BEEN poor Mormons. But the PR machine of the church has really done well at presenting this facade of Mormonism where someone who is very interested and critical of Mormonism asks the question, "Have you ever met a poor Mormon?" and everyone is speechless.

The funny thing however is that even though there ARE lots of poor Mormons - tithing money is not used to help them.

Unless they are going to college. But only of it's a BYU. And even then it is still expensive.

there is a late night radio show host in Utah with the same last name as Mitt. they are related. the radio show host is a real self infatuated JERK, much like Mitt. The radio show host has a real hard on over the thought of Mitt becoming U.S. Pres. The radio show host was going on and on about the tons of money that Mitt gave away to charity. I wanted to call in and call BS on him.
Ppl with lots of money like mitt dont just give money away.
They dont get to the point of having tons of money by giving money away. THERE ARE ALWAYS HUGE STRINGS ATTACHED ! THERE ARE ALWAYS HIDDEN BACK ROOM DEALS IN EFFECT. ALWAYS!

see ppl like Mitt get away with that deceitful antics like that and the next thing your know they think that they can get away with more BS like telling ppl they had a really hard time getting through BYU.

the real MORmON way of doing business

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NxEf1-3RJg

"Have you ever met a poor Mormon?"

I haven't heard that sentiment before. Do people really think that Mormons are rich? I always thought of Mormons as that one family in the neighborhood living in the stinky, run-down house with too many kids and lots of yelling.

I'm going to have to watch that episode.

Of course there are poor mormons - but this isn't a religious sect devoted to voluntary poverty. To be respected in mormon culture means to be wealthy or famous, or (best of all) both.

So while many of us might be able to name a poor mormon, few could name a mormon who has taken a voluntary vow of poverty. The latter is not an esteemed virtue in materialistic mormon society, because in their view it demonstrates a lack of "blessings" - for which the root cause can only be lack of commitment, failure to tithe sufficiently, etc.

When the back-story is understood, the humor in Maher's statement is apparent.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2012 11:07AM by 3X.

I have to agree they have this idea that Mormons are so normal and the ritch ones make a big thing of benig mornons but the poor ones well you dont see them so much and I was one. Besides I'm sure thres many mormons that actualy do leave because the choice between tytheing and eating got to be to unconftable to make.

Poor mormons dont exist because you ether have to be ritch to pay tything or so poor as you pay that there isnt any chance to see one in public. They dont have the money to do anything in public.

Well I agree. Charitable giving is money that goes to helping those less fortunate. Tithing builds malls, ranches, temples, and chapels. Fast offerings could be construed to be charity, but it is a tiny percentage of what is donated by members.

At least they can't identify the people they see who are Mormon.

The identifiable ones they do see are on reality shows, or movie stars.

So they don't know they've seen poor ones. The poor ones are taught not to blame Mormonism. They try to keep that part quiet.

Great US map, county by county, showing percent of Mormons:
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/mormon.gif

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=397095260324897&set=a.149730225061403.24294.125955227438903&type=1&theater Religion is irrelevant except to the extent that the candidate is likely to try to push it into his governance of the country. Obama does none of that. Romney has already demonstrated that a number of his policies will be based on his religious dogma.

that was very nice. I never enter anything on my facebook account. Expect to flip out some relatives in East Texas shortly.

cult is not poor
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/04/28/maher_on_romney_donating_to_mormon_charities_he_gives_to_his_cult.html Maher On Romney Donating To Mormon Charities: "He Gives To His Cult" Bill Maher responds to S.E. Cupp who claims Mitt Romney gives a lot of his money to charity every year: "I got to call bullshit on that one. All his charitable donations are to Mormons. He gives to his cult."

"They're not poor people," Maher said on "Real Time" this week. "Name one poor Mormon."

Mitt gives to Mormonism - not charity. Mormonism doesn't give to charity - it uses the money it's given to build it's empire, it's malls, it's landholdings etc. It gives just barely enough money to the poor to be able to maintain it's cover and convince the members.

What Maher should have asked is "If it's a charity, why can't we see who is getting the money donated to the Mormon church?" Because there are plenty of poor Mormons because of the tithing requirement, who get little or nothing from the church except demands for more sacrifices and an expectation of keeping up appearances.

He's probably denied temple recomends to non tythe payers that had to choose between food and giveing to the cult.

And he got to get married outside the temple, because money talks in LD$, Inc., so his inlaws could be there but has probably kept people from seeing their children married because they didn't pay a full tithing.

well said.
ca girl, you expressed it better than I have been able to
permission to post your comments elsewhere?
anonymously, of course :}

of course :)

If Mittens did not give tithing to the church, he would not get a temple recommend. How is that giving to charity?

Maybe "I am a Mormon" campaign needs to show a mormon family with lots of children, in the run down house, telling their children there is nothing to eat because tithing comes first -- family is second.

dk - you are right. It's not charity, it's extortion. They are very literally holding your family hostage for eternity if you don't pay up:

If you don't pay tithing, you can't go to the temple.
If you don't go to the temple, you can't be sealed together as a family.
If you aren't sealed by the power of the Holy Priesthood, you will not be with your family in the eternities.

Conclusion: Pay us our money or we will make sure that you are separated from your loved ones forever.

I think tithing should count just the same as money donated to all of those fake charities that got exposed after 9-11 would also count.

forbiddencokedrinker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think tithing should count just the same as
> money donated to all of those fake charities that
> got exposed after 9-11 would also count.

I would have to agree with this. If you are using it as an argument to the giver's willing to give, it counts. It may be mislead, but it is a voluntary (or, I suppose, brainwashed extortion) gift. It may not actually do anybody in real need any real good, but it is a gift made out of sincere faith. The object of that faith is what we are all critical of.

If Romney left Mormonism (esp. the way his brother did) and was no longer receiving political favors / promises of eternity for it, would he put that tithing money to other, more giving charities?

Dennis Prager, generally a good, common sense radio host, went a little nutty yesterday about this whole Maher/cult/charity thing and had a couple of callers talk about how the mormon church takes care of its own (one catholic caller even said they helped him clean up after a tornado). Prager's view is that he doesn't care as much about how nutty a belief system is as long as the people in it are good and moral. One of these days I'm going to call in and ask what he thinks about a business based on a church that is based on proveably made-up crapola.

My wife and I once lived in a very affluent ward due to a ward boundary fluke and had gone through some serious financial hardship. We received help(rent for about 6 months), and some good advice about our marriage, from the bishop at the time.

And while the help was needed and appreciated, he once said to me "we can't all be salt of the earth".

I do not know what he meant by that statement, but it sure did rub me the wrong way. I was working 100 hrs a week at the time to try and dig my family out of the hole we had dug ourselves. It was part of the motivation I have carried with me for over 15 years since then to succeed financially(which I have).

TSCC - With friends like these...

Someone ought to give Maher a reality check. There are lot's of poor mormons. Pretty much every mormon I know is poor or lower middle class. He's right about mormon charity though. There was a time when the mormon church provided jobs and income to poor mormons, a time when you atleast in theory could get financial help in times of trouble, a time when atleast they did something. That time is long gone, nowdays you won't even get help even if your'e starving to death.

God knows where the fast offerings go nowdays but it certainly isn't going to charity. And never did my family, although at many times dirt poor, get any money from the church. The members gave us old clothes and lot's of it, I hardly ever wore clothes that we had bought in a store, but that didn't come from the bishops storehouse, it came from well-meaning members and friends.

Other churches are providing food and shelter for homeless people, wether christian or not, and raise money to community programs. What does the mormon church do? They boast about their fantastic charity without ever providing concrete examples of it. And the little that is done is for mormon members lucky enough to live in north america and nowhere else.

What he probably means is that because Mormons pay 10% to SLC, only rich ones would be stupid enough to be Mormon.

The ones who aren't rich and who couldn't pay 15% would high tail it out of there.

Logically speaking, he's right - except that many are so brainwashed, they live on far less than they should while forking over 10% and by virtue of doing so, become poor.

My family's a good example of that. Without Mormonism, we would probably have done allright. Without Mormonism, my parents wouldn't have felt it necessary to have 8 kids. Without Mormonism, we probably could have taken a few vacations and had our tuition paid by parents instead of loans, etc. We would certainly have had a more flexible food budget and far less stress!

Given the Utah culture of living on credit cards and getting into loans they cannot afford so as to appear "blessed" for their righteousness I can see how Bill would come to that conclusion.

However, maybe Tommyboy can fill Bill in on all the poor widows he has paid visits to. *snort*

In some ways Bill Maher actually gave mormons a compliment they would love to hear. Mormons would love outsiders to believe that being mormon means you will not be poor.

It is completely false though. Plenty of mormons who are poor. Plenty of mormons who are poor because of their own stupid decisions in life. Did hometeaching to a mormon women and her 6 kids. The mom did not work, and lived off of government assistance and what the church gave to her. I guess the church helped her. They also helped her kids have money to buy drugs.

"Charity"?? Sure.

Just like Mitt was a "pastor".

Or being a missionary is "volunteer work".

Or Mormonism is not secret, it's "sacred".

Or the "prophet" is the "president".

Mahar should have exmormons on his show -- to lay it all out.