http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses_and_governments

According to Wikipedia, Jehovah's Witnesses are banned in Singapore and Moscow. I think it's because it's a cult.

Why haven't they banned the Mormon Church.

There are a lot of countries where the Mormon church is outlawed, none of which I actually want to live in.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2013 11:43PM by jacob.

Yeah...as much as I'm no fan of Mormonism, I can't think I could live in a country where it's outlawed...in fact, everywhere I've been that it IS banned is a nasty place. I'm a baptist, and I know Mormons hate us in particular. But actually, we're the ones (actually John Leland is THE one) who whispered in the ears of Thomas Jefferson and his friends--and Jefferson was no Christian...he was a diest--and said, let's not have a state church, let's not burn heretics.

Someone should compile a list. I would like to see it.

The Mormon church is pervasive so the list is simple. Wherever they are not, they cannot be. Primarily Communist and Islamic states, none of which are on my list of places to live.

I think they should be shamed, then forced to open their books and pay taxes like decent citizens.

Whatever my personal feelings on the LDS church there, I'm not particularly interested in living somewhere where the government gets to decide whether I should worship god, and if so, how.

Leveraging the power of the state sounds good when it's your enemies you're crushing. But think of it this way: you give the state the power to define what religions are acceptable or unacceptable. Now, your worst enemy has his hands on the levers of power, and can declare what religions are acceptable.

Is that somewhere you'd want to live?

How is your worshipping a financial concern that citizens have to fund through a socialistic entitlement.

If Mormins require buildings to worship, let them pay property taxes on the land and buildings. If the Mormons require donations of 10% to pay for their expenses to worship, find, just don't write it off against your tax bill.

Being Mormon does not lessen your financial responsibilities to your nation.

Mormons preach against others in their doctrines, teachings, and history--that is their religion. Having those targets of derision pay a full tax against their subsidized tax burden is inappropriate against their atheist, homosexual, dark skinned, and former Mormon objects of derision and hate. Their beliefs are constitutional, the free ride is not.

As I've stated elsewhere, my preference would be to eliminate 501c3 and 501c4's entirely, and have taxation be consumption-based; that would eliminate all the wrangling around legitimate vs illegitimate charities and religions.

That said, my argument isn't that the church shouldn't comply with the law. It's that giving the power to declare certain religions illegal is tantamount to tyranny and will almost certainly lead to adverse consequences.

I'm not Mormon anymore, and would probably be considered agnostic. But I still support the right of religious expression. The First Amendment does not exist to protect easy-to-get-along-with religions; it exists to protect the worst of the bunch, whether they be LDS, Scientologists, JW's, or anything else we think is cultic, weird, or otherwise socially unacceptable.

Not in a free country. That's just not the place of the government, and I don't think any of us want to live in some kind of police state, or where only certain religious beliefs are acceptable.
We have equal rights where we live in the US.
Be very, very grateful!

We allow religions here by law.

However, we do outlaw crime, and if you read around on this site long enough (as I have), you will likely note the fallout of criminal activities described. There's a pretty wide variety, most of which would be quite difficult to prove.

IMO the most obvious pattern (just like in many MLMs and other con games) might be considered racketeering, which, of course, is notoriously difficult to nail down. Conmen count on that.

The idea of being able to ban the Mormon church is a bad idea because imagine if an LDS leader had that position. Everyone would be required to be LDS.

Singapore bans the JWs over Military Service. Mormons have no problem serving in the military of the state. Offically Mormons support the local government of whatever nation they reside. I think that is why more places don't take as much issue with them as with the JW's.