LDS Mormonism is a corporation: The Corporation of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While many liberals see corporations as sinister entities, working evil in the world in a godless quest for the almighty dollar, corporations are tools of human fashioning. We do have the power to regulate them. At least I hope we do.
I have been reading up on Scientology. It is an unusual belief system, but as a Mormon I have very little room to criticize it for its strangeness. One reporter in Rolling Stone magazine suggested that Scientology inflates its membership numbers. There are, so she claims, far fewer Scientologists than they have led people to believe.
Still, they have plenty of money. So much money that they have been able to fund several large headquarters in different US cities. The real estate alone must be incredibly expensive. Where do they get all their money? For one thing, their "e-meter" sessions cost a fair amount, and like Freemasonic initiation, the price increases the higher you advance in the system. They have no problem encouraging clients to go into debt for their treatments.
They also have some high profile, celebrity members (Tom Cruise, Beck, Isaac Hayes) who have undoubtedly contributed some serious cash to the cause.
Being a corporate entity, like the Mormon Church, it is conceivable that Scientology could sustain itself through its investments and business possessions. I have no idea what kind of portfolio they have, nor do I care to know. I simply find the possibility of a corporate church with vast holdings and diminishing members extremely intriguing. Theoretically, one could have a guilded temple with no parishoners.
The LDS Church brings in over several billion dollars a year in tithing. Members, like my wife and I, pay ten percent of our income to the LDS Church every year. On top of that we are expected to pay additional offerings to feed the poor in the local unit. The latter I have little issue with. The former, according to personal belief, is presumed to belong to God. Business has been very kind to the Almighty, at least in the case of the LDS Church. Different parties have estimated their holdings to be tens of billions of dollars in value.
Like Scientology, they have some wealthy members: CEOs, owners of giant corporations, and the like. If these folks tithe, then they are contributing far more than I ever will. But again, is it possible that the LDS Church could sustain itself as a corporation as its members dwindle in number? The LDS Church also inflates its numbers. It allegedly counts everyone in its records, some long after they have removed their names, or converted to another religion. How can they keep up with all of that change anyway?
No harm, no foul. I guess. It bothers me to think that the tithing we pay may be committed to the fight against gay marriage, or some other worthless project like that. I have no problem giving God his due. I just wish he would find nicer estate managers.
