What Do the Mormons Do With $100 Billion


It's been a year since a whistle blower revealed the Mormon $100 billion fund. What happened since then is a window, or lack of a window, into Big Church money.

From what I have read the Mormon church is big into tithing and its members are faithful about doing it. Apparently the high level clergy are not into a flamboyant spending and the result is cash reserves outside of what anyone could have imagined. 

During the past year some windows into this money, who makes decision about it and what it is used for, opened just a bit. Legal questions have been raised about the tax exempt status. Mostly, though, nothing much has changed. 

The link suggests some aid is giving to struggling Mormon families. One can imagine that with this much money the ability to market the faith in this country and all over the world is bigger than most other branches of the faith. If anyone wants to know which religions are expanding most rapidly look at the money. 

I don't know how the Catholic church is organized but every year or so I read the Pope has reorganized again its financial controls. Apparently there have been many sources of cash inflow and decentralized power to spend. Thus, there are luxury homes and private jets for some but not for all. Recently there was yet another reorganization to centralize money management in Rome. When I read about the vast property holdings of the Catholic Church I'm skeptical of those dioceses that declare bankruptcy rather than pay victims of sexual abuse.

For all the complaints about "big government" in the U.S., there is little government control of big religion. Joel Osteen and Jimmy Swaggart have several huge homes each. Homes of ministers get a tax break. Homes worth millions of dollars like Osteen's get really big breaks. 

I think it would be healthy for both our country and religion to tax religion just as a private business is taxed.

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