Mormon Prop. 8 Video May Put Denomination In Hot Water

Wayne Besen January 15, 2009

From Joe My God (Go here for more info)

Mormon leaders broadcast an hour long training video via satellite to hundreds of churches in 5 states in the weeks leading up to the election. While only 4 minutes of the video was released publicly, ANP has obtained the audio and text of the entire hour. In it, Mormon leaders outline a war plan for assuring the passage of Proposition. They promise to produce “several multimedia pieces” including “print, radio, television, and internet video”, they mention the “blossuming” of yard signs and the establishing of call centers.

But none of these items were accounted for in financial records. Also, protesters are calling for the IRS to strip the church of its tax-exempt status.

About the Author

Wayne Besen is the Founding Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth” (Haworth, 2003). In 2010, Besen was awarded the “Visionary Award” at the Out Music Awards for organizing the American Prayer Hour, an event which shined a spotlight on the role American evangelicals played in the introduction of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

- Facebook

4 Comments

Scott January 18, 2009 at 4:45 pm -

Funny how religious people accuse gay people of being well-funded, well-connected, and have some kind of organized “plan”, when it’s the paranoid schizophrenic religious people who are, and are doing just that.

Rip the tax-exempt status from them.
adrianT January 18, 2009 at 5:11 pm -

Well I hope the IRS follow this up. A perversion of the separation of church and state. Is the Mormon Church a religious or a political organisation?

PS Sorry to go off-topic: ‘But none of these items **was** accounted for in financial records.’ Grammatical truth wins out ;-)
Philip January 20, 2009 at 3:38 pm -

AdrianT, if you’re going to be picky… you didn’t spell organization correctly, above! ;-)
steve January 31, 2009 at 1:07 pm -

… of course, if AdrianT is British, then his spelling of “organisation” is correct.

AND hey… good news about further investigation of the Mormons by the IRS. I hope it happens. Since the 1950′s, the Mormon “church” has been primarily a profit-making corporation, as evidenced by its vast real estate holdings and investments. At the very least, I’d like to see stricter reporting requirements for non-profits. Our tax dollars subsidize their operation, so they should be accountable to the public, and stay out of lobbying and politics. In the case of the Mormons, if their primary activity is religious instruction and development, then they shouldn’t care about disclosing all financial records– everything in there would support the activities of a church, right? Who in the government audits non-profits to make sure they are what they say they are?