SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Another thing to note is that religious orgs, by-in-large, run off donations through tithes and offerings. I know we're all thinking of the O'Steens, TD Jakes and the other charlatans on TBN. The types that charter private planes, and have subsidiaries.

Truthfully, they're really the minority when we consider that they fall under the same umbrella as the countless sub-100 person congregations like 1st Baptist on MLK Jr Blvd in lower San Fransisco or Iglesia de Christo on San Mateo Blvd in Albuquerque.

(Thoughtful comments appreciated with downvotes; thanks.)

"My mother was a great delegator. Each Saturday morning as my brothers and sisters and I were growing up, we received housecleaning assignments from her. Her instructions to us had been learned from her mother: “Be certain you clean thoroughly in the corners and along the mopboards. If you are going to miss anything, let it be in the center of the room.”

She knew very well if we cleaned the corners, she would never have a problem with what was left in the center of the room. That which is visible to the eye would never be left unclean.

Over the years, my mother’s counsel has had enormous application to me in many different ways. It is especially applicable to the task of spiritual housecleaning. The aspects of our lives that are on public display usually take care of themselves because we want to leave the best impression possible. But it is in the hidden corners of our lives where there are things that only we know about that we must be particularly thorough to ensure that we are clean."

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It seems like they took the exact opposite approach. Secret, backroom dealing to hide how much money the faith had to avoid scrutiny over what they are doing with this money. It is to avoid accountability to their own members and the world at large. And it's not surprising that they do this, when they demonstrate almost no accountability to their members when it comes to transparency because members have been lulled into a "god is at the helm, don't worry about it" mentality.

The tax exempt status of religious organizations is an enormous investment that the United States created. I could see at some point that being a worthwhile investment. There are many organizations that do a lot of good. But is that the current dynamic? Is that investment of the USA getting a good return if you consider how many religious organizations hoard the wealth they accumulate, enrich their leaders, and the community they operate in gets very little in return. I helped a member of the LDS faith with some bills last year. These people have paid 10% of their income to their faith for years. I asked them why they asked me for help and not their faith. They said their local leader said they were unwilling to help them with certain bills.

So society is subsidizing the LDS faith with tax benefits in the hope that they do tremendous good, but instead we get hidden finances to avoid scrutiny, and members (not always, but often) not being able to rely on them as a safety net in tough times. There are, of course, times they can rely on them. But overall, does the tax exempt status of religions make sense? Are we getting the return on investment that we hope from this decision to not tax them?

I do not believe we are.