LDS Inc. - part 13

President Monson's home

(by Dan Peterson sic et non blog)

Well, Church finances are really in the news in the wake of the Washington Post‘s “exposé.”  And it seems that my little informal and chatty series on “LDS Inc.” was remarkably well-timed if not altogether prescient.  So much so that some of my more unhinged critics are smelling a conspiracy behind it.

But the claims made in the Post aren’t being received with universal genuflection.

Here, for example, is a piece by the estimable Tad Walch at the Deseret News:

“Church responds to allegations made by former employee in IRS complaint”

And here are some comments by Jana Riess, who is not at all unwilling to criticize the institutional Church and its leaders:

“How persuasive is whistleblower’s claim the LDS church is hiding wealth from the IRS?”

And here is a response by a plainly non-Latter-day Saint contributor to the financial magazine Forbes:

“$100 Billion In Mormon Till Does Not Merit IRS Attention”

My friend Tom Pittman instructively juxtaposes two propositions asserted by the so-called “whistleblower” in this case:

1.  These are donated funds and they should be used for charitable purposes.
2. A sizeable proportion of them should be given to me, as the whistleblower.

***

I ran across the claim yet again just this morning, in connection with a report that a real estate organization affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is looking to buy a substantial piece of property in London, that what “the Church” intends to expend on the building is far more than what it expends per year on humanitarian aid.

I’ve been mocked for belaboring the point — a point that should be obvious to anybody thinking clearly about the topic — that an “expenditure” on an investment (e.g., a deposit in a bank account, or a purchase of property, or any other means of storing wealth for future use) is fundamentally different from an “expenditure” on a non-investment (e.g., on a wedding reception, a crate of expensive wine, or, for that matter, a charitable gift).

But the difference is crucial.

Those who claim, often in an accusatory tone, that the Church “spends” more on investments than on actual charity — an accusation, by the way, that appears to be false with respect to the Church as a whole — could, with far greater justice, level precisely the same charge against virtually every charitable foundation in existence.  Does the Rockefeller Foundation have more in investments than it distributes in any given year?  Does the Ford Foundation?  Does the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?  Of course they do.  Could they give all of their assets away within a twelve-month period?  Of course they could.

Should they?  That’s up to them.  It’s not a moral issue.  It’s one of prudence and stewardship.  It’s a decision about which good people can differ.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/2019/12/lds-inc-part-13.html