The Salt Lake Tribune is running an article about the criminal charges filed against Thomas S Monson by a UK magistrate judge:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57500721-78/church-mormon-phillips-lds.html.csp
It's not illegal for a church to preach whatever it wants, and it's not illegal for a church to accept money from it's followers. However, the UK's Fraud Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud_Act_2006) criminalizes coercing money from people on the basis of false representation.
This is not a religious matter. Neither the LDS nor any other church need to fear lawsuits for preaching that Jesus is the Christ nor any other religious belief. These charges have to do with members allegedly being coerced into paying tithing on the basis of six factual historical claims (not beliefs) that can potentially be disproven in a court of law. (These six claims are listed in the sidebar of the SLTrib article.)
I know this is a potentially contentious topic, so I don't expect a response to this. But I look forward to getting answers to some of the questions I have, either way.
3 comments:
Sorry, that you have to continue to attack the church. The charges were not filed by a judge. The charges were filed by an apostate such as yourself. The judge just allowed them to be filed. If you want to quit the church, just do so. No one is forcing you to stay. However, the fact that you like other apostates continue to attack the church indicates that it is more than just that you no longer believe. You have some under lying hatred for the church leading you to attack it. I believe you are being led by Satan to do this. If it was just a matter of unbelief, you would go your separate way from the church and be happy ever after instead of letting this hatred eat away at you. We will pray that you find joy in life. Anger against others belief will destroy you physically and mentally. Uncle Bob
Robert,
All I seek is the truth. I don't understand why anyone would view truth-seeking as an "attack"? Please read D&C 71:7-10. If the Church is honest, President Monson will boldly appear in court to testify like Abinadi before King Noah and like Paul before the Romans.
Here is why the charges were leveled:
http://journeyofloyaldissent.wordpress.com/joint-statement-concerning-summonses-served-on-thomas-spencer-monson/
Excerpts: "This is NOT being done out of anger, but out of concern for the many who otherwise, will perhaps one day feel hurt and betrayed, as we presently do."
...
"We believe that any person seeking to join the LDS church in Britain, and all British members wishing to place their trust in the family sealing powers claimed for the LDS temple, first ought to be told, at the very least, why The Book of Abraham is not accepted by the rest of the world as an authentic translation, and why The Book of Mormon has much more in common with a 19th century novel than it has with 1600 year old Native American artefacts; they should also be informed of the real reasons which led to the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, including the shocking details of Joseph Smith’s polygamous and polyandrous extra-marital unions, in the name of God, with women and girls, some as young as 14.
"If, knowing these details, candidates choose to proceed with their baptisms or temple ordinances, none will later be able to claim, as we now do, that they have been deceived."
Post a Comment