Then I saw this article about the initial rebuilding costs in Haiti being $3 billion. Don’t forget, $3 billion is how much the LDS church is spending on their mall/condo building project.
Then I heard that just last month the LDS Church bought 3,152 acres in Florida for $31.7 million.
This month the church bought another 13 acres in downtown Salt Lake City for an undisclosed amount.
This past week the church announced they’re building another temple, this one in Payson, Utah.
Yet, with all this spending the church has the gall to ask their members to give, give, give so they can help Haiti. Don’t forget, the members already give 10% of their income {and more} to the church fully believing that the church is doing God’s work, helping the sick and afflicted, the poor, you know…the stuff Jesus taught? Never mind that estimates place the LDS church at giving a mere $3-4 per member to the poor each year {and I’ve seen estimates even lower than that}. Never mind that the LDS church is estimated to give LESS THAN ONE PERCENT to the poor. Never mind that WAL-MART {the store many people think is downright evil} gives MORE to charitable work {1.5%} than the LDS church does. Never mind all that, just pay, pray and obey!
Here’s another disturbing tidbit:
"In 1997, U.S. congregations of the similarly sized Evangelical Lutheran Church in America raised $11.8 million in cash donations for worldwide hunger. The same year it raised $3.64 million for domestic and international disaster response, for a one-year humanitarian cash total of $15.44 million, more than half the amount the LDS provided over fourteen years." P. 129, Mormon America , Richard Ostling {via MormonThink}So, keeping all that in mind, I was more than a little annoyed when I received the following e-mail from a Mr. Barret Christensen from LDS Philanthropies:
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Hello,
I found your blog online and noticed that you might have an affinity to the work the LDS Church is doing down in Haiti. If this is the case we officially launched a giving/informational widget for Church members to use on their personal blogs and social networks.
If you would be willing we would love to have you post this widget on your blog and social networks, to help spread the word and raise money for the cause. In the first three days of the widgets launch we have raised almost $100K. It has traveled to 89 countries and 54 different languages. We would love to keep it moving. If you have any questions please feel free to send me an email. You are also welcome to forward this email on to other LDS bloggers and social media users.
To share it, click on the “share” button which will expose the embed code for your blog or website. It will also allow you to post it to the more popular social networks.
Three methods for posting:
1: Here is a link: http://farm.sproutbuilder.com/load/swD1vM0bH6iRezSa.swf?_ts=1264353886&v=1264353880515
2: Here is an image of the widget that has the link embedded in it.
3: If you lose track of the widget you can always find it on the LDS Philanthropies, Humanitarian Services Site. http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/humanitarian-services/
Regards,
Barett
BARETT CHRISTENSEN DONOR SERVICES, LDS PHILANTHROPIES.
801-422-1940 (w) | 801-234-9587 (m) | christensenbt@ldschurch.org , barett@byu.eduLinkedIn: Personal, Business Personal, Business :Facebook
YouTube: Business Personal :Twitter
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
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My response?
You clearly didn't bother READING what I had to say about the LDS church and Haiti. I wouldn't give a DIME to the LDS Church. If they really want to help Haiti they can sell their $3 billion dollar mall and send them the money.
Mormon 8:37 For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
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As for the notice at the end of the message, tough luck. You sent me an UNSOLICITED e-mail asking me to help make you money. Your church has MORE THAN ENOUGH MONEY TO HELP HAITI. STOP increasing the burden on your trusting members. USE THE MONEY THEY’VE ALREADY GIVEN YOU. AND READ MY #$&*ING POST BEFORE YOU ASSUME I’M INTERESTED IN YOUR WIDGET.
And, because I think it deserves to be repeated, here’s that scripture again {from the Book of Mormon}:
Mormon 8:37 For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.Grrrrrrr.
Arrrrrrgh.
I wanted to write an eloquent post. But you know what? I’m too damn angry. I gave thousands and thousands of dollars to this church thinking I was helping make the world better, helping the poor. I shudder to think how few student loans I’d have to repay {if any} had I not been giving 10% of my pre-tax income to that dishonest organization. And I can’t stand watching loved ones, friends and family, handing over their hard-earned pay under the same {false} assumption. I can’t stand watching them ask for MORE money to help Haiti when they have MORE than enough. I can’t stand the utter hypocrisy of a church that preaches one thing and practices another.
I just can’t stand it.
If YOU can’t stand it either please share this post and my last post {via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, whatever} with anyone you think needs to know about this travesty.
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