I have been working on TMD Volume 4 and developing a final draft which will hopefully result in publication in January 2011. I will post details on my web site Home Page when things are finalised. What prompted the new book was a realisation that the Mormon Church teaches its lies to investigators and suppresses the truth in missionary discussions. A review of the missionary lessons reveals how and why this is cleverly achieved. The truth would drive investigators away before even considering the Church.
Over the last year or two, a couple of friends have been pursuing the Church in the U.K. for copies of documents to which they are legally entitled. Rather than just comply with British law and send copies of the documents (which would cost the Church nothing), they naturally refused for various reasons ranging from confidentiality; entitlement; couldn’t locate them; they are in the States and no longer ‘available’ here; they comply with European Law rather than British law etc. My friends appealed to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) for information and advice and their entitlement was firmly established. Some documents have now been obtained but a few are still outstanding. We await final details of the case which has been lodged with the ICO.
Meanwhile, much of the response material came from Church appointed lawyers rather than Church admin staff, and we thought it must be costing a lot of money which was being wasted for no reason whatsoever. One of my friends discovered the following video of a talk given by a Church lawyer at the J. Reuben Clark Law Society Conference early in 2010. This is a transcript of part of it.
“In the last month in the UK alone I think we’ve spent… err, well, for two individuals… two former members of the church who don’t want to leave the church alone but want to be aggravants to us… have filed complaints with the regulatory authorities in the UK and I’ve spent close to 80,000 dollars in legal fees to respond to these. They’re demanding copies of their membership records, of course they were disciplined so now they’re demanding copies of their disciplinary courts… proceedings… so… councils. That’s a problem we’re facing… and that’s just in one little… it’s not a little country but it’s two individuals and look at the cost and the aggravation it’s caused us. So we’re going to see more in the data privacy area… that’s why I mention more disclosure in the content and information.
The First Presidency feels that that (disciplinary records) is very privileged… and we cannot disclose that unless we get First Presidency approval. That’s how sensitive this type of information is with respect to the Brethren, so this is a big deal for us as we go around the world.” (Addressing Issues for Good Around the World – William F. Atkin).
2016 Edit: This was the original link direct to the video but now it has reverted to ‘BYU Law – Law School News’ so I think the talk has been deleted. The closest it gets is a report in the 2010 archive on part of what he said, under ‘Secuularism seen as an obsticle for LDS‘ but it does not include the above transcript. We may wonder why – but not be in the least surprised!
So, the Church spent close to $80,000 of tithing money in one just month on legal advice which my friends had already provided in copies of legislation obtained directly from the ICO. All the Church had to do was send the requested paperwork and spend no money at all. They will comply because the law demands it and they cannot do otherwise. It may also cost them a lot more money. And these are men who are supposed to represent God, honesty and integrity, and have the power of discernment. All they really needed was just a little common sense and reason. Modern Church leaders appear to lack that just as much as they lack any more integrity than Joseph Smith and his cohorts had. There is none. It is faithful tithe-paying members who have to finance the arrogant stand that Church leaders take on such issues. They always did think they were above the law. Nothing changes in Mormonism.
Jim Whitefield 