Mormonism and church integrity

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Mormonism and church integrity

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Topics

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Accusations of hypocrisy in Church practices

Summary: Critics claim that the Church, as a corporate entity, controls business properties that are not consistent with its stated purposes. Examples include claims that the Church owns controlling stock in the Coca-Cola company, tobacco companies, and alcohol companies.

"Lying for the Lord"

Summary: Critics have long charged the LDS with organizationally and systematically “lying for the Lord,” equating such with a policy of using any means necessary to achieve some “good” goal. This claim is false, and a biased reading of Church history. One must not use ethically questionable tactics because one believes the “end justifies the means.”

Joseph Smith period

Crime in Nauvoo

Counterfeiting by Joseph Smith and apostles at Nauvoo?

Joseph Smith land speculation

Joseph Smith taught 'it was right to steal'

Orson Hyde says Spirit of Lord may influence to steal

Hiding Joseph's use of a gun at the martyrdom?

Utah period

Brigham Young—pulling the wool over Americans' eyes?

Present day

Church art and historical accuracy

Brigham Young manual hides the truth about polygamy

"Censorship" and "revision" of LDS history?

• • Brigham Young destroys Lucy Mack Smith's history of Joseph? (Click here for full article)
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  • Did David B. Haight use astrological ideas about the moon, only to be censored later? (Click here for full article)
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  • Lucy Mack Smith letter about First Vision suppressed? (Click here for full article)
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  • President Boyd K. Packer on the truth (Click here for full article)
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  • Elder Packer address to CES (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗: "The Mantle is Far, Far Greater than the Intellect"
  • Sidney Rigdon trial in Times and Seasons versus History of the Church (Click here for full article)
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  • Wilford Woodruff criticizes publication of polygamists (Click here for full article)
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Cognitive dissonance

History of the Church—authorship?

Gordon B. Hinckley cited false information on the First Vision?

Immigration reform in the U.S.A.

Summary: What is the Church's stance on illegal immigrants in the United States?

Paid clergy

Summary: Critics claim that Mormonism prides itself in having unpaid clergy as one proof of the Church's truthfulness. They then point to the fact that some General Authorities, mission presidents, and others do, in fact, receive a living stipend while serving the Church, and point to this as evidence of the “hypocrisy” of the Church.

Testimony and doubt reconciliation

Summary: How can a person reaffirm their testimony when they learn disconcerting facts that may bring their testimony into doubt?

City Creek Center Mall in Salt Lake City

Summary: Members and critics have questions about the Church's involvement in the redevelopment of the city center in Salt Lake.

Claims that church membership numbers distorted

Summary: Critics charge that the Church distorts its membership numbers and rate of growth for public relations purposes.

Accusations of plagiarizing C.S. Lewis in General Conference

Summary: Some claim that President Ezra Taft Benson's famous General Conference address, "Beware of Pride," was plagiarized from C.S. Lewis' chapter on pride in Mere Christianity.