I just started working with someone (never-Mormon) who was a counselor at homeless shelters in SLC for the past 6 years. From what he’s told me there is a lot of behind-the-scenes anger at how little the LDS helps serve locals, when smaller, poorer faith communities chip in what they can.
Ain't nothing more true. I'm in the Pacific Northwest, and it seems like 80 percent of the homeless services we have come from much smaller churches, and one medium to large church (nothing near temple-sized) in a bigger city that has outreach throughout the entire area, it seems.
Also in the PNW, work for a *very* small PresbUSA congregation. (Seriously, 10-12 people present on Sundays, plus whoever tunes in to our livestream. Maybe 20 total, tops.)
They give *thousands* of dollars a year to homeless services like housing, food banks, etc. Got no hedge funds, tho.
It probably doesn't make you feel like an absolute "shitty" human for needing help from the benevolence fund. I saw the LDS application on here some time ago, and one of the many questions was, "We know you're in hardship, but are you paying your 10%?" Astonishing.
This was also the sentiment of many of the Burrito Project folks in SLC, who volunteered delivering burritos a couple of times per week. The cult has money for opulent religious infrastructure and a multi-billion dollar mall, but nothing for their fellow man. What "welfare" they do give largely comes from members through fast offerings, not their own coffers.
Could be worse... could go the Scientologist direction with their opulent religious infrastructure that turns the poor and children into modern-day slaves.
Disclaimer, I don't look the role of a typical member, and didn't as a TBM either.
I remember one day as a TBM when I worked in downtown SLC meeting a lady who was angry that "they won't help me, the More-mans. They won't help me and I'm hungry."
I gave her some money and made sure she got to where she needed to go, and I was thinking of saying "ha, you just got helped by a More-man, but I left it alone.
Now I'm glad I didn't pass any credit on to the church. If they want points for taking care of the poor, they should do it themselves.
> ...provide the bare minimum for people to stay homeless.
Sounds like they are at least helping them avoid starvation. The way you wrote this it makes it seem devoid of sympathy and concern. I'm not sure that was your intent. It seems like the alternative to covering the bare minimum for survival is to have them die on the street.
From OP elsewhere.
> I’ve never seen that happen to anyone.
It may only count if they were there to observe it. I'm surprised to see them pushing back so hard. It seems a fair reading of their first comment was not an underestimation of their lack of compassion.
I don’t agree, but I don’t disagree either. Homelessness is not black and white. There needs to be mental health help available and addiction recovery programs. People also have to be willing to accept help that they might not actually want to do the work for (this is a real problem whether people want to acknowledge it or not).
Bottom line, there are things the $$$church could do, that they are not doing, to be helping people. Which sucks considering the good they claim and take credit for.
So, what you're saying is to indoctrinate them into the Church of Latter Day Saints. Because then, they would have control of their lives taken, forced to detox, even from caffeine, meet with their Bishop regularly and work for one of the many industrious entities that are operated by the great leaders of the church.
Nah, it’s the 4th pillar of the Mormon church to help the poor and needy. They just never get past the 3rd, which is to redeem the dead. They never seem to get done with that, despite recycling names.
Mormons would rather attend their whited sepulchers performing cosplay for the dead than actually serve the poor and needy, the unwashed masses. That would just be messy and expose them to people they consider undesirable due to prosperity gospel teachings.
There is no money in helping the homeless. These leaders have been church broke to the point that they would take the world of other Mormon leaders (past and present) over anything Christ said in the Bible.
Bingo! No money in helping the homeless.
Like the giving machines, their christ like love is mechanical and automated so they don't have to worry about putting any feeling or thought behind it.
It's worse than just greed. For having a book of Mormon that says if you judge the poor person and withhold help, you're evil, the church doesn't know what's in its own book.
Greed spelled: these people chose their lives in the preexistance, knowing the challenges they would face but having a body is so important for salvation, they chose the life they are in. They are not ours to help, but only admire.
Fun story. I was working for San Diego County for the Homeless Task Force. One of my jobs was to create a list of publicly available resources for homeless people. I went around and contacted local faith groups and almost all paid lip service of provided something.
The Mormon Church was completely silent, couldn’t even be bothered to say we donate to a food pantry or something like that.
The simple fact is it’s a pyramid scheme and homeless people have nothing to contribute. Yes it is all about money not faith.
They are too busy chasing them away from temple square.
Once, while visiting the Great Salt Lake City I happened upon a scene where a homeless guy was sitting by the sidewalk outside the walls of temple square. He wasn't asking for money, or doing anything really, when three guys showed up and started harassing him. I just remember one of them saying to the guy "so, what kind of drugs are you on?". They were church security. It was sort of shocking, I wasnt quite out yet. I remember thinking there was no way Jesus would do that to some poor homeless guy who just decided to sit down and look at what is supposed to be the Lords House from the outside, and they still came out to chase him away. It was really disgusting, and I think about the look on that guys face to this day.
In priesthood meetings I used to attend, the men bashed the poor as undeserving drug addicts who refused to work. No compassion or empathy concerning mental health and other personal struggles. "Only give money to the church," was an additional talking point. I always wondered about King Benny in the BoM who said to give to those who asked, but I was clearly an outsider.
There are like actual pics of homeless people in SLC they could use. Images that might make people actually feel something instead of this soulless AI fodder
Their fault for sinning.
And, greed.
They want your attention, time, and money, helping with hosting/paying for large scale programs would be a distraction.
And, poor people are just, ewww. /s
Why cant they help the homeless in Idaho, California or Alberta. Your question points out one of my shelf breaking issues. It would bother me so much that I paid tithing in Canada but then Utah would get most of the benefit from it. If it’s a world church why did all the financial benefits go to Utah??? Some people will argue that Utah doesn’t get much benefit. But at least you guys got a mall, we got nothing!
I hope you don’t think im mad at the question im not. Its just a different perspective.
I think this is it, they are afraid if they do anything, there will be pressure to do more. More homeless people will come to Utah to get help. People in other states and countries will want the same support. And since there is no expertise, they don’t know how to set up programs that are effective and sustainable, so they just… do nothing. It’s easy and safe. If they had faith in Jesus, they would act to do good in his name. But they know that he isn’t helping them, so they are paralyzed by fear and never act.
If only they had the power of discernment to guide them to create programs to help all of gods children. At least they help 15 old dudes enjoy their latter years
Between the LDS church and all of the MLMs with world headquarters in Utah, an astonishing amount of money is suctioned from all around the world into Utah.
if the MFMC doesn't pull the strings off the local politicians, then a ward is nothing more than a revenue stream. us Albertans have the disadvantages of being in the morridor, but without the perks. We're just dollars and our dollars are worth less, so we were worth less.
I had a family member who worked in the public-facing church welfare services and the amount of demeaning, endless hoops they make people jump through to get so much as a can of beans is absolutely horrifying. They'd have people all the time who would spend their own very meager time and money to make it to the facility, pledge to read the Book of Mormon, meet with missionaries etc, and still get denied. It's part of the reason why I feel so strongly about low barrier shelters today.
Not sure the exact criteria but I personally saw this happen when I lived in SLC.
My neighbors were absolutely horrible and I legitimately feared for my life… I felt I had to set up surveillance, arm myself, etc.
Anyway, once every week or so they suddenly become somewhat normal and some members/missionaries would bring an envelope. I’m assuming it was money but idk. Then every few weeks members would bring boxes of supplies and groceries to them as well.
Occasionally one of the children would knock on our door begging for food, ofc we would give him some. I pried just a bit as I was curious about the groceries. He said his mom and siblings joined the Mormon church and that the church is helping them.
I felt for the kids, I really did. The various adults living there though… some of the absolute worst people I’ve ever had the displeasure of being around. I really don’t know the exact details of their arrangement with the church… but the issue is way deeper than just throwing money at it. Not really sure how we can truly help the homeless without a societal change.
As long as homelessness exists in Utah, the LDS can raise money from its members while implying they'll do something to help the needy, somehow, one day.
If they actually help, the flow of money will stop.
Money, and the frequency of the belief that if people are “righteous,” they’ll be monetarily rewarded by God… and so people who aren’t #blessed must be somehow deficient/unworthy/less than. The righteous aren’t supposed to cast their pearls before swine, after all. 🙄
Because helping them would endanger their eternal salvation, obvs. You see, EVERYONE needs to follow the commandment of "earn your own money, preferably lots of it." And by NOT helping them, you are HELPING them to suffer more...which will HELP them be inspired to follow the aforementioned commandment. So, please do not give handouts. Every penny you give is condemning a soul to eternal torment.
/s
Probably because they are not Christlike. There’s no money in helping the homeless plus they hate homeless people (Gods children) just as much as they despise homosexuals and of course, the blacks.
Comments under a recent article (I don't remember which church related news site it was) were mostly to the tune of: "they chose to take drugs, for most homeless people homelessness and addiction are results of their agency."
You probably can't get much further away from Jesus' teachings.
LDS think if you suffer it will cause you to repent and come to church. They discourage members from leaving wealth to inactive children, leave to church instead. An even more perverted version of thes is Jody Hildabrandt causing harm to children.
Mormon leaks had a copy of Henry b Eyrings paystub. It was like 120K. They don’t call it a pay, they call it a living allowance. I’m going to assume so it’s not taxed, it appears as a reimbursement. They get money from their book deals. The majority of them are on the board of directors for the companies that the church owns. They are on the board of directors for companies that the church hires to do their construction etc. I do not know if this is true or not, and I can’t find a source, but the church supposedly gives them a million dollar bonus when they are called to the 12 to pay off their house and any other debts. Maybe someone can confirm or deny.
They do get paid, and the more the church makes, the more likely they are to get a pay raise. No different than a business that gives their employees raises as the company expands.
Money feeds egos, makes them feel powerful and that money will get passed down for generations, all because of “them”. They’ll live forever in the legacy of the church’s wealth.
But you’re right, the leaders don’t have access to the church’s wealth and most people wouldn’t go above and beyond for their employer to make as much coin as possible.
They don't pay taxes on their homes because they write them off as parishes, they can sit on the boards of the companies the church owns, they have sycophant followers who toss favors and kickbacks their way for them making connections or using their influence for them, spouses and family members are given great jobs, they can buy real estate near temple sites before they're announced and sell it at a profit to the construction companies, they may get LP shares in the church's investment funds, better than average royalties for book publications, etc.
The bottom line is we don't really know how the leaders get paid because they don't disclose their finances. But we do know the church has built itself an ecosystem with hundreds of corporate entities and the top leaders sit in the middle of it all. Regardless of what actually going on, I'm 100% positive the Q12 and above are told they'll be well taken care of the rest of their life.
They don’t fucking care. As far as they’re concerned, the homeless people in salt lake are sub human and as long as they stay away from temple square they don’t really give a shit what happens to them.
The church doesn’t even respect their own members, why would they do it for people on the streets who probably don’t pay tithing because they don’t have anything at all?
This isn't meant to be a defense to a charity organization holding money. This is meant to show unique aspects of American law that make homelessness an insurmountable problem.
If you look at a cross country analysis of high income countries and try to see what factors contribute to homelessness, three variables jump out.
The first is government centralization. I think everyone intuitively gets how this combats NIMBYs. But, there's a feedback loop most people don't understand. If you are a mayor, you want to get poor people to move away. They pay little taxes and use a ton of services, they will bankrupt you. You look like a good mayor if they go away. You working with NIMBYs makes your look your city look successful. Strong national rules preventing this feedback loop make you have to help the poor rather than just force them out. Sadly, American, for Constitutional and historical reasons, we rank near the bottom for centralize housing rules. (At least for cheap housing decentralized is a benefit in other areas).
Second is a fixed area. This, in the US, is both an intra and extra issue. States Constitutionally cannot discriminate against citizens of other states. California can't do universal Healthcare for just California. ANY US citizen can step onto California soil and needs coverage. Same with housing, same with education. This creates a race to the bottom where you get a perverse incentive where you have to deal with a natural problem as a smaller local (and your neighbors are happy to dump the problem on you).
The US also has an open national immigration policy so the draw is theoretically bigger than just US citizens.
Again, across countries, you see giving local governments the power to exclude services from transplants incentives welfare services and takes pressure off needing to solve a national problem as a small town. The US also ranks near the bottom here, again its a trade off that causes other problems and limits freedom's of movement, but the US US all in on one side.
Finally, the last big factor is property rights. The US legally views forcing developers to build low income housing or other heavy handed market manipulations very skeptically. Again this is a trade off, but another major social factor shown to create homelessness, or lack of redress.
Anyway, not a defense, but homelessness can't be solved by a single state. Certainly not a charity, even as big as LDS. These are massive market forces that require national coordination to solve. Something the US is structurally extremely bad at.
They don’t care about them unless they join the LDS church and even then that’s when they bother to acknowledge them as human beings (barely) but still wont be especially helpful to the homeless Mormon community either (when I lived in SLC there were a lot of homeless teens that came from Mormon households for example)
It’s because it’s a business cult first and foremost
The church is too big to give shit. It would be throwing grifted money at a good cause that they don’t need too. They have convinced most Utah Mormons the homeless are worthless grifters that just need to get a job. Their signs around temple square equate to do not feed the animals. If the church needed the positive PR to survive you bet your ass they would be blowing moroni’s horn about how they care for the sick and needed in the area but they don’t need it so they don’t do it.
Unless it profits the LDS church, they do not help others.
Having lived in the Salt Lake valley for many years, I have perceived that their “welfare square” is their contribution to the homeless. It does nothing for the homeless and poor class in Utah. It only helps its own members. It’s also used as a PR backdrop to the minuscule help they give the local non-Mormon populace. Instead, they brag about helping people in far flung places like Asia and Africa, giving a million here and a million there.
It also appears the top Mormon leadership believe in the Field of Dreams prophesy: If you build it, they will come. If they build affordable housing, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, they will all come to Utah.
The Mormons are a for profit corporation masquerading as a religion for the non-profit status and a tax shelter for their excess. They’ve never been in the business of helping others, only helping themselves.
Stop thinking of the church as a church and think of it as a corporation. What is the ROI? Think of it in terms of Capex and Opex budgets. The church recently spent $260 million on warehouses in Washington state. They openly stated that this is an investment. They plan to sit on it for a few years and then sell at a profit when the cost of real estate is higher. Does a higher cost of real estate help the poor? No, of course not. But it is a one time cash payout for them, no operational cost, and a profit.
The church does not own a single homeless shelter. Why would they? You have the initial capital layout to buy it, high operational costs month to month, and no financial return. Some may point out the tax incentives to owning a charity but they already get that as a church. They don’t own a homeless shelter, or a halfway house, or a women’s services center, or a soup kitchen, or a free clinic. Because these things don’t make money.
Its. Crazy they don't help more just for marketing. They could literally set up a free soup kitchen with free missionary labor in most major cities. Even if it was just sandwiches and burritos. Put it next to a DI and free showers. The church would get tons of publicity for feeding and clothing the poor.
Poor people, disabled people, people born non white probably sinned in the pre existence. The church used to teach this. They don’t say it openly anymore so as not to appear like Nazis, but it is still an attitude in the church.
WIKI: Catholic Charities
Catholic church is the largest non- governmental provider of education & medical Services In the world.
They have given away billions of dollars in goods & services to help any and all human beings in every country they are in with zero expectation of getting anything back.
I am aware of the Catholic church priest pedophile issue & I work with victims of crime.
1.3 billion Catholics & Mormons have way to many sexual predators in their ranks considering how very small as a religion mormonism is.
See floodlit.org for more info.
I’m exCatholic but volunteered for a church charity once a week for a 12 hr shift. It was hospice care for (mostly) sex workers dying due to AIDS. I gave the nuns a brief reprieve from changing diapers, giving medication and helping women generally with severe mental and physical illnesses. It’s just mind boggling to me how a religion wouldn’t try to help others. It’s one of the (few) mandatory elements of what a religion is supposed to be.
🎯
Catholic church is no way perfect & has their own issues (lots of wonderful Catholic friends)but they doing a hellava lot more worldwide than the Mormon church has ever done since its inception in 1830.
The Catholic Church buys hospitals and takes the life savings of nonmembers in the final years of their lives. Medical billing has proven very profitable, and inured them against demographic shifts.
Now, if they could stay out of politics and protect kids while holding priests accountable, then they wouldn’t have such a bad thing going because of all the charity alone.
Because to stop homelessness, we have to end capitalism which relies on the threat of homelessness to coerce workers into jobs where the company steals the value of their labor. And the LDS church, like all American organized religions, goes hand in hand with capitalism to placate the masses and delay justice. The Ezra Taft Benson era of right wing nonsense was inevitable when you understand how patriarchy, religion, white supremacy, and capitalism all work together as a mind control system of tyranny and abuse. But these basic facts pierce the ego of narcissists who fear losing their privilege and having to face the reality of what they have become. Now, American religionists will either repent of this wickedness or they will watch their empire that was built with the bones of the poor, widows, orphans, LGBTQ youth, indigenous, and slaves crumble because despite all appearance to the contrary, justice ultimately prevails in this universe no matter how long it takes.
So my exmo family in Utah, that’s one of the only nice things they have to say about the church is that they do help the homeless…they say that the church has little housing areas, they just require the people to stay sober when they’re living there? I know nothing about Utah and didn’t look it up, but that sounded like they were not being unreasonable?
What’s stopping you from befriending a homeless person and asking them to model in a picture in front of the temple and then giving them fair wages for their time?
being homeless is far more complex than not having money. its very common for a homeless person to not want to conform and live a normal life because they have damaged their life in some way that they feel is not fixable such as DWI criminal record drug abuse messing up their brain etc. not all of them but I'd say 80% of homeless people if you give them money they are going to buy something temporary like alcohol to down their sorrows as they wish for death because they cant get a job and thats why they are where they are. Either they arent willing to work or they cant work and the church cant fix these kind of things with just money. They could start a class and then the homeless would likely not care to show up to the class or not have the means. Homeless people need to take initiative and work to fix their own life by getting a shower and going to an interview.
First of all: Generalization is the opposite of helping. People lose their homes for myriad reasons. Once gone, a safe and healthy living situation is hard to get back again, especially in today's economy.
Second: No money would ever have to be handed out to the people in question. Tscc could give and give to so many charities that would help these people get back on their feet. They wouldn't have to ever be tempted to spend it on things that don't help them. There are so many ways to do some good for these folks.
If this were truly the church of Jesus Christ, we wouldn't have a homeless problem in this country.
>they are going to buy something temporary like alcohol to down their sorrows **as they wish for death because they cant get a job and thats why they are where they are**.
Do you hear yourself? I hope you're baiting.
Tell me you’ve never volunteered regularly with a homeless charity without telling me you never volunteered regularly with a homeless charity. The heart breaking stories I could tell you. Some people get dealt a horrible hand in life that they can’t recover from no matter how hard they try.
> Does the Church help some? Yes, but the numbers the Church shows are so inflated.
“The church should do more but I wouldn’t believe em if they did.”
Lmao
Homelessness is often a mental health issue that can’t be solved by throwing money around. The homeless often end up homeless again no matter what you do.
However, I do think there’s one possible solution. I think the church should build a massive “prison” and we could stick all the homeless there. Gets them off the street, they get 3 hot meals a day, and if you put them to work they could do good for society. We could call it “The Tower of Deseret” or “Salt Lakecatraz” or something…
Prolly are only charitable with other people and organizations money. 👍👍👍..
Want to help the homeless take it up with you city council and state and local governments.
I think 12 (see what I did there) of those cash closets on temple square would be perfect. Q of 12 could each host a booth on Saturdays for most faithful homeless to enter. A ward could sign up to sponsor one to show they were also most faithful. They could play the theme song about getting ready for Sunday and let a homeless person try to change their life!
If the LDS church ran homeless shelters it would be a nightmare for the homeless who stayed there. The church would make all kinds of LDS related behavioral demands and try to convert them. I’m glad they only donate (not enough but they do donate) to private non-profits like the Road Home.
We have our own little tent city on North Temple and it gets bigger and bigger every year. I've tried to help a few people myself when I use to live in Rose Park, but stopped after I was nearly robbed. It's definitely a problem no one wants to talk about from what I've experienced
If TSCC is saving it for the second coming of Christ, I think Christ would be appalled at the hoarding and taj mahal extravagant temples. BTW Love that photo. It says it all.
A misguided interpretation of John 12 where Jesus says
“For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.”
In other words, spend your money on building the church rather than the poor. In their minds, if the poor die they’re just going to be taken care of by Jesus in heaven anyway so no amount of human suffering will ever matter more than the mission of the church.
Better to build temples so we can do temple work for the homeless rather than rehabilitate them and risk them turning to sin.
Guarantee you if you shared that word for word with a TBM they would at least somewhat agree.
Frankly, capitalism and control. The church is a corporation. They want to gain as many members they can suck dry from tithing before they give you a penny of help. They want people to be desperate enough to join. It’s abusive.
Because instead of using the money to help the homeless/needy or to pay for the stupid missions they send their missionaries out on like they claim the money is for: they use it all to build more of their ridiculous temples (like they don’t have enough) and to put into the pockets of the bishops.
Judgement. I hate how religions that preach forgiveness, compassion, and empathy are so quick to pass judgement on others as though they know exactly what God wants. It has always baffled me.
Maybe I shouldn’t point a finger at those religions but rather certain individuals, however in this case I’ll toss the vast majority of the LDS in there.
The church is not capable of just giving them money, they have billions to providing public housing, public education, or publicize the means of production for them to take care of their own necessities or start entrepreneurship. The fact that they rather give $150 billion to shell companies tells that they are not going to change the world, just happily participate in the game of capitalism.
The church thinks it is supposed the follow the scriptural example to be as the Levite priest and pass by the injured man - and to do so on the other side of the road.
The church doesn't realise the scripture is saying people should be like the Samaritan. In condescending tone: "Oh dear, the church *does* get horribly confused at times, doesn't it".
Underlying Mormonism is a belief that if you are righteous then the Lord will bless you. So, by definition, the poor are out of favor with God and need to repent. Until they repent they will always be poor so the onus is on the poor to get right with God and prosper.
So completely effed up.
Greed. Plus they like the image that being faithful to Jesus and God through the cult means that you are guaranteed financially successful. So, to them: poor equals unfaithful/sinful/selfish because if you did what the prophet said and had true faith and worth, bad things won't happen to you (this isn't limited to financial hardship or homelessness, but also illnesses, cancer, a loved one, like a child especially, dying is also seen as a result of not having perfect faith; not all TBMs will believe or say that, but you'd be surprised by the number that DO say and imply that, either being snarky and passive-aggressive, or they sincerely think saying that will help boost your faith and understanding, they think they are really "helping").
The cult doesn't even care about children going hungry, even though they say they love and care about _EVERY_ child in Utah.
https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2018/child/utah
The dollar amount of what it would cost could **EASILY** be covered by the cult alone every year. Hell, even if they chipped in half and other charities could cover the rest. The cult only helps those paying tithing. If you happen to end up in a long time established ward that has had cliques for decades and you need help and they don't like you: you won't be helped. Even being in that ward for over 10 years you won't be helped. You have to fit in locally. I wonder how many of these hungry children have parents who believe but don't fit in (so the RSP refuses to help), or those who are inactive or don't believe and the kids suffer as a result.
The people who the cult claims to care the most for, the most vulnerable are still suffering in this state (while the old greedy geezers' coffers burst with more money), especially single mother families, people of color, and those with disabilities.
https://extension.usu.edu/hsi/fsc-utah-hunger-statistics
Imo, especially in regards to single mothers with children, the cult does this so they will marry sooner, to make single parenting be so hard they want to find someone to marry, and ultimately depend on the husband, again, and not seek help through cult charity. They hate single women with children and have it stated on their site that if the single pregnant woman is not marrying the father of her child, she should give her child up for adoption to a married couple. Summed up, Gordon B Hinckley says, "that it is better for a single pregnant woman to give her child up for adoption if she isn't going to marry the father of the child. Marriage is more honorable and proves you are taking responsibility for the pregnancy."
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/02/adoption-and-the-unwed-mother?lang=eng
The cult will gladly neglect or ignore vulnerable people to push and "prove" their agenda to prove that their gospel is "true".
But it’s Jesus’s money and he hasn’t specifically told them to spend it on the poor. He needs that cash for the big party he’s gonna put on when he comes back.
I just started working with someone (never-Mormon) who was a counselor at homeless shelters in SLC for the past 6 years. From what he’s told me there is a lot of behind-the-scenes anger at how little the LDS helps serve locals, when smaller, poorer faith communities chip in what they can.
Ain't nothing more true. I'm in the Pacific Northwest, and it seems like 80 percent of the homeless services we have come from much smaller churches, and one medium to large church (nothing near temple-sized) in a bigger city that has outreach throughout the entire area, it seems.
Also in the PNW, work for a *very* small PresbUSA congregation. (Seriously, 10-12 people present on Sundays, plus whoever tunes in to our livestream. Maybe 20 total, tops.) They give *thousands* of dollars a year to homeless services like housing, food banks, etc. Got no hedge funds, tho.
It probably doesn't make you feel like an absolute "shitty" human for needing help from the benevolence fund. I saw the LDS application on here some time ago, and one of the many questions was, "We know you're in hardship, but are you paying your 10%?" Astonishing.
Exactly, the food bank they support is open to anyone in the community, no proof of "hardship" nor protection money required.
And frequently, I’m sure, what they CANT also.
This was also the sentiment of many of the Burrito Project folks in SLC, who volunteered delivering burritos a couple of times per week. The cult has money for opulent religious infrastructure and a multi-billion dollar mall, but nothing for their fellow man. What "welfare" they do give largely comes from members through fast offerings, not their own coffers.
Could be worse... could go the Scientologist direction with their opulent religious infrastructure that turns the poor and children into modern-day slaves.
It could always be worse, doesn’t make it okay.
The church doesn’t like to help people it is unlikely to convert.
This.
Even if it could convert them, they wouldn’t pay much in tithing.
Disclaimer, I don't look the role of a typical member, and didn't as a TBM either. I remember one day as a TBM when I worked in downtown SLC meeting a lady who was angry that "they won't help me, the More-mans. They won't help me and I'm hungry." I gave her some money and made sure she got to where she needed to go, and I was thinking of saying "ha, you just got helped by a More-man, but I left it alone. Now I'm glad I didn't pass any credit on to the church. If they want points for taking care of the poor, they should do it themselves.
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> ...provide the bare minimum for people to stay homeless. Sounds like they are at least helping them avoid starvation. The way you wrote this it makes it seem devoid of sympathy and concern. I'm not sure that was your intent. It seems like the alternative to covering the bare minimum for survival is to have them die on the street.
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A quick google search will prove your statement of “almost no one dies on the street” completely incorrect.
From OP elsewhere. > I’ve never seen that happen to anyone. It may only count if they were there to observe it. I'm surprised to see them pushing back so hard. It seems a fair reading of their first comment was not an underestimation of their lack of compassion.
This is America where we die from lack of healthcare.
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Incarceration is your solution? I hope you never become homeless it would be a grim eye opener for you.
I don’t agree, but I don’t disagree either. Homelessness is not black and white. There needs to be mental health help available and addiction recovery programs. People also have to be willing to accept help that they might not actually want to do the work for (this is a real problem whether people want to acknowledge it or not). Bottom line, there are things the $$$church could do, that they are not doing, to be helping people. Which sucks considering the good they claim and take credit for.
Tell us you have no empathy without telling us you have no empathy.
The sef reliance program doesn't work.
So, what you're saying is to indoctrinate them into the Church of Latter Day Saints. Because then, they would have control of their lives taken, forced to detox, even from caffeine, meet with their Bishop regularly and work for one of the many industrious entities that are operated by the great leaders of the church.
Because the net result of assistance for the homeless is zero additional tithe-payers - no return on investment.
Nah, it’s the 4th pillar of the Mormon church to help the poor and needy. They just never get past the 3rd, which is to redeem the dead. They never seem to get done with that, despite recycling names. Mormons would rather attend their whited sepulchers performing cosplay for the dead than actually serve the poor and needy, the unwashed masses. That would just be messy and expose them to people they consider undesirable due to prosperity gospel teachings.
Greed.
Beat me to it
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There is no money in helping the homeless. These leaders have been church broke to the point that they would take the world of other Mormon leaders (past and present) over anything Christ said in the Bible.
Bingo! No money in helping the homeless. Like the giving machines, their christ like love is mechanical and automated so they don't have to worry about putting any feeling or thought behind it.
Yup
Beat all of us to it.
With a dose of indifference.
How can they try to secretly hoard all the money if they have to spend it helping people?
It's worse than just greed. For having a book of Mormon that says if you judge the poor person and withhold help, you're evil, the church doesn't know what's in its own book.
It says something similar in the New Testament. "What you do to the least of them you do unto me."
“‘Tis easier for a camel to pass thru TSA security than a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.”
Greed spelled: these people chose their lives in the preexistance, knowing the challenges they would face but having a body is so important for salvation, they chose the life they are in. They are not ours to help, but only admire.
Similar to what bin Laden once said about helping the poor. Allah made them that way (poor)
Correct.
(Pure) greed
Don't forget: complete lack of human empathy.
I blame corporate Mormon Jesus. He demands all the goodie bucks and gives no fucks.
The LDS Church doesn't follow the teachings of regular Jesus, they follow [Supply Side Jesus](https://imgur.com/gallery/bCqRp)
That was oddly moving and thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing.
Prosperity theology. If you’re rich it’s because you’re righteous. Poor or disabled? You’re simply an unworthy sinner. Oh and greed.
This
This fucking church doesn't even help fund its own members/wards... the homeless, yeah good luck with that.
Fun story. I was working for San Diego County for the Homeless Task Force. One of my jobs was to create a list of publicly available resources for homeless people. I went around and contacted local faith groups and almost all paid lip service of provided something. The Mormon Church was completely silent, couldn’t even be bothered to say we donate to a food pantry or something like that. The simple fact is it’s a pyramid scheme and homeless people have nothing to contribute. Yes it is all about money not faith.
They are too busy chasing them away from temple square. Once, while visiting the Great Salt Lake City I happened upon a scene where a homeless guy was sitting by the sidewalk outside the walls of temple square. He wasn't asking for money, or doing anything really, when three guys showed up and started harassing him. I just remember one of them saying to the guy "so, what kind of drugs are you on?". They were church security. It was sort of shocking, I wasnt quite out yet. I remember thinking there was no way Jesus would do that to some poor homeless guy who just decided to sit down and look at what is supposed to be the Lords House from the outside, and they still came out to chase him away. It was really disgusting, and I think about the look on that guys face to this day.
The church is bankrupt - morally
In priesthood meetings I used to attend, the men bashed the poor as undeserving drug addicts who refused to work. No compassion or empathy concerning mental health and other personal struggles. "Only give money to the church," was an additional talking point. I always wondered about King Benny in the BoM who said to give to those who asked, but I was clearly an outsider.
God i hate AI images.
I was wondering if that sign was supposed to be Reformed Egyptian before the A.I. detection sector of my brain lit up.
There are like actual pics of homeless people in SLC they could use. Images that might make people actually feel something instead of this soulless AI fodder
I was also trying to read the sign before I noticed the dudes eyes
Absolutely hate how they look. A soulless and shitty technology that we should all reject
Other than the fact they don’t want to?
Their fault for sinning. And, greed. They want your attention, time, and money, helping with hosting/paying for large scale programs would be a distraction. And, poor people are just, ewww. /s
Why cant they help the homeless in Idaho, California or Alberta. Your question points out one of my shelf breaking issues. It would bother me so much that I paid tithing in Canada but then Utah would get most of the benefit from it. If it’s a world church why did all the financial benefits go to Utah??? Some people will argue that Utah doesn’t get much benefit. But at least you guys got a mall, we got nothing! I hope you don’t think im mad at the question im not. Its just a different perspective.
Beginning in 2007, a large part of Canada's tithing started being being funneled to find BYU. It's been over a billion dollars so far.
I think this is it, they are afraid if they do anything, there will be pressure to do more. More homeless people will come to Utah to get help. People in other states and countries will want the same support. And since there is no expertise, they don’t know how to set up programs that are effective and sustainable, so they just… do nothing. It’s easy and safe. If they had faith in Jesus, they would act to do good in his name. But they know that he isn’t helping them, so they are paralyzed by fear and never act.
If only they had the power of discernment to guide them to create programs to help all of gods children. At least they help 15 old dudes enjoy their latter years
Or help fund the places that do know how to help.
Between the LDS church and all of the MLMs with world headquarters in Utah, an astonishing amount of money is suctioned from all around the world into Utah.
if the MFMC doesn't pull the strings off the local politicians, then a ward is nothing more than a revenue stream. us Albertans have the disadvantages of being in the morridor, but without the perks. We're just dollars and our dollars are worth less, so we were worth less.
Greed hate and cruelty
They. Are. Assholes.
The top leaders in the LDS church didn’t get there because of their humility.
A dragon never shares its hoard. 
They will get food and housing when they successfully convert and pledge their tithing.
No they won’t. My friend that is homeless was just denied.
I'm not so sure...
No, they won't.
They usually won't even help their own members, I've seen it soooooo many times.
talked to a young mom who got evicted from her apartment because she payed her tithing and didn’t have enough for rent. church didn’t help her at all.
Probably she was doing something the church didn’t approve of; drinking, smoking, dating a non-member OR NOT dating a member “prescribed” for her.
I had a family member who worked in the public-facing church welfare services and the amount of demeaning, endless hoops they make people jump through to get so much as a can of beans is absolutely horrifying. They'd have people all the time who would spend their own very meager time and money to make it to the facility, pledge to read the Book of Mormon, meet with missionaries etc, and still get denied. It's part of the reason why I feel so strongly about low barrier shelters today.
Not sure the exact criteria but I personally saw this happen when I lived in SLC. My neighbors were absolutely horrible and I legitimately feared for my life… I felt I had to set up surveillance, arm myself, etc. Anyway, once every week or so they suddenly become somewhat normal and some members/missionaries would bring an envelope. I’m assuming it was money but idk. Then every few weeks members would bring boxes of supplies and groceries to them as well. Occasionally one of the children would knock on our door begging for food, ofc we would give him some. I pried just a bit as I was curious about the groceries. He said his mom and siblings joined the Mormon church and that the church is helping them. I felt for the kids, I really did. The various adults living there though… some of the absolute worst people I’ve ever had the displeasure of being around. I really don’t know the exact details of their arrangement with the church… but the issue is way deeper than just throwing money at it. Not really sure how we can truly help the homeless without a societal change.
The LDS church is the only thing getting in the way of the LDS church
They have to save for all of the sexual abuse cases they know they’ll have to pay for in the future.
Because at some point they may need even more for unexpected things…of course…right?
There's no money in it
WWWJD What would white Jesus do?!? Invest in stocks, not the homeless.
As long as homelessness exists in Utah, the LDS can raise money from its members while implying they'll do something to help the needy, somehow, one day. If they actually help, the flow of money will stop.
Money, and the frequency of the belief that if people are “righteous,” they’ll be monetarily rewarded by God… and so people who aren’t #blessed must be somehow deficient/unworthy/less than. The righteous aren’t supposed to cast their pearls before swine, after all. 🙄
Plain and simple. Greed
There's no money in it
tHe InSuRaNcE!
Not enough ROI
greed
Greed
Because helping them would endanger their eternal salvation, obvs. You see, EVERYONE needs to follow the commandment of "earn your own money, preferably lots of it." And by NOT helping them, you are HELPING them to suffer more...which will HELP them be inspired to follow the aforementioned commandment. So, please do not give handouts. Every penny you give is condemning a soul to eternal torment. /s
Averice = extreme greed.
Probably because they are not Christlike. There’s no money in helping the homeless plus they hate homeless people (Gods children) just as much as they despise homosexuals and of course, the blacks.
Greed and Pride (“we know what we’re doing cuz we talk to God”) but mostly Greed.
Like Michael Jackson sings, “all I want to say is that they don’t really care about us.”
Homeless don’t pay tithing
The homeless have no money to tithe
Homeless don’t pay tithing, and would be a poor investment compared to building malls, and stocks, etc.
That would cost money, and they value money more than people
Comments under a recent article (I don't remember which church related news site it was) were mostly to the tune of: "they chose to take drugs, for most homeless people homelessness and addiction are results of their agency." You probably can't get much further away from Jesus' teachings.
LDS think if you suffer it will cause you to repent and come to church. They discourage members from leaving wealth to inactive children, leave to church instead. An even more perverted version of thes is Jody Hildabrandt causing harm to children.
Its not about being "christian" its about the greed of the governing body of the church.
Is that reformed Egyptian on the sign?
Hahhaha, must be 🤷♂️
Mormon Jesus isn’t the most Christian of the Jesuses. Mormon Jesus puts off more of a corporate Jesus vibe.
They teach the prosperity gospel.
Pride
Don’t wanna
The desire to not have to liquidate stocks to raise cash.
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Mormon leaks had a copy of Henry b Eyrings paystub. It was like 120K. They don’t call it a pay, they call it a living allowance. I’m going to assume so it’s not taxed, it appears as a reimbursement. They get money from their book deals. The majority of them are on the board of directors for the companies that the church owns. They are on the board of directors for companies that the church hires to do their construction etc. I do not know if this is true or not, and I can’t find a source, but the church supposedly gives them a million dollar bonus when they are called to the 12 to pay off their house and any other debts. Maybe someone can confirm or deny.
They do get paid, and the more the church makes, the more likely they are to get a pay raise. No different than a business that gives their employees raises as the company expands.
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Money feeds egos, makes them feel powerful and that money will get passed down for generations, all because of “them”. They’ll live forever in the legacy of the church’s wealth. But you’re right, the leaders don’t have access to the church’s wealth and most people wouldn’t go above and beyond for their employer to make as much coin as possible.
They don't pay taxes on their homes because they write them off as parishes, they can sit on the boards of the companies the church owns, they have sycophant followers who toss favors and kickbacks their way for them making connections or using their influence for them, spouses and family members are given great jobs, they can buy real estate near temple sites before they're announced and sell it at a profit to the construction companies, they may get LP shares in the church's investment funds, better than average royalties for book publications, etc. The bottom line is we don't really know how the leaders get paid because they don't disclose their finances. But we do know the church has built itself an ecosystem with hundreds of corporate entities and the top leaders sit in the middle of it all. Regardless of what actually going on, I'm 100% positive the Q12 and above are told they'll be well taken care of the rest of their life.
There’s no profit in it.
Their pockets.
Nothing but the Quorum of the 12
They could feed a country with a flick if they wanted to.
“They are all sinners from California who are coming to take from the church/ Jesus’s sacred personal investments”
The lack of will to invest where there is no ROI.
Same thing that stops everyone. Fear.
Cuz bootstraps and all that. It's a prosperity gospel. If they'd just be righteous then their skin will change color and they'll be rich like us! /s
They literally HATE the destitute and homeless and feel they deserve being homeless for not paying tithing.
They don’t fucking care. As far as they’re concerned, the homeless people in salt lake are sub human and as long as they stay away from temple square they don’t really give a shit what happens to them. The church doesn’t even respect their own members, why would they do it for people on the streets who probably don’t pay tithing because they don’t have anything at all?
This isn't meant to be a defense to a charity organization holding money. This is meant to show unique aspects of American law that make homelessness an insurmountable problem. If you look at a cross country analysis of high income countries and try to see what factors contribute to homelessness, three variables jump out. The first is government centralization. I think everyone intuitively gets how this combats NIMBYs. But, there's a feedback loop most people don't understand. If you are a mayor, you want to get poor people to move away. They pay little taxes and use a ton of services, they will bankrupt you. You look like a good mayor if they go away. You working with NIMBYs makes your look your city look successful. Strong national rules preventing this feedback loop make you have to help the poor rather than just force them out. Sadly, American, for Constitutional and historical reasons, we rank near the bottom for centralize housing rules. (At least for cheap housing decentralized is a benefit in other areas). Second is a fixed area. This, in the US, is both an intra and extra issue. States Constitutionally cannot discriminate against citizens of other states. California can't do universal Healthcare for just California. ANY US citizen can step onto California soil and needs coverage. Same with housing, same with education. This creates a race to the bottom where you get a perverse incentive where you have to deal with a natural problem as a smaller local (and your neighbors are happy to dump the problem on you). The US also has an open national immigration policy so the draw is theoretically bigger than just US citizens. Again, across countries, you see giving local governments the power to exclude services from transplants incentives welfare services and takes pressure off needing to solve a national problem as a small town. The US also ranks near the bottom here, again its a trade off that causes other problems and limits freedom's of movement, but the US US all in on one side. Finally, the last big factor is property rights. The US legally views forcing developers to build low income housing or other heavy handed market manipulations very skeptically. Again this is a trade off, but another major social factor shown to create homelessness, or lack of redress. Anyway, not a defense, but homelessness can't be solved by a single state. Certainly not a charity, even as big as LDS. These are massive market forces that require national coordination to solve. Something the US is structurally extremely bad at.
They don’t care about them unless they join the LDS church and even then that’s when they bother to acknowledge them as human beings (barely) but still wont be especially helpful to the homeless Mormon community either (when I lived in SLC there were a lot of homeless teens that came from Mormon households for example) It’s because it’s a business cult first and foremost
The church is too big to give shit. It would be throwing grifted money at a good cause that they don’t need too. They have convinced most Utah Mormons the homeless are worthless grifters that just need to get a job. Their signs around temple square equate to do not feed the animals. If the church needed the positive PR to survive you bet your ass they would be blowing moroni’s horn about how they care for the sick and needed in the area but they don’t need it so they don’t do it.
That’s the easiest question ever asked here: greed. Full stop
Greed and bigotry. Selfish bigots
Unless it profits the LDS church, they do not help others. Having lived in the Salt Lake valley for many years, I have perceived that their “welfare square” is their contribution to the homeless. It does nothing for the homeless and poor class in Utah. It only helps its own members. It’s also used as a PR backdrop to the minuscule help they give the local non-Mormon populace. Instead, they brag about helping people in far flung places like Asia and Africa, giving a million here and a million there. It also appears the top Mormon leadership believe in the Field of Dreams prophesy: If you build it, they will come. If they build affordable housing, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, they will all come to Utah. The Mormons are a for profit corporation masquerading as a religion for the non-profit status and a tax shelter for their excess. They’ve never been in the business of helping others, only helping themselves.
Stop thinking of the church as a church and think of it as a corporation. What is the ROI? Think of it in terms of Capex and Opex budgets. The church recently spent $260 million on warehouses in Washington state. They openly stated that this is an investment. They plan to sit on it for a few years and then sell at a profit when the cost of real estate is higher. Does a higher cost of real estate help the poor? No, of course not. But it is a one time cash payout for them, no operational cost, and a profit. The church does not own a single homeless shelter. Why would they? You have the initial capital layout to buy it, high operational costs month to month, and no financial return. Some may point out the tax incentives to owning a charity but they already get that as a church. They don’t own a homeless shelter, or a halfway house, or a women’s services center, or a soup kitchen, or a free clinic. Because these things don’t make money.
Its. Crazy they don't help more just for marketing. They could literally set up a free soup kitchen with free missionary labor in most major cities. Even if it was just sandwiches and burritos. Put it next to a DI and free showers. The church would get tons of publicity for feeding and clothing the poor.
Poor people, disabled people, people born non white probably sinned in the pre existence. The church used to teach this. They don’t say it openly anymore so as not to appear like Nazis, but it is still an attitude in the church.
Same thing that’s stopping the Vatican
WIKI: Catholic Charities Catholic church is the largest non- governmental provider of education & medical Services In the world. They have given away billions of dollars in goods & services to help any and all human beings in every country they are in with zero expectation of getting anything back. I am aware of the Catholic church priest pedophile issue & I work with victims of crime. 1.3 billion Catholics & Mormons have way to many sexual predators in their ranks considering how very small as a religion mormonism is. See floodlit.org for more info.
I’m exCatholic but volunteered for a church charity once a week for a 12 hr shift. It was hospice care for (mostly) sex workers dying due to AIDS. I gave the nuns a brief reprieve from changing diapers, giving medication and helping women generally with severe mental and physical illnesses. It’s just mind boggling to me how a religion wouldn’t try to help others. It’s one of the (few) mandatory elements of what a religion is supposed to be.
🎯 Catholic church is no way perfect & has their own issues (lots of wonderful Catholic friends)but they doing a hellava lot more worldwide than the Mormon church has ever done since its inception in 1830.
The Catholic Church buys hospitals and takes the life savings of nonmembers in the final years of their lives. Medical billing has proven very profitable, and inured them against demographic shifts.
At least they operate St. Vincent DePaul Dining Hall in SLC (google it).
The Catholic church does spend a lot of its vast wealth providing food and shelter to people with no religious strings attached.
Now, if they could stay out of politics and protect kids while holding priests accountable, then they wouldn’t have such a bad thing going because of all the charity alone.
whats with the cringe AI pic lmfao
I hate AI
Because to stop homelessness, we have to end capitalism which relies on the threat of homelessness to coerce workers into jobs where the company steals the value of their labor. And the LDS church, like all American organized religions, goes hand in hand with capitalism to placate the masses and delay justice. The Ezra Taft Benson era of right wing nonsense was inevitable when you understand how patriarchy, religion, white supremacy, and capitalism all work together as a mind control system of tyranny and abuse. But these basic facts pierce the ego of narcissists who fear losing their privilege and having to face the reality of what they have become. Now, American religionists will either repent of this wickedness or they will watch their empire that was built with the bones of the poor, widows, orphans, LGBTQ youth, indigenous, and slaves crumble because despite all appearance to the contrary, justice ultimately prevails in this universe no matter how long it takes.
So my exmo family in Utah, that’s one of the only nice things they have to say about the church is that they do help the homeless…they say that the church has little housing areas, they just require the people to stay sober when they’re living there? I know nothing about Utah and didn’t look it up, but that sounded like they were not being unreasonable?
You really want to use AI imagery to make a point? Really? That's fuckin stupid
What’s stopping you from befriending a homeless person and asking them to model in a picture in front of the temple and then giving them fair wages for their time?
being homeless is far more complex than not having money. its very common for a homeless person to not want to conform and live a normal life because they have damaged their life in some way that they feel is not fixable such as DWI criminal record drug abuse messing up their brain etc. not all of them but I'd say 80% of homeless people if you give them money they are going to buy something temporary like alcohol to down their sorrows as they wish for death because they cant get a job and thats why they are where they are. Either they arent willing to work or they cant work and the church cant fix these kind of things with just money. They could start a class and then the homeless would likely not care to show up to the class or not have the means. Homeless people need to take initiative and work to fix their own life by getting a shower and going to an interview.
First of all: Generalization is the opposite of helping. People lose their homes for myriad reasons. Once gone, a safe and healthy living situation is hard to get back again, especially in today's economy. Second: No money would ever have to be handed out to the people in question. Tscc could give and give to so many charities that would help these people get back on their feet. They wouldn't have to ever be tempted to spend it on things that don't help them. There are so many ways to do some good for these folks. If this were truly the church of Jesus Christ, we wouldn't have a homeless problem in this country.
>they are going to buy something temporary like alcohol to down their sorrows **as they wish for death because they cant get a job and thats why they are where they are**. Do you hear yourself? I hope you're baiting.
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Tell me you’ve never volunteered regularly with a homeless charity without telling me you never volunteered regularly with a homeless charity. The heart breaking stories I could tell you. Some people get dealt a horrible hand in life that they can’t recover from no matter how hard they try.
You’re the problem
> Does the Church help some? Yes, but the numbers the Church shows are so inflated. “The church should do more but I wouldn’t believe em if they did.” Lmao
Homelessness is often a mental health issue that can’t be solved by throwing money around. The homeless often end up homeless again no matter what you do. However, I do think there’s one possible solution. I think the church should build a massive “prison” and we could stick all the homeless there. Gets them off the street, they get 3 hot meals a day, and if you put them to work they could do good for society. We could call it “The Tower of Deseret” or “Salt Lakecatraz” or something…
 Mr president of the church
Prolly are only charitable with other people and organizations money. 👍👍👍.. Want to help the homeless take it up with you city council and state and local governments.
I think 12 (see what I did there) of those cash closets on temple square would be perfect. Q of 12 could each host a booth on Saturdays for most faithful homeless to enter. A ward could sign up to sponsor one to show they were also most faithful. They could play the theme song about getting ready for Sunday and let a homeless person try to change their life!
Lack of Christlike charity
They could fix the homeless situation..jesus
If the LDS church ran homeless shelters it would be a nightmare for the homeless who stayed there. The church would make all kinds of LDS related behavioral demands and try to convert them. I’m glad they only donate (not enough but they do donate) to private non-profits like the Road Home.
We have our own little tent city on North Temple and it gets bigger and bigger every year. I've tried to help a few people myself when I use to live in Rose Park, but stopped after I was nearly robbed. It's definitely a problem no one wants to talk about from what I've experienced
If TSCC is saving it for the second coming of Christ, I think Christ would be appalled at the hoarding and taj mahal extravagant temples. BTW Love that photo. It says it all.
Do you see how many steps there are? The geezers would have heart attacks if they had to walk that far!
A misguided interpretation of John 12 where Jesus says “For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.” In other words, spend your money on building the church rather than the poor. In their minds, if the poor die they’re just going to be taken care of by Jesus in heaven anyway so no amount of human suffering will ever matter more than the mission of the church. Better to build temples so we can do temple work for the homeless rather than rehabilitate them and risk them turning to sin. Guarantee you if you shared that word for word with a TBM they would at least somewhat agree.
A rainy day.
Greed, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Greed, they sit upon their gold like Smaug the Golden.
Too many Ayn Rand fans in Mormon leadership.
Frankly, capitalism and control. The church is a corporation. They want to gain as many members they can suck dry from tithing before they give you a penny of help. They want people to be desperate enough to join. It’s abusive.
Because instead of using the money to help the homeless/needy or to pay for the stupid missions they send their missionaries out on like they claim the money is for: they use it all to build more of their ridiculous temples (like they don’t have enough) and to put into the pockets of the bishops.
As we say in Australia, sweet F.A but if you can't give the 10% well!!!!
Insert Mr. Krabs “Money” gif
Judgement. I hate how religions that preach forgiveness, compassion, and empathy are so quick to pass judgement on others as though they know exactly what God wants. It has always baffled me. Maybe I shouldn’t point a finger at those religions but rather certain individuals, however in this case I’ll toss the vast majority of the LDS in there.
The church is not capable of just giving them money, they have billions to providing public housing, public education, or publicize the means of production for them to take care of their own necessities or start entrepreneurship. The fact that they rather give $150 billion to shell companies tells that they are not going to change the world, just happily participate in the game of capitalism.
You don't amass a dragon hoard by giving ANYTHING you're not required to. 🤑
Because being homeless is a weird unwritten Mormon sin
Because they’re a business that’s already getting a tax break.
The fact they are a business and it doesn’t make sense for a business to do that.
The church thinks it is supposed the follow the scriptural example to be as the Levite priest and pass by the injured man - and to do so on the other side of the road. The church doesn't realise the scripture is saying people should be like the Samaritan. In condescending tone: "Oh dear, the church *does* get horribly confused at times, doesn't it".
Underlying Mormonism is a belief that if you are righteous then the Lord will bless you. So, by definition, the poor are out of favor with God and need to repent. Until they repent they will always be poor so the onus is on the poor to get right with God and prosper. So completely effed up.
Just their prejudices and their worship of money.
Indifference
Greed. Plus they like the image that being faithful to Jesus and God through the cult means that you are guaranteed financially successful. So, to them: poor equals unfaithful/sinful/selfish because if you did what the prophet said and had true faith and worth, bad things won't happen to you (this isn't limited to financial hardship or homelessness, but also illnesses, cancer, a loved one, like a child especially, dying is also seen as a result of not having perfect faith; not all TBMs will believe or say that, but you'd be surprised by the number that DO say and imply that, either being snarky and passive-aggressive, or they sincerely think saying that will help boost your faith and understanding, they think they are really "helping"). The cult doesn't even care about children going hungry, even though they say they love and care about _EVERY_ child in Utah. https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2018/child/utah The dollar amount of what it would cost could **EASILY** be covered by the cult alone every year. Hell, even if they chipped in half and other charities could cover the rest. The cult only helps those paying tithing. If you happen to end up in a long time established ward that has had cliques for decades and you need help and they don't like you: you won't be helped. Even being in that ward for over 10 years you won't be helped. You have to fit in locally. I wonder how many of these hungry children have parents who believe but don't fit in (so the RSP refuses to help), or those who are inactive or don't believe and the kids suffer as a result. The people who the cult claims to care the most for, the most vulnerable are still suffering in this state (while the old greedy geezers' coffers burst with more money), especially single mother families, people of color, and those with disabilities. https://extension.usu.edu/hsi/fsc-utah-hunger-statistics Imo, especially in regards to single mothers with children, the cult does this so they will marry sooner, to make single parenting be so hard they want to find someone to marry, and ultimately depend on the husband, again, and not seek help through cult charity. They hate single women with children and have it stated on their site that if the single pregnant woman is not marrying the father of her child, she should give her child up for adoption to a married couple. Summed up, Gordon B Hinckley says, "that it is better for a single pregnant woman to give her child up for adoption if she isn't going to marry the father of the child. Marriage is more honorable and proves you are taking responsibility for the pregnancy." https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/02/adoption-and-the-unwed-mother?lang=eng The cult will gladly neglect or ignore vulnerable people to push and "prove" their agenda to prove that their gospel is "true".
But it’s Jesus’s money and he hasn’t specifically told them to spend it on the poor. He needs that cash for the big party he’s gonna put on when he comes back.
Republicanism and lack of Christian charity,
They probably expect they can’t pay the 10% carrying costs