The more I look at this, the more I think that the British might be risking having a headache on their hands.
…Well, you know what I mean.
The president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been ordered to appear before a British court to defend the Mormon faith against charges that it used false teachings to defraud church members.
The court order is the result of complaints filed by Tom Phillips, a disaffected Mormon living in Portugal, on behalf of two men he says were induced to pay an annual tithing to the Church based on “untrue or misleading” claims. These claims include seven central LDS tenets, such as the belief that the Book of Mormon was translated from ancient gold plates by Joseph Smith and “is the most correct book on earth and is an ancient historical record.”
The problem here, of course, is that while most of the people reading this probably do not believe in the basic tenets of Mormonism they will nonetheless instinctively recoil at the idea that a religious faith might be forced in a court of law to try to prove its basic articles of faith. Which, by the way, Phillips is also doing with regard to evangelical Christianity:
Phillips challenges the biblical Book of Genesis, alleging it is fraudulent to assert that “all humans alive today are descended from just two people (Adam and Eve) who lived approximately 6,000 years ago.”
Come, I will conceal nothing from you: the odds that the British government will attempt to extradite LDS President Thomas Monson to appear before them in court are only slightly better than the odds that the American government would honor that extradition request. Which is to say, the Brits won’t and we wouldn’t*. But what happens if Thomas Monson decides to go? We forget that the LDS considers itself to be an (small-g) evangelical and missionary church, to the point where every Mormon is supposed to spend two years spreading the faith. The man is in his mid-eighties and spent a large portion of his life overseeing missionary work behind the Iron Curtain; looking very much from the outside, I can see a situation where Monson might feel called to let the British government decide whether or not to persecute his faith for their beliefs.
But it probably won’t happen: the reports suggest that the Brits are quietly horrified that one of their judges stepped in it to this degree. Smart of them.
Via Hot Air Headlines.
Moe Lane
*We will now pause while some random person darkly mutters that of course the US government would extradite a man who has broken none of our laws, who has frankly broken none of Great Britain’s laws, and perhaps most importantly, who is the head of a respected religion whose adherents include the last Republican candidate for President and the Democratic Senate Majority Leader.
With the ever-increasing ridiculousness that is British law, I’m surprised no one there has filed a cease-and-desist copyright claim on behalf of the Angel Moroni to halt publication and force collection of back-royalties.
of course the US government would extradite a man who has broken none of our laws, who has frankly broken none of Great Britain’s laws, and perhaps most importantly, who is the head of a respected religion whose adherents include the last Republican candidate for President and the Democratic Senate Majority Leader.
Obama has a grudge against Romney and probably one against Reid too, and the entire Left hates Mormonism for Prop 8.
Obama is just petty enough to do this. He also has the added bonus of embarrassing Britain in the process, a Country he holds in contempt.
The government that wants to outlaw burning wood for heat?
.
The government that will sic a dozen agencies on a woman for uncovering voter registration irregularities?
.
The government that will deny asylum to a family threatened with their children being taken away because they home school?
.
The government that funds anti-technology, anti-business groups that sue the government to force it to impose regulations that cannot make it through Congress or normal regulatory review?
.
The government that secretly wrote and imposed “regulations” on non-profit social issue groups in order to silence them during the 2012 elections?
.
The government that left four of its people to die alone, unsupported in Benghazi?
.
The government that is suing the Little Sisters of Mercy in order to force them to pay for acts they consider abominable sins?
.
The government that will force you to take part in a ceremony you believe is a sin, in the name of “rights”?
.
I ain’t muttering darkly. I’m stating it boldly.
Petty is exactly the word I was planning to use here wrt the current occupant of the oval office
I decided to go ahead and be the person who “mutters darkly”
I’m not surprised in the least. Great Britain is the one-stop shop for lawsuits like this.
*darkly mutters* Of course the US government would extradite a man who has broken none of our laws, who has frankly broken none of Great Britain’s laws, and perhaps most importantly, who is the head of a respected religion whose adherents include the last Republican candidate for President and the Democratic Senate Majority Leader.
I’ll mutter it, but none of this “darkly” business for me. I’ll do it with a carefree lilt in my voice and a smile on my face.
“I didn’t hear a Harrumph! out of that guy.”
You give Moe Lane a Harrumph!
“Harrumph!”
Please, oh pleeeeeease let someone sue the Mohommedans for exactly the same reasons. The Noble Qur’an makes just as many bullspit claims as the Book of Mormon, and on top of that it calls upon the faithful to approve of slavery and murder.
Is some brave judge willing to have his throat cut as a result of standing up for Truth in Religion?
I don’t believe any such judge exists.
At least, not it a postmodern society. Men without chests, and all that.