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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 04 2016, @12:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-see-what-they-did-there dept.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) is notoriously secretive about the inner workings of its ruling hierarchy, the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve Apostles. With an estimated annual income in the billions and assets in the tens of billions, the church does not release financial statements to its members or the general public. The meetings and decision-making processes of the Mormon leaders are similarly undisclosed.

That changed Sunday when a group called Mormon Leaks posted more than a dozen videos to YouTube, containing briefing sessions with the hierarchy. The briefings were apparently recorded "live" and include candid comments and discussion from the apostles in attendance. The leak appeared to be timed to coincide with the church's semi-annual conference that took place over the weekend.

Ironically, one of the briefings discusses WikiLeaks and the possibility of a similar leak targeting the church, but the apostles shown in the video appear to more concerned about Chelsea (nee Bradley) Manning's sexuality than they are about threats to their own secrets.

One briefing that is particularly troubling was given by a former U.S. senator from Oregon, Gordon H. Smith. Smith, a member of the church, admits that he values obedience to the hierarchy and loyalty to the church more than he does his office. He also describes using his office and staff to gain political favors for the church, and justifies the Iraq War by claiming that it will allow Mormon missionaries access to Middle Eastern nations. At one point (around the 26 minute mark), Smith possibly reveals classified information to the group, or at least his willingness to do so.

The videos appear to come from the same whistle blower who leaked a trove of church documents on-line about a week ago. Those documents are here and the leaker has announced that many more are coming.


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  • (Score: 1) by lcall on Tuesday October 04 2016, @11:19PM

    by lcall (4611) on Tuesday October 04 2016, @11:19PM (#410398)

    (oops: I had used the word Mormonism which is what I meant by "unofficial name", but then edited it out.)

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2016, @12:13AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2016, @12:13AM (#410409)

    the Christianity that I am regularly taught

    Sorry, but if you are Mormon, none of what you are taught is really Christianity. It actually is a custom fork of the Temple of the Golden Dawn religion that Joe Smith dabbled in when he was young. The Jesus stuff was crufted on in a failed attempt to get people to stop hating mormons so much.

    • (Score: 1) by lcall on Wednesday October 05 2016, @12:24AM

      by lcall (4611) on Wednesday October 05 2016, @12:24AM (#410412)

      We believe in following Jesus Christ, according to the teachings of the Bible, Book of Mormon, and authoritative living prophets. But not the Nicene creed. From there, people disagree on terminology. Sometimes others say that to be Christian you have to agree with the Nicene creed etc., but we think the creed disagrees with biblical Christianity. We believe that ancient prophets brought teachings very specific to their times (like Isaiah advising the king about alliances, or Noah telling the people to board the ark), and that the living ones similarly bring counsel specific to our times, which counsel we very much need, just as the ancients did.