Why does the Church own businesses and invest? Ep. 158

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is involved in a wide variety of investments and businesses. Why is that? That’s the question Dave explores in this episode.

Transcript and additional notes: https://bit.ly/3OIyeFQ

— “Church Finances and a Growing Global Faith” news release from the Church (fantastic Q&A format that offers a good review of Church finances): https://bit.ly/3Ix3RhV
— Many Church-owned businesses are managed by Deseret Management Corporation, which you can learn more about on their website here: https://bit.ly/3IOhkSe
— “LDS Church Finances from the 1830s to the 1990s” by D. Michael Quinn: https://bit.ly/32bpFQp
— “N. Eldon Tanner and Church Administration” by John P. Livingstone (BYU Studies): https://bit.ly/34HfOTg
— “The State of the Church” by Gordon B. Hinckley (April 1991 GC): https://bit.ly/33AC7K3
— “Finances of the Church” via Encyclopedia of Mormonism: https://bit.ly/33nI6lr
— “Business: Church Participation in Business” via Encyclopedia of Mormonism: https://bit.ly/3rQKLfM
— “Church Finances — Commercial Businesses” via the Church’s website: https://bit.ly/3q9JUXZ
— “The Church and Its Financial Independence” via the Church’s newsroom: https://bit.ly/3f5eYBU
— “LDS Church Real-Estate Holdings Include Farms, Ranches, Buildings” by Deseret News: https://bit.ly/3Fs0sif
— ‘Old-Fashioned Virtues Keep Church Thriving” via the Financial Post (interview with N. Eldon Tanner), pub. July 3, 1976: https://bit.ly/32iwcsB
— “Church responds to allegations made by former employee in IRS complaint” via Deseret News: https://bit.ly/3Ijjc5c
— “$100 Billion In Mormon Till Does Not Merit IRS Attention” via Forbes: https://bit.ly/3tDR20M
— “Religion and Economics in Mormon History” by Leonard Arrington (BYU Studies, 1961): https://bit.ly/3KMvOUF
— If you want to dive really deep into this topic, you may be interested in D. Michael Quinn’s book, “The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power”.
— Here’s a good interview of Quinn on the Mormon News Report podcast: https://bit.ly/3o6NaSt
— “Mormon leaders and Salt Lake City work together to transform land” via Deseret News: https://bit.ly/3rXoHjP
— More City Creek Center questions and answers here: https://bit.ly/3u90Os0

Notes:

— At the local level, Latter-day Saints are not paid a dime for serving in their callings. Because General Authorities serve in their callings full-time, they receive a living allowance of reportedly 120 thousand dollars per year. This is a significant pay cut for many leaders, like President Nelson, who left behind a career as a heart surgeon. Now he’s working more than full-time for the Church, at 97 years old, with no retirement ahead of him. He will serve for the rest of his life. But anyway, the Church’s business ventures make it possible for that living allowance to not come from the tithing of the people. Frankly, I wouldn’t care if they did use tithing funds — the tithes of ancient Israel were used to support the Levite priests (see Num. 18:21)— but it’s a nice gesture.

— I thought this quote might be of some interest, if you’re interested in learning more about what kinds of businesses the Church was involved in, in the early Utah years:

“When the federal government heightened its efforts to prosecute Mormon polygamists in 1884, however, Taylor and other LDS leaders were forced underground and the boards of trade died out. After the passage of the Edmunds Act in 1887, the federal government had the power to confiscate church property, leaving the church without a financial base and hindering the organization from acting as the central economic authority in Utah. Yet the church was still enmeshed financially in numerous industries by the time Wilford Woodruff assumed the presidency in 1889, including ZCMI, Zion’s Saving Bank and Trust Company, Consolidated Wagon and Machine, the Templeton Hotel, the Bullion, Beck, and Champion Mining Company, and several newspapers such as the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Herald, and the Salt Lake Times. Under Woodruff’s presidency, the church would aid several other endeavors as well, including the Inland Crystal Salt Company, the Saltair Beach Company, the Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway Company, and the Union Light & Power Company. In many ways the church’s justification for its involvement in these industries was no different from its reasoning to begin cooperatives in the 1860s and 1870s: to provide more economic opportunities and employment to its members and to reduce the price of goods to Utah consumers.” Source: “Religion, Politics, and Sugar: The Mormon Church, the Federal Government, and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907 to 1921” by Matthew C. Godfrey (Utah State University).

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