End Times and Current Events

General Category => Mormonism/LDS => Topic started by: Mark on March 03, 2014, 05:34:30 am



Title: English court orders Mormon leader to defend LDS doctrines at a hearing
Post by: Mark on March 03, 2014, 05:34:30 am
English court orders Mormon leader to defend LDS doctrines at a hearing

 An English court has ordered Mormon Church president Thomas Monson to appear at a March hearing to answer charges of religious fraud. The summons came in response to a suit by a former Mormon leader who alleges that key Latter-day Saints (LDS) beliefs are false, making their fundraising efforts deceptive.

Tom Phillips, who filed the charges, left Mormonism in 2004. Some of the doctrines he contends are bogus are distinctively Mormon, such as what Mormons believe are revelations to Joseph Smith that led to the composition of the Book of Mormon. Other tenets, such as the Genesis narrative of Adam and Eve, command widespread adherence among Christians and Jews. Phillips, however, says that it is scientifically impossible that “all humans alive today are descended from just two people (Adam and Eve) who lived approximately 6,000 years ago.”

The summons has generated outrage among both Mormons and non-Mormons. LDS spokesman Eric Hawkins says that Mormons occasionally attract such charges that “seek to draw attention to an individual’s personal grievances or to embarrass Church leaders.” He characterizes Phillips’ allegations as “bizarre.”

http://www.worldmag.com/2014/02/beyond_belief


Title: Re: English court orders Mormon leader to defend LDS doctrines at a hearing
Post by: Mark on March 25, 2014, 06:46:43 am
'Misleading' Book of Mormon Lands Church President in Court for Financial Fraud

A British judge has thrown out a fraud case against the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saying “the court is being manipulated to provide a high-profile forum to attack the religious beliefs of others.”

Tom Phillips, a former Mormon bishop and stake president, had charged that church President Thomas S. Monson has “made representations … which were untrue or misleading”—including that “the Book of Mormon, the church’s signature scripture, was translated from ancient gold plates by church founder Joseph Smith; that the Book of Abraham, another text viewed as scripture, is a literal translation of Egyptian papyri by Smith ”—to “make a gain for himself or another.”

“To convict, a jury would need to be sure that the religious teachings of the Mormon Church are untrue or misleading,” said the ruling by Judge Howard Riddle, chief magistrate in Westminster Magistrates’ Court. “No judge in a secular court in England and Wales would allow that issue to be put to a jury.”

A statement released Thursday by church spokesman Cody Craynor expressed satisfaction with the ruling, saying, “This case was a misuse of the legal system and should never have been brought.”

Phillips is not discouraged by the decision, according to a statement issued by a spokesman for MormonThink.com, where Phillips is managing editor.

“Although this ruling represents a setback for our cause, we remain steadfast in our commitment to bring the LDS Corporation to justice,” Phillips said.

http://www.charismanews.com/world/43215-misleading-book-of-mormon-lands-church-president-in-court-for-financial-fraud