Difference between revisions of "Question: Did President Jimmy Carter threaten the Church's tax-exempt status because of their policy on blacks and the priesthood?"

 
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#REDIRECT[[Social pressure and the priesthood ban#Did President Jimmy Carter threaten the Church's tax-exempt status because of their policy on blacks and the priesthood?]]
  
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|title=Question: Did President Jimmy Carter threaten the Church's tax-exempt status because of their policy on blacks and the priesthood?
 
|category=Mormonism and racial issues/Blacks and the priesthood
 
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==Question: Did President Jimmy Carter threaten the Church's tax-exempt status because of their policy on blacks and the priesthood?==
 
===The allegation that the LDS church's tax-free status was threatened is false===
 
  
A claim that the federal government had threatened to revoke the Church's tax-exempt status back in 1978 was made by a woman named Kathy Erickson in a letter to the ''Salt Lake Tribune'' on March 11, 2001. Erickson stated,
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[[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
What’s done is done. There no longer is any prejudice against blacks in the Mormon church, the power of money took care of that. Back in 1978 the federal government informed the LDS Church that unless it allowed blacks full membership (including the priesthood) they would have to cease calling themselves a non-profit organization and start paying income taxes. On $16.5 million a day in tithing alone that’s a lot of tax monies that could be better used in building up the Kingdom of God.
 
  
The church immediately saw the error of its ways and the brethren appealed to God for a revelation; it came quickly. God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform, and today The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has nothing but love for all races of people on Earth.”<ref>Kathy Erickson, letter to the ''Salt Lake Tribune'', 11 March 11, 2001.</ref>
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[[es:Pregunta: ¿El presidente Jimmy Carter amenazó el estado de exención de impuestos de la Iglesia debido a su política sobre los negros y el sacerdocio?]]
 
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[[pt:Pergunta: É verdade que o Presidente Jimmy Carter ameaçou o status de isenção de impostos da Igreja por causa da diretriz a respeito do Sacerdócio aos negros?]]
A representative of the Church Public Affairs department responded with a letter of their own:
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<blockquote>
 
Salt Lake Tribune
 
public forum
 
Distorted History
 
Thursday, April 5, 2001
 
 
 
It's one thing to distort history, quite another to invent it. Kathy Erickson (Forum, March 11) claims that the federal government threatened The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with its tax-exempt status in 1978 because of the church's position regarding blacks and the priesthood.   
 
 
 
We state categorically that the federal government made no such threat in 1978 or at any other time. The decision to extend the blessings of the priesthood to all worthy males had nothing to do with federal tax policy or any other secular law. In the absence of proof, we conclude that Ms. Erickson is seriously mistaken.   
 
 
 
BRUCE L. OLSEN
 
Public Affairs Department
 
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints    <ref>Bruce L. Olsen, cited in ''Salt Lake Tribune'' on 5 April 2001.</ref>
 
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Latest revision as of 20:33, 27 May 2024