Everything you need to know about the tithing lawsuits against the LDS Church | Episode 358

Two federal appellate courts. Two historic hearings. Two tithing lawsuits. One overarching allegation: namely, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-days has misled its members — whether about its finances or its history.

In one case, prominent former Latter-day Saint James Huntsman insists top church leaders misrepresented how they spent $1.4 billion of the faith’s funds to build the for-profit City Creek Center shopping mall in downtown Salt Lake City. Topics ranging from religious autonomy and the U.S. Constitution to outright fraud and even a Beatles classic surfaced last week before a full panel of judges in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In the other, ex-members accuse church authorities of hiding important details of Mormonism’s beginnings in order to persuade the faithful to pay their tithes. Oddly enough, founder Joseph Smith, his “seer stone” and translation of the faith’s signature scripture, the Book of Mormon, were openly discussed before a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

So where do these lawsuits go from here? What are their prospects? And how do they fit into the continued media attention on the church’s wealth and a potentially expansive and expensive class-action case?

On this week’s show, Salt Lake Tribune reporter Tony Semerad, who has reported on these lawsuits from the get-go and brought to light other aspects of the faith’s financial empire, helps us wind through this legal maze.