I hear a lot of you talking about involving legal action against TSSC for all the cult like stalking/harassing/intimidating behavior. Has anyone here actually filed a lawsuit? If so what kind of reaction came from it? How did it go, to court, settled, dropped? Just curious....

Haven't, but have really wanted to. The local bishopric really screwed with my family causing deep rifts and divisions between me and one of my children after I left Mormonism for the last time in 2005..

I would've loved to have sued the bastards, but it would've cost me more than it was worth to go after them.

GD them all to hell anyway. Never thought I'd say or think that about a bishop/past and present, but that's how bad they f*cked with my family.

Going to court would be bothersome and expensive. I did pick up the necessary papers at the county in case I needed them. The clerk said to write the harassing organization's name where it calls for an individual stalker's name. They didn't have separate forms for harassing churches or individuals.

Why can't the BoM be proven fraudulent by trial/exposing JS a conman, with the church leaders covering up the dirty laundry the entire way? Tithing/financial/mission reparations.

The Smithsonian declared it bogus...

Agreed!

Actually, there is nothing that is "actionable" by tracking people down. The LDS Church uses legal methods to find their members. It's the same legal methods that are used by others.
Maybe in a rare case, the behavior of an individual may raise to legal stalking, but so far, that has not been the case.
The best recourse is to ignore the requests.
Here it is, folks from the horses mouth!
https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Locating_members

For some reason, some folks are missing the whole point of the power of the myth in religion - the God Myth. Read: "The Power of Myth" by http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Myth-Joseph-Campbell/dp/0385418868

It's been part of humanity on this earth for eons. It is about metaphysical, supernatural, visionary claims that are not intended to be scientifically factual. That's another field all together.
Religions are about faith based ideas/notions/beliefs. That is their whole purpose -- to give human beings meaning in their lives. They are dependent on contributions: no money, no church.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2015 02:35PM by SusieQ#1.

This question comes up alarmingly often, and a lot of the questions center around the LDS church being a provable fraud. There are two problems, however:

-- The LDS church is falsifiable in the same sense wide swaths of other pseudoscience and religion are. Priesthood blessings don't heal? Neither do chiropractors, homeopathic medicine, or Indian witch doctors. The BoM is a fraud? Well, so is the Urantia Book, the Koran, and for that matter, the Bible. Both have events in them that have no proof of ever occurring, nor can they readily be replicated.

As I've mentioned before, there's no standard one can set that allows the LDS church to be falsified while not categorizing Islam, Catholicism, and the rest of mainstream Christianity similarly.

-- Even if it were falsifiable, it wouldn't matter. The government is not in existence to be the arbiter of truth. People know smoking is bad, yet they do it. Speeding increases the likelihood of accidents and fatalities, yet there are plenty of 500HP+ cars available for sale with speeds governed at double the speed limit. People regularly drink alcohol, even though its deleterious effects are well known. In other words, the government is not there to protect you from your own bad choices.

People are pissed at the religion. I get that. But swinging the massive hammer of the government at them is a mistake. You either look bigoted for singling out the LDS religion, or grossly elite for going after everything you deem untruthful, or hypocritical for going after the groups that you personally don't like.

Alpiner

+1
There is no point in using your energy over something you have no control over in the first place. Religion in general is a huge part of the history of humanity and always will be.
Life is just so very very short. Enjoy your life. Find the great parts that sustain you.
When we leave everyone else alone we are are so much freer. Everyone muddles through just like everyone else!
And then it's over.

Yes, but Big Tobacco was successfully sued. If you buy a pack of smokes now, you help subsidize the social costs of harming your body.

Who subsidizes the social costs of dysfunction brought on by Mormonism? Who pays for your shrink when you learn that TSCC simply cannot be true?

Karmic justice will get TSCC in the end, but effective use of the justice system is what leads to social progress and a better world.

They may be a non-profit, but that's only because they CALL it a religion.

How many thousands of exmos are harrassed after leaving? Is it a legitimate debt this entity is attempting to collect, something akin to telemarketing, or a spurned lover?

It may be legal to seek and find your information, but acting on that find is something else.

While it may be too much for most individuals to take on, the LDS has created a fairly substantial pattern of behaviour, including attempts to contact and influence the minor children of exmos.

Sounds like a class-action to me.

It would be far more effective to use social media etc, than legal means to make this stop.

We would all love to see federal agents raid the COB.

In the meantime, it would be more effective to trash LDS Inc on FaceBook.

I would like to see the church brought down legally too. But unless they've committed some kind of gross crime that you can prove, you're better off moving forward and not engaging them in any kind of battle for now.

But there is some consolation. If you're like me, you're never going to forget what they've done. The wounding goes much deeper than mere offence would go. For the rest of my life, there's always going to be a person who spreads the word about what the organization is like from the inside (all of the dirty laundry), who votes against their interests, who tells true stories that they would rather bury. Every voice counts, and the number of people doing this is stacking up. Some day we'll be heard. If not, or until then, you've got to have the conviction to do the right thing. Some day, and through strictly legal means, the church will reap the rewards of what they're doing.

He who accepts evil without protesting it is really cooperating with it. MLK
All this rational reparte is nauseating. I know, I wont be making any bosom friends tonight.

It's not about accepting what the church does and has done. It's about conserving your resources, picking your battles, and maximizing your effectiveness when you do go on the offensive. The slow burn, every former member a long-term detractor, strategy works kind of like compound interest. The numbers start out small in the beginning. But in the end, the effect is cumulative and significant.

I swear by chiropractors. They have fixed me more than once.

Chiropractors have some sort of value. My insurance covers it, and they are stingy bastards.

I'm not an attorney, but this seems easy enough to understand.

http://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title76/Chapter5/76-5-S106.5.html?v=C76-5-S106.5_1800010118000101

The dilemma for the church would become, who is causing the harassment to continue, after notifying the bishop to stop contact? He is obliglated to remove your name or risk violating law.

Some things that might be court worthy

Mormonism stopping parents from attending their own child's temple wedding. A cult shouldn't have that right.

The Bof Abraham. Virtually every Egyptologist not funded my Mormonism would prove that it is NOT a translation about Abraham.

Bishops questioning teens behind closed doors about their sexuality.

These IMO are court worthy. In Canada we have a charter of rights, and laws against fraud and sexual interference with minors.

6 iron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some things that might be court worthy
>
1) Mormonism stopping parents from attending their
> own child's temple wedding. A cult shouldn't have
> that right.

Your child does not have to get married in the temple. If he/she chooses to exclude you, that is his/her choice. You cannot sue to be included in a wedding.


>
2) The Bof Abraham. Virtually every Egyptologist not
> funded my Mormonism would prove that it is NOT a
> translation about Abraham.

A court cannot and will not determine the validity of scripture. This is an open/shut 1st Amendment case.

>
3) Bishops questioning teens behind closed doors
> about their sexuality.

If parents give their consent, then Bishops can do this.

> These IMO are court worthy. In Canada we have a
> charter of rights, and laws against fraud and
> sexual interference with minors.

But the child has the right to have their wedding where they want and if the child chooses a temple building, which is a privately owned building, they are choosing to have their parents barred from their wedding.

Frankly I think going the legal route against the church is pointless. Public information on the Internet exposing the ridiculous doctrines of TSCC and stories about how TSCC harms people and public ridicule are the best weapons.


Adults can freely choose to belong to or leave any religion and parents have the right to force any religion on their minor children. To try and fight this is a waste of effort. I prefer to focus on more productive strategies.

Scientology, which is far more abusive and openly ridiculous than Mormonism, has been protected by the 1st amendment in several lawsuits. Judges dismiss normally valid complaints because they don't want to slam a church.

Unless they are committing a major crime, like covering up child abuse or rape, you will not get anywhere. Churches have very strong 1st amendment protections. If you can't get the Scientologists, you won't get LDS, Inc.