I just listened to a podcast featuring Daymon Smith, a Mormon anthropologist. He is still a TBM.. or professes to be. Puzzling.

He illuminates the temporal organization of TSCC thus;

-There is no legal entity COJCOLDS. It is a trademark or name-mark, owned by The Intellectual Property Reserve, a subsidiary of the Corporation of the Presidency.

-Legally, there are no "members." The corporation is a rare form called a Coprporation Sole. All power is in the office of the president of the church, who is the only and ultimate legal custodian of the Corporation.

-"Members" are not share-holders. They have no legal part in the Corporate entity whatsoever. They are simply giving money to something that has absolutely no contractual obligation to them, and the "members'" obligation back to them is a legal fiction.

-"Membership records" are a copyrighted possession of the Intellectual Reserve.

Thus, the question arises; What are we resigning from? Really, we should only be saying in the letter; "I hereby revoke my permission to the Intellectual Reserve to list my name in it's database."

With this legal situation, I am not a member simply by thinking to myself "I am no longer subscribing to the fiction that I am an entity associated with the Corportaion of the President or any of it's subsidiaries."

No external statement has any legal standing, so it need not be made.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2012 06:46PM by rationalguy.

That certainly puts things in a different light.

Even if what you're saying is true, I think it's important to resign to legally & formally disassociate oneself from the cult.

I agree with that sentiment, actually. I was trying to illustrate what a farce it all is, and how the reality of it is nothing like what members think it is.

When you resign from most churches you are doing a legal act, though. That's because you WERE a legal part of it. They have some obligation to members, such as financial disclosure. Most of them have an entirely different legal structure..usually a Charitable Trust or Corporation, and members often have real voting power.

Raising your arm to the square in conference or sacrament meeting has only a symbolic meaning. You are simply swearing fealty to men you are told must be considered infallible. This is so similar to voluntary slavery that it's hard to explain why it's not. They run it as they see fit, your opinion is totally without value. What you really are is not a person, but a corporate asset from which to derive free labor and a cash flow.

The things they pretend to give back are intangibles, such as priesthood authority, permission to attend the temple, which is imagined to be essential to your salvation.. an ethical and moral foundation--The last two are really integral human instincts that they essentially hijack and sell back to you.

The first two.. priesthood and temple.. are complete fabrication and fantasy.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2012 11:22PM by rationalguy.

I really don't think so. "Resigning" would suggest that I was actually hired to do something and were leaving the organization or entity I have worked or volunteered for or was associated with. I've been fired from paying jobs, and I've resigned from volunteer boards I've sat on.
My point is...the LDS Church didn't hire me or fire me. I joined of my own free will (well as much as an 8 year old possesses). So there should be no need to resign and get official confirmation of said request being honored. I have no one to impress, as both my parents are dead, my wife is Catholic and I have almost zero contact with my MORG relatives. As for my name being on their records, I could care less. I've been "gone" for 40+ years. I don't bother them (well if they knew who I was and read what I've written on this site, THAT could lead to some fireworks) and for the most part they don't bother me. I just hang up on them when they call...and have another beer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2012 08:04PM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

In my mind, I was just resigning from being harrassed, leaving on my own terms and making a statement that I refused to have my name be associated with them.

Exactly.

All true about the corporate sole. I guess my official resignation was a statement. I was forced into Mormonism from birth, and I want to discredit, defame and debunk it.

Wouldn't there be a legal approach telling them that have no rights to use your name, associating it and you as a current and active member of an organization that either misrepresents itself, or some other technical lawyer-ese?

There's got to be a brilliant and damning loophole--the apologists are always finding them, why not ex-mo's?

I don't get harassed. Ever since my folks died, the MORG has pretty much left me alone, except for the old geezer who thinks it's his "calling" to re-activate me....but I hung up on him a couple weeks back and haven't heard from him since....

They need you to do the work for free and they need you to buy their product. And last but not least, when you are old enough to retire, you can do skilled labor for the church and you won't have to pay them nearly as much as they would have to pay some professional to do it.

Challenge: Walk up a creek until you are out of sight of people.
Then, try to concentrate on what you owe organizations.

Answer: it's difficult!

helpful hint: before returning, have a free drink of cool water