The Mormon Church Builds a Mall
On the other hand, says historian D. Michael Quinn, who is working on a book about the LDS Church’s finances and businesses, “The Mormon Church is very different than any other church. … Traditional Christianity and Judaism make a clear distinction between what is spiritual and what is temporal, while Mormon theology specifically denies that there is such a distinction.” To Latter-day Saints, opening megamalls, running a Polynesian theme park, and operating a billion-dollar media and insurance empire are all part of doing God’s work. Says Quinn: “In the Mormon worldview, it’s as spiritual to give alms to the poor, as the old phrase goes in the Biblical sense, as it is to make a million dollars.”
—The title of this Businessweek article is “How the Mormons Make Money,” and I was really extremely ready to read an article about rich Mormons. All the Mormon blogs I read (“all the Mormon blogs I read”—what, you don’t?) seem to have one thing in common, and that is: a ton of money (and also many children, good styling, and family in Utah). Anyway, this is not that, but it’s interesting nonetheless! The megamall mentioned is the $2 billion City Creek Center that the Church just built across the street from their temple in Salt Lake City. There is a retractable glass roof and a Tiffany’s.
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Previously on The Billfold
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Logan, you are not alone. Everyone loves mormon blogs:
http://www.salon.com/2011/01/15/feminist_obsessed_with_mormon_blogs/
@lalaland I was literally reading this post and thinking “I hope someone puts a link in the comments to a bunch of Mormon blogs.” So thanks!
Agreed on the Mormon blogs thing. I love them unabashedly.
I grew up in an area where there were a good number of mormon kids in my high school. I was aware that a lot of them were well off and I do remember that one girl’s family seemed to have a lot less money than the others, but I don’t know (or can’t remember now) what her parents did for a living. I’d really like to know more about how they all manage it, with so many kids and having to give 10% of their income to the church. I wonder if mormon families seem to be disproportionately wealthy because the wealthy are the only ones who can afford to be mormon? Or maybe it’s that the religious community helps provide support and make connections so that people can become wealthy more easily? Despite the church owning all these properties and businesses it’s not like they can employ every single mormon, right?
Hey, it worked in the Bronze Age.
only recently have a lot of people in my circle of friends admitted to ravenously reading mormon blogs. and now we can’t stop talking about them. all. the. time.
This is from the Pew Forum (http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Mormon/A-Portrait-of-Mormons-in-the-US.aspx#4):
“Mormons are significantly more likely than the population overall to have some college education. Six-in-ten Mormons (61%) have at least some college education, compared with half of the overall population. However, the proportion of Mormons who graduate from college (18%) or receive postgraduate education (10%) is similar to the population as a whole (16% and 11%, respectively).
Similarly, Mormons are slightly more likely to be in a middle income bracket than the general population; 38% of Mormons report earning between $50,000 and $100,000 annually, compared with 30% among the population overall in this income category. Mormons are slightly less likely than the general public to be in the lowest income bracket (26% earn $30,000 or less per year compared with 31% among the general public), but they are about as likely to make $100,000 or more annually as the rest of the population (16% and 18%, respectively). This places Mormons roughly in the middle of other religious traditions on the socioeconomic spectrum. Jews, Hindus and Buddhists tend to have more education and higher incomes than Mormons, while Jehovah’s Witnesses and members of historically black Protestant churches and evangelical Protestant churches fall on the opposite end of the continuum.”
@anderin “Jews, Hindus and Buddhists tend to have more education and higher incomes than Mormons, while Jehovah’s Witnesses and members of historically black Protestant churches and evangelical Protestant churches fall on the opposite end of the continuum.”
Yeah, Jehovah’s Witnesses really follow that “store up treasures in heaven instead on earth” stuff.
I wonder why there’s such a huge drop in Mormons who start college (61%) and those who actually graduate (18$)
@Deb of last year@twitter All the girls drop out to get married (only sort of kidding).
Mormon Mommy Blogs make me feel bad about myself.
Having lived in Salt Lake City for a year and only having resided on the east coast prior to my move, I can say that living here has been extremely eye-opening. People here think the new mall is very pretty, but two of my local lesbian friends refrain from holding hands when they are there together for fear of controversy.