Lawsuits show church needs to be transparent about its billions, writes Gordon Monson [Video]

If the lawsuits currently arriving in front of legal benches — and the ones that could yet come — regarding the payment and subsequent use of tithing offered by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints underscore anything, it’s that there is a difference between the church and the God the church purports to be owned and operated by.

Nobody sues God.

The church, on the other hand, is free game.

Or might be held legally accountable, anyway, for proclamations it has made for how tithing funds have been and are used. Many Latter-day Saints have been led to believe their donated money — required from members to remain in “celestial” standing — is for sacred uses, for charitable causes and for the upkeep of the “kingdom.” Not to be dumped into investment portfolios — or shopping malls or secret accounts — the value of which numbers in the billions of dollars.

The problem for Latter-day Saints is twofold. The …