{"id":44106,"date":"2017-08-31T14:22:50","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T20:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44106"},"modified":"2017-08-31T14:22:50","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T20:22:50","slug":"lines-general-authority-stipends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/08\/lines-general-authority-stipends.html","title":{"rendered":"A few more lines about General Authority stipends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Actually,<\/a>
The new K\u2019eyghashutnu Graduate School Library and Fitness Center at the University of Toronto
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My regular Thursday Deseret News<\/em> column for the week has appeared:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Why Science Does Not Disprove God'\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t mind relentlessly volcanic anger, lies, and non-stop ad hominem<\/em> attacks, you might find it of interest.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a roughly fourteen-minute video that some of you \u2014 and particularly those of you possessed of a\u00a0younger sensibility \u2014 might enjoy and find helpful:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDo Mormons Believe in Multiple Gods? | 3 Mormons\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It features the unfortunate Stephen Smoot, whom I have\u00a0compelled to go\u00a0into the absurd, dead-end field of Egyptology. \u00a0I presume that the podcast was recorded before the government of the United States kicked him out (under the Trump administration\u2019s urgently-needed\u00a0emergency Smoot Travel Ban) and he was obliged to flee, once again, into the arctic\u00a0wasteland politely known as \u201cCanada.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For background on the tedious brief tale\u00a0of young Smoot and the very tragical mirth of his Canadian exile, see<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can come home now, Steve Smoot!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA Tear for Stephen Smoot\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m interested to see how this new social media initiative from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> will move forward:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Book of Mormon and Me!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just a reminder that the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s first experiment with moviemaking will be broadcast this coming Sunday on BYUtv<\/a>. \u00a0(Not, please note, on KBYU-TV, which is a related but distinct and non-Utah-oriented\u00a0enterprise.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the announcement of the broadcast as it appears on the Interpreter Foundation website<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The premiere broadcast of the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s first filmmaking venture,\u00a0Robert Cundick: A Sacred Service of Music<\/em>, is scheduled for 3:00 PM (MDT) on Sunday, 3 September 2017, on BYUtv (not KBYU). Please share this information with others who might be interested.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This won\u2019t be our last<\/em> such undertaking.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The question of General Authority stipends has come up again, in a small way. \u00a0So I\u2019ll share four\u00a0things that I posted on the subject back in January 2017 while a controversy was raging on the topic,\u00a0and then I\u2019ll add another comment:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn living stipends for General Authorities\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo quotations relevant to the matter of General Authority stipends\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother note on General Authority stipends\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA few more thoughts on General Authority stipends\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A critic pointed out, quite correctly, that my generous estimate that 1\/3400 of Mormon clergy receive a living stipend is greater than zero.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I readily grant this. \u00a0I\u2019ve never made a big issue out of the fact that clergy in other denominations receive compensation. \u00a0I really couldn\u2019t care less. \u00a0But I do think it absurd to say that, because 1\/3400 of Mormon \u201cclergy\u201d receive (relatively modest) living stipends, we\u2019re lying when we say that we have an unpaid clergy. \u00a0Overwhelmingly, we do<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how I responded to one critic on this topic a day or two ago:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arsenic typically occurs in rice and in water. Usually only in trace amounts. Since you insist on absolute zero, though, you should probably accuse your local Chinese restaurants of serving rice laced with arsenic and charge your local water company with poisoning its customers. The black population of Utah is about 1.8% of total residents. That\u2019s nearly one in fifty \u2014 far higher than the 1\/3400 figure that I\u2019ve very generously given for \u201cpaid clergy\u201d in the Church. Since you think that 1\/3400 makes the clergy of the Church \u201cpaid,\u201d I assume that you think that 1\/50 makes the population of Utah \u201cblack.\u201d This is revolutionary stuff, and you need to share it with the national media. It could dramatically change Utah\u2019s national and international image.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, a few months back, I had a conversation on this matter (at her initiative, since, as it turns out, she was aware of my blog posts above) with the widow of a General Authority. \u00a0She told me that, when he was called to full-time service, President Hinckley asked him whether he would need compensation in order to be able to devote himself to such a calling. \u00a0He had been a successful businessman, and he responded No, that he would be able to serve without a living stipend. \u00a0Good, said President Hinckley. \u00a0And so he served without any compensation. \u00a0She told me that she didn\u2019t know the financial situations of most of her husband\u2019s fellow General Authorities, but that, as it happened, she was aware of several who, like her husband, were serving at their own expense, not drawing on the money that they could have drawn from the Church.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t surprised at this, though I had never known it for certain and had certainly never felt authorized to quiz any General Authority about his personal finances.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 My regular Thursday Deseret News column for the week has appeared: \u00a0 \u201c\u2018Why Science Does Not Disprove God’\u201d \u00a0 If you don\u2019t mind relentlessly volcanic anger, lies, and non-stop ad hominem attacks, you might find it of interest. \u00a0 *** \u00a0 Here\u2019s a roughly fourteen-minute video that some of you \u2014 and particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA few more lines about General Authority stipends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    My regular Thursday Deseret News column for the week has appeared:   "'Why Science Does Not Disprove God'"   If you don't mind\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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