Head of Mormon church summoned over Adam and Eve teaching

[Stan]

Head of Mormon church Thomas Monson summoned by British magistrates' court over Adam and Eve teaching

Thomas S Monson, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ordered to appear before British magistrates' court amid claims that the organisation's teaching amounts to 'fraud'

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor2:26PM GMT 05 Feb 2014

A British magistrate has issued an extraordinary summons to the worldwide leader of the Mormon church alleging that its teachings about mankind amount to fraud.

Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been ordered to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London next month to defend the church’s doctrines including beliefs about Adam and Eve and Native Americans.

A formal summons signed by District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe warns Mr Monson, who is recognized by Mormons as God’s prophet on Earth, that a warrant for his arrest could be issued if he fails to make the journey from Salt Lake City, Utah, for a hearing on March 14.

In one of the most unusual documents ever issued by a British court, it lists seven teachings of the church, including that Native Americans are descended from a family of ancient Israelites as possible evidence of fraud.

It also cites the belief that the Book of Mormon was translated from ancient gold plates revealed to the church’s founder Joseph Smith by angels and that Adam and Eve lived around 6,000 years ago.

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The document suggests that asking members of the church to make contributions while promoting theological doctrines which “might be untrue or misleading” could be a breach of the Fraud Act 2006.

The Church dismissed the summons as containing “bizarre allegations” and signalled that Mr Monson has no plans to attend.

It was issued in response to a private prosecution attempt by Tom Phillips, a disaffected former Mormon who now runs MormonThink a website highly critical of the church.

Under little-used legal procedures, people who say they have evidence that someone has committed a crime can ask a magistrate to issue a summons requiring them to attend a court hearing.

The district judge would then decide whether or not to proceed with a case or dismiss it.

Similar procedures were used by Palestinian activist in 2009 to have an arrest warrant issued against the Israeli justice minister Tzipi Livni, leading to an international diplomatic incident.

Two virtually identical summonses were sent to Mr Monson naming Stephen Bloor, a former Mormon bishop, and Christopher Denis Ralph, another former convert, as victims of the alleged fraud.

It argues that by being persuaded to pay a tithe to the church on the basis of teachings which might not be true, the president could have committed fraud.

Among teachings it singles out as suspect are the assertion that the Book of Mormon was “translated from ancient gold plates by Joseph Smith [and] is the most correct book on Earth and is an ancient historical record” and that the Mormons’ Book of Abraham, was translated from Egyptian papyri by Joseph Smith.

Other beliefs cited include the assertion that “Native Americans are descended from an Israelite family which left Jerusalem in 600 BC” and that “all humans alive today are descended from just two people who lived approximately 6,000 years ago.”

The document then demands that Mr Monson appears in court number six at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Marylebone Road at 10am on March 14 or face arrest.

Malcolm Adcock, the church’s public affairs director for Europe, said: “The Church occasionally receives documents like this that seek to draw attention to an individual’s personal grievance or embarrass church leaders.

“These bizarre allegations fit into that category.”

But Mr Phillips said: “The head of the Mormon Church has been summoned to a court to answer allegations of fraud – I don’t think a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court would sign off on ‘bizarre allegations’ – I certainly hope they never would.

“This has been a very serious matter that has been looked at in extreme detail.”

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[rudywoofs (Pam)]

interesting. The assertion about Native Americans being descended from Jewish ancestry has already been debunked via DNA testing. There's no Jewish/Middle Eastern link.

On the other hand, many Hispanics show some Jewish/Middle Eastern DNA...

[Stan]

A RESPONSE

'Bizarre' British summons roundly criticized by legal experts, religious freedom advocates

By Tad Walch , Deseret News

Published: Friday, Feb. 7 2014 7:49 a.m. MST

SALT LAKE CITY — Legal experts and religious freedom advocates expressed surprise and dismay after a British magistrate summoned LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson to appear in a London court to answer questions about one man's description of Mormon beliefs.

The summons, issued Jan. 31, has been called, among other things, "bizarre," "troubling" and "absurd," by British lawyers, religious freedom advocates on both sides of the Atlantic, and journalists.

British solicitor Harvey Kass told the Arizona Republic the summons is “bizarre” and said: “I can’t imagine how it got through the court process. It would be set aside within 10 seconds, in my opinion.”

Former British prosecutor Neil Addison, who now writes about religious freedom, told the Republic he was astonished to hear of the summons.

“I’m sitting here with an open mouth,” he said. “I think the British courts will recoil in horror. This is just using the law to make a show, an anti-Mormon point. And I’m frankly shocked that a magistrate has issued it.”

District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe summoned President Monson to appear at the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on March 14 to answer allegations by a former church member that the faith teaches false doctrines for the purpose of securing financial contributions from members of the church.

British legal experts believe President Monson won't need to appear. First, the case could be summarily dismissed by a higher court, as Kass noted. If not, other church representation is likely to appear on his behalf. Finally, there is no chance the British government would seek extradition or that the United States would grant it, Kass and Addison said.

The allegations were made by a former Mormon, Thomas Phillips, listed in the court documents as living in London, though the Republic said he is living in Portugal. The Telegraph in London reported that Phillips used a rare procedure to launch a private prosecution on behalf of two other former LDS Church members.

Cody Craynor, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, "The church occasionally receives documents like this that seek to draw attention to an individual’s personal grievances or to embarrass church leaders. These bizarre allegations fit into that category.”

Beyond the immediate legal issues, religious freedom advocates struggled with the implications of a summons that would force a religious leader to, as one put it, "defend the veracity of his religion in court."

"Well, in my many years of cataloging British free speech outrages this has to be the most absurd case I’ve come across," wrote the National Review's Charles C.W. Cooke, who went on to add, "As I write seemingly weekly now, how desperately Britain lacks for a First Amendment."

Christian radio host Eric Metaxas, who regularly comments on court developments that impact religious liberty, wrote, "Even more troubling than the summons itself is the idea that a government official, in this case a judge, is fit to pass judgment on the content of people’s beliefs."

UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh tackled the controversial summons on his Washington Post blog.

"I think it’s likely that the case will be dropped by the district judge, that (President) Monson will not even be required to show up, and that the Mormon church in England will not be fined or otherwise punished for his failure to show up," Volokh wrote.

He then described how U.S. courts might handle such a claim: "The leading Supreme Court precedent on the subject is United States v. Ballard (1944), which concludes that religious leaders who get contributions based on their religious statements can be prosecuted for fraud if they don’t honestly believe their claims, though a jury can’t decide whether the claims are in fact true or false. "

A senior correspondent for The Week also expects the case to fizzle, "but that doesn't mean the case is unimportant," wrote Damon Linker, author of the 2008 book "The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege."

"On the contrary," Linker continued, "it's part of a broader, troubling trans-Atlantic trend of secular liberalism steamrolling competing, non-liberal visions of the good. The trend marks an important change. Eight years ago I published a book with a subtitle describing how the religious right was placing 'secular America under siege.' Less than a decade later, the dynamic I discussed in the book has reversed itself, with liberalism now shoving traditionalist religion into a corner."

Email: twalch@deseretnews.com

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