Fifth Estate episode unfairly attacked the LDS church

By Lethbridge Herald on January 20, 2023.

Editor:

On Oct. 26, 2022 and again on Oct. 28, the Fifth Estate broadcast a program on TV which was very critical of the finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, identified by them as the Mormon Church.

This program was loaded with innuendos and serious slanderous and ignorant comments. They also quoted from a few members who were very biased against the church.

Having been a member of the church all my life, I take serious exception to the shabby reporting in the program. 

The church does have a respectable amount of money which is donated by people like me in accordance with the scripture found in Malachi 3:10-11 in the Old Testament. If millions of church members donate one tenth of their income to the church it will certainly be a fair amount of money which are charitable donations and are mostly tax-exempted.

The Fifth Estate was encouraging the government to tax this money for the good of the people and suggested that many people would benefit. If the Fifth Estate did a professional job of investigating (maybe they did and chose not to report it) they would have discovered that the money collected already helps millions of people all around the world, including in our own country when disasters and calamities strike. I wonder if these recipients would like the government to hinder and reduce the amount of money they receive?

Having experienced many years of life, I can only conclude that this TV show and those who produced it are being intentionally desirous to create sensationalism instead of accurate reporting. Shame on you.

Burnell Bennett

Taber