A controversy is already starting to brew – which was, of course, the intention – over the image on the cover of the latest edition of Businessweek. It's pegged to a story by Caroline Winter, entitled "Latter-day Lucre: How the Mormon Church Makes Its Billions", a big investigation of the church's finances. The image re-imagines "a pivotal moment" in the Mormon origin story, when John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith – on 15 May 1829, to be precise, though I'm not too sure of the time of day.
Winter's piece details the extraordinary secrecy with which the church conducts its multibillion-dollar corporate dealings – aided, of course, by religious tax perks – and is well worth reading in full.
"Does Controversial Bloomberg BusinessWeek Cover Show Media is Making Romney The 'Other?'", wonders Noah Rothman, in a posting at Mediaite, while commenters at Politico and Business Insider add some "how dare you insult my religion!" outrage.
I understand the commenters' fury, in a way. But it's ridiculous to suggest that an organisation should be exempt from investigation just because it's a religious kind of organisation – a form of special treatment that strikes at the heart of secular society.
Olver Burkeman | Read this article in full on guardian.co.uk
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13th July 2012
A controversy is already starting to brew – which was, of course, the intention – over the image on the cover of the latest edition of Businessweek. It's pegged to a story by Caroline Winter, entitled "Latter-day Lucre: How the Mormon Church Makes Its Billions", a big investigation of the church's finances. The image re-imagines "a pivotal moment" in the Mormon origin story, when John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith – on 15 May 1829, to be precise, though I'm not too sure of the time of day.
Winter's piece details the extraordinary secrecy with which the church conducts its multibillion-dollar corporate dealings – aided, of course, by religious tax perks – and is well worth reading in full.
"Does Controversial Bloomberg BusinessWeek Cover Show Media is Making Romney The 'Other?'", wonders Noah Rothman, in a posting at Mediaite, while commenters at Politico and Business Insider add some "how dare you insult my religion!" outrage.
I understand the commenters' fury, in a way. But it's ridiculous to suggest that an organisation should be exempt from investigation just because it's a religious kind of organisation – a form of special treatment that strikes at the heart of secular society.
Olver Burkeman | Read this article in full on guardian.co.uk