More companies owned by religious groups

[snopes]

Comment: Someone in my office today claimed the Mormon Church owns or has
major stock in Target Corporation. Is this true?

Originally Posted by noftessa

What Class Bravo said. The owners are Mormons, but the Mormons (Church of LDS) are not the owners. (At least for Marriott - not sure about the other one. Chick-Fil-A's owner is Mormon also).

Marriott the family are mostly Mormons but like any franchise the individual motels and hotels could be owned by anyone. Only a few are owned the corporation.

As for Chick-fil-A it is owned by and Evangelical, however many of the local chains especially out west are owned by people who happen to be members of the LDS church.

The Mormon Church does not own casino's or Coke either. If someone who was once a member owned a casino he or she would be excommunicated from the church and therefore not be members anymore.

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: I have heard since I have been living in Nevada that Mormon from the LDS church own casinos in the Las Vegas area. This is true?

A Mormon would be excommunicated from the LDS church if they owned a Casino. They can however work in certain areas like accounting, legal, marketing etc. for example and still be found worthy members of the church.

Originally Posted by bl76km81

I live near Navoo, IL, one of the Mormons Holy Sites.

I went to the visitor's center, and as the Mormon guide, was giving us a tour, she explained that main-line Mormon's do not practice poligamy. She also explained how in the Mormon Church when you marry, you are married for eternity. Marie Osmond has been married at least twice. Smart aleck that I am, I asked which husband would she be spending eternity with.

The guide gave me a confused look, and said let us move on.

Kathy

Most likely neither one. We don't simply believe being married in a Temple and sealed gets you into heaven. The kind of person you are, the life you lead, your faith in Christ, faithful service etc. All matter. And your making use of repentance for sins. Both partners in a marriage need to be judged worthy by God. Just being married and sealed in the Temple does not ensure anyone goes to the highest degrees of heaven.

Originally Posted by buzzzx

I believe the Mormon's owned the Alpha Beta grocery store chain. Maybe still do. If there are Alpha Beta's anymore. They were quite popular in SoCal years ago. Rumor is in the beginning, Alpha Beta did not carry liquor, tobacco, coffee, or Aspirin because of the Mormon's beliefs. Don't know if it's true.

Aspirin? Get real Mormons use Aspirin. Your thinking of JW's. Mormons did own Alpha Beta which was bought by a chained called Albertsons from Idaho. Yes there are lots of Mormons in Idaho but there is no indication a Mormon owned it, It's a publicly traded company. It was later bought by an investment group and carved up by CVS and SuperValu among other stores.

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: Someone in my office today claimed the Mormon Church owns or has
major stock in Target Corporation. Is this true?

Target is a French owned company, a conglomerate of investors and the French government. Any Mormon paying attention to the actions (or any Christian for that matter) of Target would have nothing to do with Target.

They forbid the Salvation Army from collecting in front of their stores, they won't support the Marines Toys for Tots programs, The are huge investors in Gay and Lesbian special interest groups, and actively support other special interest groups that most Christians would not like. When an employee of Target gets called up for activity duties, most other companies continue benefits until they return. Target refuses even cutting benefits to the family members who remain behind. They are the only company of this size that treats our military this way.

[Simply Madeline]

Originally Posted by carbonware

Target is a French owned company, a conglomerate of investors and the French government. Any Mormon paying attention to the actions (or any Christian for that matter) of Target would have nothing to do with Target.

They forbid the Salvation Army from collecting in front of their stores, they won't support the Marines Toys for Tots programs, The are huge investors in Gay and Lesbian special interest groups, and actively support other special interest groups that most Christians would not like. When an employee of Target gets called up for activity duties, most other companies continue benefits until they return. Target refuses even cutting benefits to the family members who remain behind. They are the only company of this size that treats our military this way.

I realise that you are new, but several of your assertions are debunked on this very site. Please see here: http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/target.asp

Originally Posted by Tantei Kid

Eh, there are people, not me of course , who feel their enthusiasm for John 12:8 for their temples is a little excessive. (admittedly they do good charity too). That and the money goes to massive efforts to convert people to a religion that came to pass exceedingly dwindling in disbelief. Er, that is a religion founded by a documented con artist. Not that I would confront any of them about what they believe, that's their private business.

That said, I have nothing particular against Mormon people operating a business (even if 10% of my purchase goes to the church), but I would think twice about patronizing a business run by the church itself.

Mormons pay 10% of their person income, not the businesses they work for. Even as a business owner, most draw a salary, they pay 10% of that not the revenue of the company.

And the documented con artist thing about Joseph Smith? Get real! Documented by anti-mormon writers who quote themselves and other anti-mormon bigots to back up their claims. The is no documentation, only hearsay and conjecture, always spouted by people who were members of the mobs, people who stole lands from the early Mormons, pastors of church's who lost members to the new church, and reporters who opening admitted to making stuff up to sell newspapers and books. They all quote each other as sources to back up their lies. Look closely sometime, I have many of those books they never quote facts, they only quote each other as their proof that Joseph Smith was a con artist. It was then and is now an easy thing to toss out, to damage a persons reputation because it takes little proof and most people are not initiated enough to dig deeply enough to find the truth, it's so much easier to accept a lie. Thats why the network news is so successful, no one really cares when they lie it sells.

[HighSierra Sherey]

We have one mortuary in our town. Owned by Mormons. A friend of mine worked there for about 6 months. He was one of a two-man team which would go retrieve bodies. He worked the graveyard shift - pun, I guess, intended.
While he thought the job was very interesting, never the same one day to the next, etc., he eventually left because even though he would have to stay awake all night just in case a call came in, the owners were very adamant and vocal about his habit of drinking coffee during his shift there. Even during the other times he might just be on call at home.
So, while he was not technically fired for that reason, it was reason enough (for him) to leave on his own. Their beliefs just made him feel very uncomfortable when they were so pressed on him.

[surfcitydogdad]

Over the years I've heard many rumors about the Mormon Church or Mormons owning this or that company, but I demand documentation; these claims are seldom true.

Mormons, like anyone else, own businesses, and the Marriotts are a prominent example. Others are high-profile, like the Osmonds or Steve Young. Mormons work in various industires, and in the military. Many are members of Congress - some devout, or not, and of various political persuasions.

Mitt Romney's father was a politician and a GOP candidate for president, and head of American Motors. Harry Reid is Mormon, too.

Many Mormons in Las Vegas - once a Mormon colony - do work in the gaming/tourist industry. We'll leave that to their own consciences. My grandfather sold coffee in his grocery store in Utah. My best bud runs two restaurants in California and makes a lot of his slim profit margin from alcohol sales.

In the West, there are a lot of Mormons, owning or working for various businesses, and with varying levels of devoutness, and varying personal ethics and politics. In any case, you can't please everyone.

I'm not really sure where we can look up what companies, if any, the LDS Church owns; they're pretty secretive about their finances. When I was a kid in the 60s, I had some stock in U&I Sugar, which was owned by the church, but it no longer exists. The church may have owned Beneficial Life. They may own a department store in SLC, and they own a newspaper in there. Oh, in various cities in the West, there is a thrift store, like Goodwill, called Deseret Industries, but I don't think that's really about profit. That's all I know; I'm a Californian, recently moved to NM, so I don't keep up with what goes on in Utah.

[snapdragonfly]

What's with this "get real" thing, carbonware? You've used the expression twice now when contradicting other snopester's comments.

From Miriam Webster online:

— get real : to stop deceiving oneself or fooling around : face reality


If someone is misinformed about the use of aspirin by Mormons or the sterling integrity of Mr. Smith, that is hardly the same thing as deceiving ones self.

I can just see that. "NO, that was NOT aspirin I saw Marie Osmond taking! It wasn't!!! She opened a bunch of Smartees candy and took out all the white ones and put them in an Excedrin bottle and YOU CAN'T TELL ME DIFFERENTLY! nah nah nah CAN'T HEAR YOU!!! I'll never believe it!!!"

eta: being presented with unconvincing, non proven, poorly supported arguements and as a result being unswayed by them is not the same thing as being in a state of denial about something that is patently, obviously, unarguabley true.

Since you seem to object to misinformation I'm sure you'll be pleased to carefully peruse the link (and hopefully many many others) that Simply Madeline provided for you, so that you, too, will have the opportunity to "get real." And then you'll be all groovy and far out like the rest of us, man.

[snopes]

Comment: I have been told by various friends that Wendy's and Burger King
are owned by the Mormon church. Is this true?

Burger King is a publicly owned company (BKC):

http://www.hoovers.com/burger-king/-...actsheet.xhtml

As is Wendy's (WEN)

http://www.hoovers.com/wendy's/--ID__11621--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml


However, In-N-Out are a private company held by a religious family... maybe that's the origin?

[snopes]

Comment: I have been hearing recently that Church's Fried Chicken was
bought out by a Muslim group and that pork products have been removed from
the menu.

Is there any basis for this?

I would think that as long as no muslim is handling the pork it would not be a problem with islamic law. After all, pork is not forbidden to non-muslims and most coustomers would not be muslim
And if this were real, why is it not more widley reported?

[Dog Friendly, Mark IIa]

I'm not aware of any Church's Chicken franchises around Southern California, but the lack of pork products is alarming. I've also heard that there are no pork products sold at Dairy Queen.

In fact, I'm pretty sure there were no pork products sold at Tower Records before they went bust.

Smells awfully suspicious to me...

[Le Chevalier Blanc]

Looks like there is...

http://shariahfinancewatch.wordpress...the-test-case/

A Baltimore couple has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Islamic investment bank that owns the Church’s Chicken fast-food chain, alleging their franchise failed because the bank’s strict adherence to the religious code of Shari’a prohibited the couple from selling pork.

Marcus and Denise Beasley, who are black, claimed they were treated differently by the bank, now known as Atlanta-based Arcapita Inc., than non-black franchisees who were allowed to continue serving breakfast dishes containing pork after the chain was acquired by the bank in December 2004.

The couple did not benefit from the grandfather policy allowing the sale of pork even though their contract with the chain’s former owners, AFC Enterprises Inc., to open a location in Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport’s new terminal predated the takeover and policy change, according to the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

Some more information here (as well as other places). Putting in the couple's name gets a lot of hits on Google about this story.

[snopes]

Comment: I hear that Costco is owned by Mormons?

[Cowboy Joe]

Like many other companies in this thread, Costco is a publically traded company with many shareholders. I suspect the rumor was started to benefit Sam's Club or another similar business because some people would not shop at a Mormon owned business, or a Jewish owned business, or a Muslim owned business or what have you.

[Canuckistan]

Originally Posted by Cowboy Joe

I suspect the rumor was started to benefit Sam's Club or another similar business because some people would not shop at a Mormon owned business, or a Jewish owned business, or a Muslim owned business or what have you.

But would they vote for, or do business with, an atheist?

If they would, I can't shop at Costco.