The Mormon Corporate Empire

Bound to provoke controversy, this impressively researched study by two social scientists (Heinerman is also a Mormon) charges that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has developed an $8-billion financial/corporate empire whose influence on U.S. society is of concern. Once small and much-persecuted, and now widely respected, the Mormon church, the authors contend, is a ""rising, authoritarian, powerful group,'' with some five million members worldwide, whose little-understood purpose is to supersede other religions and take ``political and economic control'' of the U.S. in preparation for the Second Coming. Heinerman and Shupe detail the church's diverse financial holdings (including broadcasting resources that ``dwarf'' those of electronic evangelists like Jerry Falwell); its ``extraordinary'' influence in government and military circles (the FBI and CIA recruit heavily among Mormons), where ``para-patriotic'' followers often feel an ultimate allegiance to the church. Chiding the media for accepting the church's carefully cultivated ``benign'' image, the authors argue that this crusading group, seeking to bring about a theocracy in the U.S., demands close scrutiny. (March 17)