MormonLeaks Co-Founders Discuss Their Four-Year Journey Exposing Church Salary, Wealth, and Other Secrets
Their Truth & Transparency Foundation is now closed, but has their work had a lasting impact?
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The office building of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. The now closed Truth & Transparency Foundation recently revealed a database that shows the vast American reality of faith real estate holdings.
After bursting onto the scene in 2016 by posting leaked videos of apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints privately discussing a range of topics – from politics and hacking to same-sex marriage and Marijuana – Ryan McKnight, with help from colleague Ethan Gregory Dodge, created a website called MormonLeaks, which gave way to the Truth and Transparency Foundation, and began exposing the inner workings of the faith-based in Utah and possibly other religions.
Their goal: to push churches to be more open and honest about their practices.
They revealed how much top Latter-day Saint leaders were paid. They uncovered allegations of abuse that made headlines. And they showed slices of the wealth the LDS Church was accumulating. Now they’re closing but with one last big scoop: the widest and deepest look ever at the church’s vast US real estate holdings, totaling 1.7 million acres and making the faith the fifth-largest private landowner in the country.
(Courtesy photos) Ryan McKnight and Ethan Gregory Dodge, co-founders of the now-closed Truth & Transparency Foundation, formerly known as MormonLeaks, dedicated to religious accountability through impact journalism.
On this week’s show, McKnight and Dodge discuss their latest findings, the work of their foundation, what it’s accomplished, why they’re closing up shop, and whether they achieved what they set out to do.
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