Go to PACER and pull up the lawsuit, Tippetts vs. Frank G Fox. The Church has failed to respond to the suit. It is required by law to address the complaint and send it to all parties invloved, but has not done so. Is the Church above the law?

FGF

Any bet as to how many of the cases Jeff mentioned above were commenced by handwritten filings? My guess is more than half.

First, as Mormons ourselves, we tend to be hypersensitive when a nutter is identified as being Mormon. We just . . . cringe.

Second, in my experience the media is far more prone to identify a nutter’s religious affiliation when that person is LDS, even when religious has nothing to do with issue at hand. (When was the last time you heard a nutter/criminal identified as, say, Jewish or Episcopalian when no issue of religion was involved?) Also, the rule with the media tends to be “once a Mormon, always a Mormon,” even if they are completely inactive and have no real participation in or understanding of the Church.

Third, such people are often searching for belonging and acceptance — and if they stumble across the missionaries, they may find themselves baptized before anyone realizes this person doesn’t have both oars in the water. In such cases, their LDS-ness tends to be transitory but lingering (see “once a Mormon, always a Mormon”).

So, no, I don’t think the LDS Church attracts more than its share of such folks. It just feels that way at times. ..bruce..

So it stands to reason that if any person, mentally ill or whatever, has any type of contact with the LDS Church and they are indigent – that they can come up with all sorts of odd ball accusations and should they get by that 1st step, they could come into some easy bucks.

But I wasn’t aware [#7] that you can take litigants to court and get sanctions against them.

And I don’t think, [as Jeff Breinholt questioned] “…that the LDS Church brings out the delusional in people who might be predisposed to such syndromes”. – except…maybe…some who have debated here on the internet from time to time.

Err, except that if you routinely settle that way, then more and more people sue you.

People like that you take to court and get sanctions against, which you file of record (which will encumber any property they own, affect credit ratings and their ability to get a job or buy a car), and otherwise discourage them.

I’ve dealt with a number of mentally ill litigants, and none of that discourages them, though the focus they have will differ.

These ‘frivolous’ lawsuits says more about the Judicial system than the LDS Church. As Jeff Breinholt suggests, “Mormons have become ‘The Man’. Burdens come with benifits”.

“does the LDS Church bring out the delusional is some people who might be predisposed to such syndromes?”

Yes.

However, so does every other church and organization on earth with any kind of distinctive culture – and, really, so does life in general. There can’t be delusion without some basis of accepted normality, and anything that challenges that normality will attract those who inherently challenge normality – or, rather than attract, perhaps simply bring it out in specific manifestations that would be visible differently in different cultures. Those people, whether clinically delusional or not, generally are termed delusional by the “normal” who accept the status quo – no matter the cause of their “abnormality”.

As an aside, there is a fine line between being “visionary” and “delusional” – and many would say say there is no line at all. Thus, I have no doubt that all the famous prophets of all time would be psycho-analyzed and labeled as delusional in our society – and probably medicated to stop the delusions. That would be a shame, since much of the beauty and wonder that we have now was created in part by those who were and still are considered delusional to some degree.

As I’ve said elsewhere, my mother has a rare form of schizophrenia, so I am grateful for medication that allowed her to function normally for decades. I just am concerned with what I believe is the over-medication of creativity, delusion and abnormality in the name of making everyone normal.

For those individuals who are mentally disturbed, and who have a penchant for seeing conspiracy everywhere, the LDS Church is a somewhat easy target, especially when compared to other faiths. It seems like very few Church’s have political will, such as in the way the LDS Church, or the Catholic Church do, so seeing conspiracies in those entities probably doesn’t require a stretch of the imagination. There are many sane people who will try and see conspiracies there also, ie, the recent Da Vinci Code hype.

With some prisoners with so much time on their hands, and some mentally disturbed persons who focus on litigation, the courts seem to deal with multiple suits by the same people as ludicrous as any you’ve described. Just what does it take to get on that “restricted filers” list you mentioned?