A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Utah woman who argued that the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are fraudulent.

Laura Gaddy, a former member of the church, concluded that the online research she performed convinced her that church officials have altered core doctrines over the years. She sued the church last year, claiming racketeering and fraud.

U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby dismissed the case on March 31, ruling that secular courts are in no position to wade into the question of the validity of a church’s beliefs, Courthouse News Service reported.

Gaddy’s research led her to believe that Joseph Smith, who founded the church in 1820 after claiming an encounter with a celestial being, had never been instructed to form a new church. She also asserted that certain allegedly ancient Egyptian documents Smith had translated didn’t say the things he claimed they did.

Shelby ruled that the court could not delve into these matters.

“Each of these alleged misrepresentations directly implicates the Church’s core beliefs,” Shelby wrote.  “Because a statement’s falsity is an essential element of fraud claims, adjudicating these claims would require the court to do exactly what the Supreme Court has forbidden – evaluate the truth or falsity of the Church’s religious beliefs.” (Gaddy v. Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

BREAKING NEWS

Americans United & the National Women’s Law Center file suit to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans.

Abortion bans violate the separation of church and state. Americans United and the National Women’s Law Center—the leading experts in religious freedom and gender justice—have joined forces with thirteen clergy from six faith traditions to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans as unconstitutionally imposing one narrow religious doctrine on everyone.


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