After heightened scrutiny of LDS Church finances in the wake of the construction of the multi-billion-dollar City Creek Center, an enormous downtown Salt Lake City luxury shopping mall built and owned by the Church, Mormon society erupted in an internal debate over the appropriate use of church funds. A recent article in Bloomberg Businessweek detailing "how the Mormons make money" prompted a group of Mormons to seek a way to broaden the discussion within the LDS Church about financial stewardship. Their petition at bycommonconsent.org seeks to restore the tradition of full financial disclosure to the membership, a policy that was practiced until 1960, when church financial records 'went dark' and members were no longer allowed to see how their contributions were being used.

Over the last few days, hundreds of members of the LDS Church have risked discipline by publicly signing a petition at bycommonconsent.org which seeks the restoration of the pre-1960 financial disclosure policy.

We sign this petition in support of the membership's request to resume financial transparency.