To Spread the Gospel Or To Make A Buck?

This might be older news to some of you, but I ran across it and figure that it could not be ignored. Deseret Books, an LDS church owned book selling retail store is buying out it’s two chief competitors, Seagull Books and Covenant publishing. Both Seagull and Deseret Book sell primarily religious books and merchandise targeted at members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Covenant is a publishing house for such products. Jenifer K. Nii of the Deseret Morning News wrote in her article on this topic that stated:

“Deseret Book has acquired former competitors Covenant Communications and its sister company, Seagull Book & Tape. Financial details of the transaction were not released. But the deal announced Thursday brings the curtain down on what had been a tumultuous year for the companies, which had been tangled in disputes about merchandising and marketing. The deal was initiated by Seagull and Covenant founder Lewis Kofford and finalized Thursday. "I've been looking for an exit strategy for a number of years," Kofford told the Deseret Morning News. "This presented itself, so I'm very happy with it."

My first question that comes to mind is, why are books stores that sell literature containing theological topics for the LDS church considered competitors? Secondly, again we have the LDS church not wanting to discuss any of its financial fiascos with any type of general public, but more concerning, not even with it’s own members. Thirdly, why was the situation considered to be “tumultuous?”

Further she writes:

“As recently as July 2006, Deseret Book and Seagull Book & Tape said they were in talks "to explore options for addressing the differences that have existed between (the) two companies," which according to Deseret Book executive vice president Jeff Simpson included disagreements about how Seagull merchandised, marketed and promoted Deseret Book products. Earlier in the year, Deseret Book threatened to pull its products from Seagull stores over those same issues. Kofford said Thursday that what started with a meeting between adversaries underwent a transition during the last six months. "It started out as an adversarial situation, but as we started talking, what came out of it on all sides was more of an appreciation," Kofford said. "And as we got into more open communication, the acquisition and the things it offers to the market became something that made sense to all parties."

This seems to show an extreme lack of character by the LDS church. If the primary goal of selling literature to the public in order to share the LDS gospel, then why would it matter how another store with the same intent is discounting product?

Continuing on in the article, Sheri Dew, president and chief executive officer of Deseret Book stated:

“Deseret Book saw a way to reach more customers and a wider market. We knew Covenant well, because they've been our competitors for years. They're strong, and they've tended to be strong where maybe we're not as strong. Each of us has our unique strengths, and this (deal) allows us to expand our ability to reach a broader array of customers, both as a publisher and a retailer."

If one were to evaluate this statement knowing the history and operations of the LDS church, we can simply see that the buy was not to reach a wider market in order to spread the gospel. It was simply a plan to increase sales by monopolizing the industry.

Over all I am sickened to see the Mormon church more concerned in making a buck than spreading their so called Christian message. If the true intent of the LDS church is to sell books in order to promote Jesus, then they would not concern themselves with the neighboring retail stores discounting product. It is extremely evident that the Mormon church is more about making a profit than elevating a relationship with Jesus.

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