Thanks for introducing the subject of the mormon corporation being a business, rather than a religion.
In the 1950's, L. Ron Hubbard admitted that he founded Scientology because it was the easiest way he could think of to make a lot of money.
In 1945 in her famous book, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the historian-biographer, Fawn Brodie, makes a compelling case that the same was true for Joseph: the Mormon Church was founded for the primary purpose becoming a money-making venture for Smith and his family.
Mrs. Brodie noted that Joseph had virtually no practical education (he purportedly completed the third grade), no professional skills, no vocational skills, and significant physical limitations (he was almost crippled when he contracted typhoid at age 8 and the infection eventually centered itself in his leg ... which was almost amputated by surgeons without anesthesia). Joseph did have one remarkable talent, however ... as one newspaper editor put it, "Joseph can sell a muzzle to a dog."
Joseph tried to peddle himself as a purveyor of the occult ... gazing into a peep stone (i.e. crystal ball set in a silver holder) for the avowed purpose of locating buried treasure. Following his March 1826 conviction for fraud in Bainbridge, NY, Joseph turned to a "safer" (from prosecution) trade ... he supposedly "discovered" some "golden plates" and "translated" them using a peep stone in a hat ... leading to the founding of Mormonism and its United Order and Law of Tithing. All of this would financially sustain Joseph for the rest of his life, as well as his extended family and their descendants for generations.
