Appfeld’s broader concern — that institutional Christianity has been corrupted by capitalist greed, and that Christians are called to radical care for the poor — is well-taken and scripturally grounded. But his specific claim that Christianity is “socialism at its core,” derived from Acts 2, is a well-documented misreading that scholars across the theological spectrum have rejected.

While Acts 2:44–45 and Acts 4:32–35 do describe believers sharing possessions, the details matter. The Greek verb tenses indicate repeated, voluntary actions over time—not a single, enforced redistribution. In fact, many translations reflect this nuance with phrases like “from time to time.”

Private Property in the Early Church

More importantly, Acts 5:4 explicitly affirms private property. Peter tells Ananias that both the land and its proceeds were fully under his control. This directly contradicts the idea of mandatory economic collectivism.

Therefore, the passage describes voluntary generosity—not a political or economic system. Unlike socialism, there is no state authority, no coercion, and no abolition of ownership.

Socialism as a political-economic system requires state coercion and the abolition of private property. Acts describes neither. What Acts describes is extraordinary, voluntary generosity — which is a more demanding standard than any political system, and an entirely different thing.

How LDS Doctrine Clarifies the Issue

The LDS theological tradition actually provides the most precise framework for this question. The Law of Consecration — revealed through Joseph Smith in Doctrine and Covenants 42 — explicitly preserved private property through the stewardship system. Members consecrated their property, received it back by deed as a personal stewardship, and contributed surplus voluntarily. LDS Church leaders drew a sharp line: in 1942 they stated that “communism and all other similar isms bear no relationship whatever to the United Order.” Joseph Smith himself, after attending a socialist presentation in Nauvoo in 1843, declared he “did not believe the doctrine.”

Turning to the financial claims, the assertion that the LDS Church holds $350 billion in net assets is not supported by verified data. While widely circulated online, this number does not come from official disclosures or audited reports.

What Can Actually Be Verified

Ensign Peak Advisors’ publicly disclosed stock portfolio — the portion required by SEC reporting — stood at approximately $56.8 billion as of late 2024, according to Salt Lake Tribune reporting on SEC filings. The broader Widow’s Mite analysis, which includes estimated non-public assets, puts total Church wealth at approximately $265 billion. Even accepting that higher informal estimate, $350 billion is an overstatement. The trillion-dollar projection is speculative extrapolation, not verified data.

The SEC Filing and What It Means

The Church does hold significant financial reserves, and that is a legitimate subject for public discussion. The SEC matter — in which the Church and Ensign Peak were fined $5 million for filing investments through 13 shell LLCs rather than a single consolidated form — was a real regulatory violation, appropriately penalized, and the Church has since filed consolidated reports. But presenting an unverified $350 billion figure as established fact, when the SEC-disclosed portfolio is less than a sixth of that, misrepresents the situation.

It is accurate that Ensign Peak holds shares in defense contractors such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and General Dynamics. However, context is critical. These holdings largely reflect a broad, index-based investment strategy that mirrors the S&P 500.

In other words, these positions are not unique to the Church—they are common across universities, pension funds, and nonprofit endowments.

Consequently, the claim that the Church “profits from war” overstates intentionality. A diversified portfolio is not the same as a targeted investment strategy

The Vaccine Claim and Causation Error

On the COVID vaccine claim — what’s false reasoning: The implication that the Church recommended COVID-19 vaccination because it was invested in Pfizer and Moderna is conspiracy-level reasoning that mistakes coincidence for causation. The Church encouraged vaccination for the same stated reason as most major global health institutions: to protect member health during a pandemic. Holding index fund shares that include pharmaceutical companies does not constitute a financial motive for health policy, any more than holding S&P 500 shares in a grocery chain creates a financial motive to recommend eating food.

The Core Question: Why So Much Reserve?

This is the most substantive LDS-related claim in the episode and deserves the most careful response. Appfeld raises a real tension that faithful members should be able to engage honestly: the Church holds enormous reserves relative to its annual operating needs. That is not in dispute, and the question of proportionality is legitimate.

The Church’s Stated Use of Funds

What the Church actually says about its reserves: The Church has been explicit about the purpose of its financial reserves — to fund an unprecedented pace of temple construction (over 360 temples in operation, under construction, or announced), to sustain a global missionary force of over 90,000 full-time missionaries, to fund BYU and other educational institutions, and to support global humanitarian programs that have provided over $1 billion annually in recent years. The Church also teaches members these same financial principles — avoid debt, save for the future, prepare against uncertainty — and treats its reserves as an institutional application of them.

On the Joseph-and-Egypt comparison: The Church’s stated rationale is financial capability during periods of economic disruption, grounded in D&C 104 and the principle of self-sufficiency. Whether current reserves are proportionate to that purpose is a fair question. But characterizing it as straightforward greed misses the theological framework and ignores documented humanitarian spending.

Why Tithing Still Exists

On why tithing is still asked: The LDS Church teaches that tithing is a commandment — a covenant rooted in Malachi 3 and D&C 119 — that members keep as an act of faith regardless of the Church’s institutional financial position. The spiritual purpose of tithing is not primarily fundraising. It is developing in the individual the disposition to consecrate their life to God. The Church could theoretically operate without member tithing from investment returns. But the command to tithe is not an institutional fundraising mechanism — it is a covenant between the individual and God.