I Got Vocab

Hey,

It really bothers me that there are over 170,000 words currently in use in the English language but homophones exist. Re-using the same pronunciation for words of different meaning is extremely lazy to me. Like four/fore/for, to/too/two, or prey/pray.

Why is the word for religious worship the same word that describes something being hunted? I wonder which came first: the victim prey or the prayer pray. I ask because religion is often used to justify horrible acts like slavery, murder, abuse, or all of the above. Religions such as Mormonism, which was invented by a Pennsylvania man named Joseph Smith in 1830.

Smith was a literal “treasure hunter” and, on his search for trinkets, claims he found a religious book made out of gold plates that only he could interpret and translate. This became The Book of Mormon. Mormons believe in the practice of polygamy, or a man having more than one wife, and use the religious doctrines found in the Book of Mormon to justify this. Adultery and polygamy is what ultimately led to Smith’s death in 1844, as Smith proposed to marry the wives of his closest associates and they did not appreciate this.

The Mormon Church has come under public scrutiny recently for allegedly saving excess donations intended for charity and using them as a $100B investment fund that propped up several Mormon businesses. Businesses that are tax-exempt because of the church’s tax status. Instead of donating to those that are less fortunate, or generally upholding the expectations of a religious institution, the Mormon church has treated it’s bank account as a holy version of the SoftBank Vision Fund.

Do religions pray for prey?

Mormon Church has misled members on $100 billion tax-exempt investment fund, whistleblower alleges — The Washington Post — www.washingtonpost.com
A former investment manager accused the church of stockpiling surplus donations from members instead of using them for charitable works, according to a copy of his complaint to the IRS. He also accused church leaders of using the donations to prop up a pair of businesses.