There it is in boldface. Christianity is, among other things, a grift, a con game, a mechanism to separate the marks from their cash. I'm not certain you get any more blatant than this. The problem is that, important though this story may be, it's a safe bet it'll never see the evening news, much as it should.
And so long as faith is seen as a virtue, it never will.
“You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.” -- L. Ron Hubbard
I've always found it a bit odd how the divine being who could will the universe into existence is always short of money. There are sincere religious people who try to do good work, but there is also fraud on a massive scale. Charities are regulated for a reason, other than the religiously affiliated ones. For some reason they get a pass and fraudsters go where the money is.
I’ve been telling this tale for many decades now. Religion is the biggest scam ever perpetuated on mankind unless you add unnecessary wars to the equation.
I take offense that you are even dare saying that my obvious siphoning of funds is even remotely immoral. As we know and as Jesus preached, the love of money is the root of all evil. If those charity dollars are given to the poor, it exposes them to evil and to sin, and thus risks their immortal soul. So what is worse, a few years of starvation ending in a pitiful death, or an eternity in hell? No, instead I am assuming all of the risk. I am risking my soul for the salvation of hundreds. I am the hero. The only thing that you can fault me for is not taking even more money..... hmm,.... I see you're not convinced,.... **puts on Prosperity Gospel hat** If I could take the money, and God has not stopped me, that can only mean that God wills me to have the money, because I am a favored child of God. The money is my reward from God, and who are you to question God's will? Those poor people wouldn't be poor if only they had more faith in God. So if anyone is to blame for this situation is the poor,...... Hmm,.. still not convinced? ...... Quick! Look over there. There is a drag queen reading a book about two gay penguins to a transgendered youth! **hops in my Bentley and drives away**
Okay, but... what's the number if we include the rest of it? We're just talking about what religious leaders steal from their religions, after all- not whole sum of money religion rakes in from its adherents, who could better spend it on... *𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴* ...literally anything else. So... what's the overall take? Enough to solve world hunger? Enough to wipe out poverty? Enough to stick a fork in climate change? How much money is religion, 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺, leeching off the world?
No surprise here—“He who points the finger has three fingers pointing back at himself.”
Sanctimony, hypocrisy and militancy of the Christo-Fascist movement THAT BACKS TRUMP AND THE RNC goes hand in hand with criminals who think they are above the law.
Christian leaders will continue to hide these financial crimes, just as they have hidden sexual crimes. There isn’t a pastor anywhere in this country who wants to see the offerings diminish or the clientele disappear.
Most churches operate with virtually zero oversight of any kind on top of the usual trust environment commonly promoted by the members; when you get down to it, it's hard to think of a situation more conducive to financial shenanigans. It'd be like walking into a commercial enterprise with nobody minding the register and expecting people to pay on the honor system - all but asking to be abused.
I do remember one of the churches I went to with my parents having monthly business meetings, but I suspect that was unusual. I can say that those business meetings were horribly under attended for the size of the member body, if memory serves the church had about 350 regular attendees, but only about 30 or so showed up to the business meetings. I would guess that those meetings made some forms of fraud more difficult, but likely made some other forms easier; so far as I'm aware, nobody on that committee had a sort of formal training for accounting/bookkeeping. Oversight by those without skills hardly proves anything at the end of the day. In some ways, it's almost more surprising that more churches don't get into dire financial straits more quickly.
Fortunately, with Ken Buck leaving his seat early- the same seat which Boebert intended to run for after she faceplanted out of her own- it is increasingly unlikely that she'll be haunting our halls of government much longer, as she won't be able to run in the special election, and the person who wins that will have the incumbent's advantage come November.
I sure do hope that they adjusted their numbers for inflation, because the numbers for 2050 seem a little bit on the small side to me. But then, that heavy gold brocade is not gonna embroider itself.
There it is in boldface. Christianity is, among other things, a grift, a con game, a mechanism to separate the marks from their cash. I'm not certain you get any more blatant than this. The problem is that, important though this story may be, it's a safe bet it'll never see the evening news, much as it should.
And so long as faith is seen as a virtue, it never will.
“You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.” -- L. Ron Hubbard
I've always found it a bit odd how the divine being who could will the universe into existence is always short of money. There are sincere religious people who try to do good work, but there is also fraud on a massive scale. Charities are regulated for a reason, other than the religiously affiliated ones. For some reason they get a pass and fraudsters go where the money is.
I’ve been telling this tale for many decades now. Religion is the biggest scam ever perpetuated on mankind unless you add unnecessary wars to the equation.
I take offense that you are even dare saying that my obvious siphoning of funds is even remotely immoral. As we know and as Jesus preached, the love of money is the root of all evil. If those charity dollars are given to the poor, it exposes them to evil and to sin, and thus risks their immortal soul. So what is worse, a few years of starvation ending in a pitiful death, or an eternity in hell? No, instead I am assuming all of the risk. I am risking my soul for the salvation of hundreds. I am the hero. The only thing that you can fault me for is not taking even more money..... hmm,.... I see you're not convinced,.... **puts on Prosperity Gospel hat** If I could take the money, and God has not stopped me, that can only mean that God wills me to have the money, because I am a favored child of God. The money is my reward from God, and who are you to question God's will? Those poor people wouldn't be poor if only they had more faith in God. So if anyone is to blame for this situation is the poor,...... Hmm,.. still not convinced? ...... Quick! Look over there. There is a drag queen reading a book about two gay penguins to a transgendered youth! **hops in my Bentley and drives away**
The grift is so well understood that researchers can quantify the theft ahead of time. Why does this not surprise me?
Televangelist’s using their private jets to illegally transport buckets of cash overseas!?! I’m shocked, shocked, I tell you! 😐
Okay, but... what's the number if we include the rest of it? We're just talking about what religious leaders steal from their religions, after all- not whole sum of money religion rakes in from its adherents, who could better spend it on... *𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴* ...literally anything else. So... what's the overall take? Enough to solve world hunger? Enough to wipe out poverty? Enough to stick a fork in climate change? How much money is religion, 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺, leeching off the world?
No surprise here—“He who points the finger has three fingers pointing back at himself.”
Sanctimony, hypocrisy and militancy of the Christo-Fascist movement THAT BACKS TRUMP AND THE RNC goes hand in hand with criminals who think they are above the law.
Christian leaders will continue to hide these financial crimes, just as they have hidden sexual crimes. There isn’t a pastor anywhere in this country who wants to see the offerings diminish or the clientele disappear.
It could be worse. Imagine the amount of grift if they didn't have their shy daddy to watch over them.
the stupid, it burns
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/jesse-watters-claims-donald-trump-will-win-latino-votes-because-he-sells-taco-bowls
Most churches operate with virtually zero oversight of any kind on top of the usual trust environment commonly promoted by the members; when you get down to it, it's hard to think of a situation more conducive to financial shenanigans. It'd be like walking into a commercial enterprise with nobody minding the register and expecting people to pay on the honor system - all but asking to be abused.
I do remember one of the churches I went to with my parents having monthly business meetings, but I suspect that was unusual. I can say that those business meetings were horribly under attended for the size of the member body, if memory serves the church had about 350 regular attendees, but only about 30 or so showed up to the business meetings. I would guess that those meetings made some forms of fraud more difficult, but likely made some other forms easier; so far as I'm aware, nobody on that committee had a sort of formal training for accounting/bookkeeping. Oversight by those without skills hardly proves anything at the end of the day. In some ways, it's almost more surprising that more churches don't get into dire financial straits more quickly.
OT- Lauren Boebert, aka Kongress Karen #2, attempting to claim credit for a bill she voted against: https://www.meidastouch.com/news/boebert-brags-about-projects-she-voted-against
Fortunately, with Ken Buck leaving his seat early- the same seat which Boebert intended to run for after she faceplanted out of her own- it is increasingly unlikely that she'll be haunting our halls of government much longer, as she won't be able to run in the special election, and the person who wins that will have the incumbent's advantage come November.
O/T: Arizona Republicans Advance Bill To Have Public Schools “Post And Discuss” Ten Commandments In Classrooms
https://www.courthousenews.com/arizona-house-to-vote-on-ten-commandments-in-the-classroom/
The best things in life are free. Christianity is a total waste of money
I sure do hope that they adjusted their numbers for inflation, because the numbers for 2050 seem a little bit on the small side to me. But then, that heavy gold brocade is not gonna embroider itself.