Out of curiosity...

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-01-23 03:18pm

Zaia wrote:I would love to know how much money the Catholic religion brings in in terms of profits and how that directly contrasts to the monetary figure needed to keeping the nuns & priests fed and housed, the buildings maintained, etc. Part of the reason I'm an ex-Catholic now is because attending mass in a chapel decked out in gold-plated this, that and the other thing literally made my stomach churn. Is that needed? Will everyone go to hell if they sit their lazy asses on folding chairs instead of fancy wooden pews with real gold trim? Of course not. We could have worshiped in a sewer if we had to, if we had our priorities straight. How much money does that waste? Money they could have donated for any number of things.... Ah, I don't even want to think about it.

Are religions non-profit organizations to get tax breaks? Or do they declare a profit at the end of the year.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-01-23 05:56pm

neoolong wrote: Are religions non-profit organizations to get tax breaks? Or do they declare a profit at the end of the year.

Non profit. Many churches don't run a profit (out of the two I attend, one runs about $500/week over budget, the other's currently $750 below because of a new mortgage). I wish I knew how much the Catholic church brought in, because they've got to be storing some massive reserves of cash.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-01-23 06:05pm

80% of first-year small businessse are non-profit too, not that they're happy about it

Sebastin · Post by **Sebastin** » 2003-01-23 06:30pm

There was a report not long ago that concluded that the catholic church of germany has reserves of about 200 billion $. That´s only easily realisable money, i.e. cash, non essential real estate, stocks etc. The figure does not include the value of the churches (ground value and interior), reliques, pieces of art etc.

The total wealth of the church including these things was estimated at 1200 billion $, which is however very sketchy since the majority of the objects are hard to value due to their uniqueness. The estimate was considered conservative though.

This is for germany only but may serve as a yardstick for the catholig church. Keep in mind that in pure financial terms (the 200 billion number) the german catholic church was considered extraordinary rich.

I´ll try to dig up the source article if anybody wants it.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-01-23 07:33pm

Wow...the total giving to the United Methodist Church (so I'm not including investments, I don't have data on those) is $4.523 billion. Their expenditures (clergy, church maintenance, etc) are $3.95 billion. The church donates $419 million a year to local charity. Another $153 million go to overseas works. And $5 million goes to scholarships for college students. This comes out to $4.527 billion, so the Methodist Church is actually surviving on its investments, and not profiting from donations, assuming I've done my math right.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-01-23 07:34pm

My church certainly doesn't turn a profit. It's only barely in the black and what we don't spend on routine maintence and occasional improvements(i.e. sprucing up the restrooms or buying new drapes or something) goes into one of several charities we run.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-01-23 07:35pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:It's a religion invented by the deceased Sci-Fi author L. Ron Hubbard. It's basically a religious version of his earlier Dianetics. Its sole purpose was to make him rich and powerful.

You basically keep paying shitload after shitload to have your "Thetan" (soul) cleansed of evil aspects, using a device that does nothing.

EDIT: deleted incorrect information regarding OT levels. OT VIII is the level that John Travolta is at, and he is convinced that he can levitate. It's rumored that OT levels might go as high as OT XV (possible "Total Freedom"), but everything after New OT VIII is incomplete, as LRH died around that time (1986).

Here's a site that explains all the evils of Scientology:
http://www.xenu.net/

Actually, Scientology was first developed in an effort to win a bet and justify a piece of literature he had written. In his fiction, he had told the story of how a group of travellers had arrived on an alien world and founded their own religion. They became fantastically wealthy and famous, and had fundamentally altered the way in which the planet saw the world and behaved. Scientology was Hubbard's attempt to show that such a thing could actually happen, although I'm sure that the money was also a significant motive in the religion's belief system.

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-01-24 02:48am

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:They're social institutions. If they weren't trying to chrun out a profit, they wouldn't be institutionalized.

Millhouse: "But why would they lie, Bart? What would they have to gain?"
Rev. Lovejoy: (Emptying large collection plate into change counter) "I don't hear scrubbing!"

Not all religions are institutionalized... Rather, not supposed to be. For exampl (and I HAVE read up on this, but need to get the book again), Paganism actually denies institutionalizing as per Cjhristianty, Islam, etc.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-01-24 10:19am

verilon wrote:
Darth Utsanomiko wrote:They're social institutions. If they weren't trying to chrun out a profit, they wouldn't be institutionalized.

Millhouse: "But why would they lie, Bart? What would they have to gain?"
Rev. Lovejoy: (Emptying large collection plate into change counter) "I don't hear scrubbing!"
Not all religions are institutionalized... Rather, not supposed to be. For exampl (and I HAVE read up on this, but need to get the book again), Paganism actually denies institutionalizing as per Cjhristianty, Islam, etc.

Ah, but that's why I put my statement into a conditional 'if/then' form instead of 'becasue/therefore', you see.

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-01-24 02:26pm

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:
verilon wrote:
Darth Utsanomiko wrote:They're social institutions. If they weren't trying to chrun out a profit, they wouldn't be institutionalized.

Millhouse: "But why would they lie, Bart? What would they have to gain?"
Rev. Lovejoy: (Emptying large collection plate into change counter) "I don't hear scrubbing!"
Not all religions are institutionalized... Rather, not supposed to be. For exampl (and I HAVE read up on this, but need to get the book again), Paganism actually denies institutionalizing as per Cjhristianty, Islam, etc.
Ah, but that's why I put my statement into a conditional 'if/then' form instead of 'becasue/therefore', you see.

The way you wrote it seemed to imply that no matter what all religions are set out to get money. [shrugs] Just the way I interpreted it.

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2003-01-24 04:19pm

If you wan't to read something hilarious...

http://www.xenu.net/archive/leaflet/xenuleaf.htm