Money and Religion

[Onyx]

Should money be kept out of religion altogether? If not, where would you draw the line between funding a religious group and running a business? What systems should be in place to protect people from fraud?

Edit: Should religious organizations be taxed?

 

[Kemosloby]

It should be fairly obvious to people, if their church is collecting money for charity and appears to be getting rich, the money is probably not going to charity. But if a person is deceived and thinks they are giving money to charity it seems like it would count with God as giving to charity. And the sin be put on the heads of those who withheld money meant for the poor and needy. Government should stay out of it since we do have separation of church and state.

 

[Skwim]

I believe that if it wasn't for the allure of money quite a few protestant preachers would be selling shoes or pounding nails.

As for keeping it out of religion I can only ask, why? After all, people do need churches, temples, mosques, etc. to worship in.

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[Unveiled Artist]

Should money be kept out of religion altogether? If not, where would you draw the line between funding a religious group and running a business? What systems should be in place to protect people from fraud?

I feel money and religion are separate. In the Catholic Church, I was never required to pay tithes. So, if I gave money, it would be donations, charity boxes, buying donuts, things like that. Anything specific to the church, I never contribute.

Nichiren Buddhism has a required fee to receive the object of worship. Instead of being required to pay for the scroll, being a maybe organizational membership fees (since its not a religion just based on religious principles) would cover the scrolls. The sacraments should be free.

The spiritualist church I went to had the right thing. They dont require donations, services are at a low charge, church related workshops and class to be part of the church are free. A forty dollar year membership fee is asked for to be a member but never a requirement to worship.

 

[Father Heathen]

Should money be kept out of religion altogether?

It should, but the most successful religions were built upon rackets.

 

[Altfish]

Religion is too often a money making scam

 

[George-ananda]

Should money be kept out of religion altogether? If not, where would you draw the line between funding a religious group and running a business? What systems should be in place to protect people from fraud?

I would try to keep money out of it but that is not always possible in the real world (unless you have a very rich benefactor). Religious organizations need money to function and money should come from people's hearts.

 

[Callisto]

Should money be kept out of religion altogether? If not, where would you draw the line between funding a religious group and running a business? What systems should be in place to protect people from fraud?

Running religious groups without donations and lines of revenue isn't possible, trying to do so is one of the reasons there are no major Neopagan organizations (major as in on par non-Pagan religions) - because they abhor the corruption seen in other religions that have amassed assets and there's a widespread rhetoric that "money = bad".

However, I do think that religious organizations (churches and charities alike, all religions) should be required to maintain a much higher level of transparency than which currently exists about their revenue, assets, expenses and liabilities. People should know exactly where their donations are going and decide for themselves whether they agree with how much of their contributions are going to the reasons they gave them for versus other purposes.

 

[SabahTheLoner]

Personally I would keep money out of religious practices, however religious organizations, I don't mind them making some cash- especially if they are taxed.

 

[whirlingmerc]

Should money be kept out of religion altogether? If not, where would you draw the line between funding a religious group and running a business? What systems should be in place to protect people from fraud?

Money should not be a reason to worship God
as Job shows Job - the journey of a moral man to a wise man

However 'where your treasure is there your heart will be' says Jesus and so... there are proper uses and improper abuses of money with religion Christians should be generous with everything including money and what they invest in shows where their hearts are.

 

[sun rise]

I'll also say transparency. And keep separate funds and even separate corporations for various activities. If a church is running a charity, make it a separate corporation and don't commingle funds.

 

[Stevicus]

What I never understood is why people donate to these wealthy televangelists. I can see people donating to their local church, especially if they do charity work and so forth, but what's the fascination with these televangelists? I remember watching Robert Tilton for the first time, and I initially thought it was a parody on televangelists. But he was for real, and people actually donated to his ministry. Later on there was a scandal when one of the news programs investigated his ministry and its finances.

 

[Onyx]

Personally I would keep money out of religious practices, however religious organizations, I don't mind them making some cash- especially if they are taxed.

This brings up an interesting point, should religions be taxed?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

This brings up an interesting point, should religions be taxed?

IMO, we should just take "advancement of religion" (or similar wording, depending on the specific country) out of the list of charitable causes and let religious organizations end up with whatever status they warrant.

Considering the characteristics of a typical church (doesn't make a profit, most of its activities are primarily for the benefit of its own members) and going by Canadian rules, I'd say most churches would probably qualify as not-for-profit (so would pay no tax), but not as a charity (so donations to them wouldn't be tax deductible). I think that's a fair treatment for churches that's in like with other types of social clubs.

In the US - from what I understand - there isn't this sort of difference between a not-for-profit and a charity, so a church might still keep its tax status even if we ignore its religious nature... fair enough.

The main thing for me is just getting rid of special treatment for churches: no clergy housing allowance, no exemptions from normal rules, no exemptions from filing requirements, etc.

 

[Callisto]

This brings up an interesting point, should religions be taxed?

To quote George Carlin, "Tax them. If holy people are so interested in politics, government and public policy let them pay the price of admission like everybody else."

 

[SabahTheLoner]

This brings up an interesting point, should religions be taxed?

I don't think it's the taxation of the religion itself but the taxation governments have for an entity's ownership and use of land, even for religious purposes. I think having a tax for property used and possibly owned by an organization helps prove that the organization is responsible. An irresponsible organization should pay the penalties of irresponsibility. Religion itself is freedom, individualistic, needs no organization, and therefore requires no tax.

 

[Polymath257]

Religion is *always* a money making scam. To take away the money will destroy religion. With would not be a bad thing.