Does Glenn Beck believe in this?

[notyoueither]

But those aren't money scams. Anymore, at any rate.

Tithing and tax exempt status?

[giblets]

Voting for is far different than taking seriously.

So refusing to take a pundit seriously because he's a mormon is bigoted but refusing to vote for a mormon is not?

[DinoDoc]

While I personally think it's silly, it is perfectly valid to not give a crap what Glenn Beck thinks because he's a mormon.

Bigotry ftw.

[Elok]

Tithing and tax exempt status?

Not even close to what Scientology does. Comparing voluntary tithing to the CoS's practice of making you pay bankruptcy-inducing wads of cash to go through courses (IIRC, it takes something like $300K to get to OT8) is like comparing an expensive beer at a bar to a heroin habit. Also, no other religion takes legal action to prevent its teachings from being disseminated, and none of them tried selling themselves as a "dynamic new science" before hastily rebranding as religions to dodge the FDA.

[Elok]

Anyway, you shouldn't scorn Glenn Beck for being a Mormon. You should scorn him for being a deranged money-grubbing fink who incites our nation's schizophrenics to riot and tries to hijack MLK Jr.'s legacy for attention. What's a little Mormonism to that?

[bc1871]

Bill Maher should never be quoted as a credible source for anything. Just listen to 20 seconds of his pinko-commie bull****, and any sane person would realize that he is an uneducated buffoon preaching leftwing bias and hatred.

[Dr Strangelove]

Not even close to what Scientology does. Comparing voluntary tithing to the CoS's practice of making you pay bankruptcy-inducing wads of cash to go through courses (IIRC, it takes something like $300K to get to OT8) is like comparing an expensive beer at a bar to a heroin habit. Also, no other religion takes legal action to prevent its teachings from being disseminated, and none of them tried selling themselves as a "dynamic new science" before hastily rebranding as religions to dodge the FDA.

So far the guy who wrote the "Left Behind" novels has given to Liberty University: a skating rink, an artificial ski slope and a creationist museum. That's some pretty hefty tithing, and it just goed to show what Baptists think is important in a college education.
OTOH L. Ron Hubbard was on the record stating that he founded his church for the tax breaks.

[Hauldren Collider]

Tithing and tax exempt status?

Tithing is not required. At least not at catholic churches.

[Elok]

So far the guy who wrote the "Left Behind" novels has given to Liberty University: a skating rink, an artificial ski slope and a creationist museum. That's some pretty hefty tithing, and it just goed to show what Baptists think is important in a college education.

1. Tithing isn't mandatory, outside of Mormonism (AFAIK). LaHaye or Jenkins, whichever you're referring to, is willingly giving back to the horse he's basically ridden to the ground in his two hundred apocalyptic novels. And those two are rather exceptional.
2. Liberty University isn't a church, it's just the propaganda arm of a church. That doesn't really count as a tithe in the first place.
3. That's not a very good example of how the Baptists are a scam, as two of those are apparently for general use and the third is just more propaganda. They start buying hookers and blow, that's more compelling.
4. I assume Baptists somewhere are giving meaningfully to charity, though I don't know since I don't follow the doings of that church or indeed think about it more than I can help.

Which is not to say that many Baptist ministers aren't shysters, or that most religions don't have significant numbers of snake-oil salesmen and freeloaders. But they're no CoS.

OTOH L. Ron Hubbard was on the record stating that he founded his church for the tax breaks.

Cite, please. The well-known bit about "If I really wanted to make money, I'd start a religion," is an apocryphal quote from an old Readers' Digest. He actually started a pseudoscience scam, not a church, like I said. And that wouldn't matter if his church had mellowed out the way Mormonism--another church that seems to have been started by a blatant con-man--did. But it hasn't.

[notyoueither]

Not even close to what Scientology does. Comparing voluntary tithing to the CoS's practice of making you pay bankruptcy-inducing wads of cash to go through courses (IIRC, it takes something like $300K to get to OT8) is like comparing an expensive beer at a bar to a heroin habit. Also, no other religion takes legal action to prevent its teachings from being disseminated, and none of them tried selling themselves as a "dynamic new science" before hastily rebranding as religions to dodge the FDA.

I wasn't comparing them. I was responding to a claim that other religions (Mormonism and Christianity) are no longer 'money scams.'

[Hauldren Collider]

So you can argue that it is a bit of a tax scam, but I wouldn't agree. I'll concede that the definition starts to get fuzzy. But it's nothing so blatant or clear-cut as Scientology.

[notyoueither]

What about in countries where various churches enjoy official status and a share of tax revenues?

[Hauldren Collider]

Like the UK? I dunno what to call it, but I'm against it.

I guess you could call it a tax scam, but it's not really a scam any more than all wasteful government spending is a scam.

[notyoueither]

Italy, Germany, Austria, Argentina, Peru, etc (according to wiki). I doubt the Church of England is getting a share of tax revenue, although they likely see some income from government(s) for services they may provide.

I believe your term was money scam, and you said that Mormonism and Christian faiths were no longer 'money scams.' The fact is that various Christian churches in various places are still sucking cash from the peasants and they do it with the backing of various states. That's a pretty good scam IMO.

[Hauldren Collider]

Well at least they aren't doing so here in the US. I'm not sure I agree with the tax exemption, but I believe it was decided in a court case that the government was restricting religion by taxing it.