Senate to investigate finances of selected televangelists.
 

GOOD!

it is not that they can spend the money the way they do, but to have income free status.

Maybe I can become a Preacher and yell hell is coming if you do not beleive in God.

Oh, by the way donate some money to me to help you be saved!

Heh... Benny Hinn left Canada after he was investigated for financial irregularities within his ministry decades ago by the CRTC and Queen's Park - wonder where he'll take off to now to sell his fake miracles? :rolleyes:

I'm not really sure why the Senate is investigating here. I'm definitely not a fan of these guys, but is there any question that they are doing what they are doing as religious organizations?

If the Senate is investigating these guys for the purposes of changing the tax code to make religious organizations pay, good for them. Otherwise, I can't see how this dog and pony show is warranted.

I know I'm going to regret asking this, but why "good for them"? Do you think that religious organizations should fall outside of the charity/tax exempt category?

I think that the purpose of the law is that many religious organizations in the past concerned themselves primarily with charitable works. As that has become less and less the case, I think it's time that Congress revisited that part of the Tax Code.

I think that's a very broad generalization over the entire category of "religion". I would say that there are many religions/sects/denominations who still primarily focus on charity, and to lump them in the same category as those who don't is frankly insulting.

I think the tax code can be adjusted to accommodate those sorts or religions, maybe.

Maybe they can take a clue from GLOs and have each org file a Service Hours Completed sheet and their taxes can be based on the number of service hours they do.


...tounge firmly in cheek.

Yeah, I wouldn't exactly say that many religious organizations have moved from doing charitable works. The problem is that TV "evangelists" (I use this term extremely loosely) have found a way to live the luxe lifestyle by soliciting donations in the name of God. That totally sucks, and those outfits should not benefit from tax-exempt status. No wonder nonbelievers have disdain for Christianity (because that's probably 98% of televangelists)! If this is the crap they see, I'd have questions, too.

It's not just TV evangelists. Down here and around the South, there are lots of megachurches where the pastors live pretty high on the hog as well.

I know very well the lifestyles of those in megachurches, and of some churches in the south. My dad is a minister, but we're Presbyterian, and one of our tenets handed down by way of Calvin is MODERATION. So with that, dad doesn't ask for a salary that is way over and above his needs. I don't know about other denominations, but to me, it would seem that at least with the megachurches, the people filling the offering plate at least know what they're getting. When you just see someone on TV, who knows where the money goes. There is really no oversight, which is why I think the committee looking into the finances of some televangelists is a great thing.

This is totally for the sake of argument, but even a church is a business, and in the American Capitalist society, shouldn't a pastor who takes care of a church of 10,000 earn significantly more than a pastor who takes care of a church of 100? They're still people who do a job and expect to be fairly compensated for what they do. If the VP of Finance of Google was making the same amount of money as the VP of Finance of the 30 person Corp. in the next town over, that person would certainly feel slighted.

That's just basic math. When my dad first started preaching, he was the head pastor of a church of maybe 80 members. Needless to say at that point in time, we were really, really poor. But he was there for 7 years, grew the church to 600 members, and as the budget grew, so did his salary. Of course, my dad is the uber-responsible type and works 70 hours a week, so the more members he had to take care of, and the more members contributed in the offering, naturally, the more money my dad made. What irks me to no end is some of the pastors that come into a church and expect to make a lot of money because there are a lot of members (and contributions) that can help them live a lavish lifestyle, all the while, not doing much more than being the face of the church, and maybe hammering out a 10 minute message every week. That is not what ministry is about. If a pastor of a megachurch works as hard as my dad, then I'd say he absolutely deserves a high salary, and whatever he wants to do with his money is his business. But I have to wonder what that pastor has gotten out of the Gospel, if he's buying marble commodes and french clocks... What would Jesus do with a Lexus?

Let me just add - the pastors of the megachurches have help - for example, Joel Osteen only preaches. He does not meet with his parishoners - he has "assistants "who do that. Pastors of smaller churches may very well be doing more pastoral work for far less money than those of megachurces with dozens of staff members.