Most mainstream churches operate quite differently than the LDS church. They do not pester you to join (and in fact, joining can be a lengthy process.) You are not hounded if you do not attend church or quit. You don't have a calling unless you really, really want one. And you are free to determine an appropriate amount of money to give to the church. In the U.S. that has been estimated to be on average about 2.6% of one's income, not 10%. Plus, most churches publish their budgets online so that you know exactly where the money is going.

Are all churches scams? No. They aren't.

In the real world, churches are considered churches, cults are considered cults and MLM's are generally considered scams.

+1

Exactly. In the real world, churches advertise their service times, and people are actually given the choice to go to whichever one suits them. That means if someone doesn't like to have to get up early, they can go to an 11am service on Sundays. Also, they don't hound you if you miss a week or so, and you can pick a nice building and congregation, even if it's not your neighborhood chapel. You also know where your donation money is going because in the real world, churches publish their budgets, and if you can't afford to donate, they don't make you feel worthless.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2015 09:39PM by adoylelb.

In the real world families do not shun or treat as second class citizens those in the family who choose to leave the church. They do not ignore grandchildren whose parents refuse to take them to church. They do not accuse them of wanting to sin when they leave the church.

In the real world, ministers of legitimate churches do not scare members away from interacting with people who are not members of the church. Legitimate churches use their finances to do good in the world and not to build a real estate empire.

Legitimate churches do not live in a world of keeping secrets and hiding information.