Everybody's gotta have a job.

What about world class organists who get hired to play in the world’s great cathedrals?

What about ordained ministers who devote their lives to feeding and tending their flock?

Sure, there are those who use religion to get rich. We have many of them in Mormonism.

But they are nowhere near the majority.

Growing up Catholic, I was surprised to find out that not all religious (priests, nuns, etc.) were kind, empathetic, tolerant human beings. Their personalities really ran the gamut of what human personalities have to offer. I was always pleasantly surprised to find a priest or a nun with an easygoing, kindly nature. It was never a given.

Scoundrels can certainly find a home among church leadership.

    Growing up mormon, we "knew" that Catholic girls were 'easy.'

    So when my UofU fraternity big brother told me that he'd lined me up a date for our toga party and that she was a student at St. Mary's of the Wasatch, I thought maybe I was finally going to get 'lucky.'

    It didn't turn out that way.  She drank me under the table, and my big brother had to find her a ride home.  

    I've been told that St. Mary's of the Wasatch closed.  For the first time in my life, I've Googled it:

https://www.facebook.com/p/St-Mary-of-the-Wasatch-High-School-100068175801970/

    All I remember is that she had dark hair, that we made each other laugh during the cocktail hour, and that she looked good in a white sheet...

    I wonder if she has ever told stories about the silly Mexican kid with whom she shared a very innocuous blind date?


    As for the theme of this thread, getting paid to ensure the payors get to heaven sounds like a great gig.  You're never going to have someone come back from the dead to demand the return of their money.

No matter how rich the church gets, it will always be judgment-proof. How are you going to prove in court there's no CK?

I dated a good Catholic girl and she had better morals than some of the LDS girls I dated.

There are scoundrels everywhere. I think if I was going to exploit people today I would become a New Age guru.

While I agree with both Unconventionalideas and Summer (see above posts), I would offer that religions tend to attract scoundrels. Why? Because religions are solely based on belief--no proof of claims is required.

I think that I would agree with a more controversial statement; namely that religions are founded by scoundrels. While we have little information concerning Muhummad and Jesus Christ, we do have a lot of information on the myriads of Protestant churches created in the United States after the country's founding, and it's really hard to argue that any of those people were anything *but* scoundrels.

Subsequent Mormon leaders learned that you actually do have to keep it in your pants. But for some reason the doctrines invented by the founder while such behavior was going on get a free pass.

I tend to agree about the scoundrels thing, only know that like monarchies in the past hired great musicians, architects, artists, tradespeople, etc., so do churches today in the case of musicians, and tradespeople.

The artisans hired aren’t corrupt even if the organization may be.

Religion is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Dave the Atheist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Religion is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Hands up to all of you who thought that politics had that honor.

Edit to add: For me personally, patriotism has always been the last refuge of a scoundrel. Of course, when one thinks about, patriotism and religion, one realizes that they aren't far from each other in terms of the emotions they emit.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2024 01:02PM by blindguy.

I have no idea how many scoundrels are in the religion business, I don't know if they're the majority, but surely there are many.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg&ab_channel=LastWeekTonight

There is a great quote in the replies.

@beachbum1523

As Jackie Gleason so correctly pointed out, "When churches needs money, preachers ask the people for it. When the people need money, the preachers tell them to ask God."

One more time - ***NSFW***CUSSING***NSFW*** Put the kids out of the room!

This guy can be a bit raw/much but this was just too good not to share. This "preacher" sold "crypto coin" that could NEVER be resold. It could never be converted back to USD. Once he boxed himself in and the law was looking for him in the US he went to Africa to fleece them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyUHsoBdXT0

OMG. How are people still falling for prosperity gospel pushers AT ALL? They are seedy casinos using God to bilk people.

I like how he paid some taxes. That was his only redeeming action.

IMO, the only Holy Water is dog saliva. I guarantee better results for healing and mental health with it over that church stuff.

Scoundrels look for marks. Sadly, they often find then in religious groups.