Religion - the perfect scam?

[Ryantology]

Hey, don't forget that you have to create the god and some stories about him to tell. Remember to be vague. In fact, it would be best if you described your god in such a way that its existence is in no way empirically-testable, that way, you can make up whatever attributes for that god you might need. This is useful for winning dick-measuring contests against followers of other gods. It is also useful against non-believers who doubt the existence of your god. You can use their superior intellectual integrity against them by forcing an eventual stalemate in any argument, because they are crippled by being unable to justify alleged knowledge entirely on the basis of knowledge they invent (but call it 'faith', because it sounds more legitimate).

Remember, if they can't disprove the existence of your god, that proves he's real!

Also, don't forget that all expressions of faith are equal and relative likelihood is irrelevant. An atheist trusting on faith that the sun will still exist in 24 hours is precisely the same as trusting on faith that your god created the entire universe.

[FreeTony]

In Holland you can even be an out Atheist and still be a preacher:

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14417362

Professor Hijme Stoffels of the VU University Amsterdam says it is in such concepts as love that people base their diffuse ideas of religion.
"In our society it's called 'somethingism'," he says. "There must be 'something' between heaven and earth, but to call it 'God', and even 'a personal God', for the majority of Dutch is a bridge too far.
"Christian churches are in a market situation. They can offer their ideas to a majority of the population which is interested in spirituality or some kind of religion."


In other words market your particular brand of Christianity to those around you, feel free to change it if you like. In Holland that might be a Chrisitanity where a God and Jesus both don't exist but just be nice to each other, and in some parts of America one where God hates all the things you hate, like liberals and gays.

[Minimalist]

I've even seen a pastors salary lessened to make sure money was available for other programs.

There's one asshole who's doing it wrong!

[KUSA]

I will never make another house or car payment for a preacher again.

[Popsicle]

I will never make another house or car payment for a preacher again.

Maybe we should aspire to be preachers? $$$

[LastPoet]

The fuckers have no trouble asking.

The collection plate can get some coin. I laugh at that, people willingly put money in a basket. Only to get a lying crook spending it on somethings very... material. What a fine deal.

[KUSA]

I will never make another house or car payment for a preacher again.

Maybe we should aspire to be preachers? $$$ :angel:

I thought of that actually. If you think about it an Atheist makes the best preacher. We know the bible and can rattle of the bullshit better than most theists.
I'm convinced that these money hungry tel - evangelists don't believe a word they say. That makes them an Atheist. One without morals or ethics but an Atheist none the less.

[Tonus]

Some of them are pretty fucking direct in asking for the cash.

How so?

Oral Roberts was the first thing that came to mind when I saw FreeTony's comment. In 1987 he announced on his TV show that if he did not receive $8 million in donations within a certain time frame, god would kill him. As far as I know, he did indeed get his money (more than $16 million in 2013 dollars) before god could send the angel of death to kneecap him. Which is to say that Oral Roberts was handsomely rewarded for describing god as a scumbag extortionist.

But in my experience, most of the time it's an implied request with a pretty heavy dose of guilt. After all, the Biblical examples tend to show that you get god's blessing if you are extremely generous, with the implication that holding anything back might result in a moderate case of NO AFTERLIFE FOR JOO!!!

[FreeTony]

Oral Roberts was the first thing that came to mind when I saw FreeTony's comment. In 1987 he announced on his TV show that if he did not receive $8 million in donations within a certain time frame, god would kill him. As far as I know, he did indeed get his money (more than $16 million in 2013 dollars) before god could send the angel of death to kneecap him. Which is to say that Oral Roberts was handsomely rewarded for describing god as a scumbag extortionist.

But in my experience, most of the time it's an implied request with a pretty heavy dose of guilt. After all, the Biblical examples tend to show that you get god's blessing if you are extremely generous, with the implication that holding anything back might result in a moderate case of NO AFTERLIFE FOR JOO!!!

If I was coming up with scamming ideas, I'd have labelled that as "far far far too stupid to work"!

[max-greece]

Hey, don't forget that you have to create the god and some stories about him to tell. Remember to be vague. In fact, it would be best if you described your god in such a way that its existence is in no way empirically-testable, that way, you can make up whatever attributes for that god you might need. This is useful for winning dick-measuring contests against followers of other gods. It is also useful against non-believers who doubt the existence of your god. You can use their superior intellectual integrity against them by forcing an eventual stalemate in any argument, because they are crippled by being unable to justify alleged knowledge entirely on the basis of knowledge they invent (but call it 'faith', because it sounds more legitimate).

Remember, if they can't disprove the existence of your god, that proves he's real!

Also, don't forget that all expressions of faith are equal and relative likelihood is irrelevant. An atheist trusting on faith that the sun will still exist in 24 hours is precisely the same as trusting on faith that your god created the entire universe.

Yeah well I came up with a religion on these forums and what did you do - you bastard? Only come up with a rival to challenge it. We could've had something. Could've made it big time.

Ruined. Ruined I tell you.