Why are religious organizations rolling in huge sums of cash and owning vast tracks of realestate.?

Question

Its simple that most of them operate like pyramid sales corporations.
Only difference is that they don't pay most of their workers and they don't pay tax.
Everytime someone joins a new religious organisation 'cha ching,' and some of these organisations are doing really well on the stock markets. Like the Mormon Church owns most of the shares in Bell Hugy Air Corporation who make nuclear missiles, bombs and general armaments, they also control the board of directors. In the first Golf War against Iraq they made massive profits, infact if anyone won that war it was the shareholders of the Mormon Church. Why do religious people think its so important that their particular organisation do so well on the stock exchange, property markets, oh and I almost forgot, control state machines and governments? Is this cash fed empire building more than having anything to do with spirituality. (unless dripping dombs on people with spiritually counts)
Thanx for the violation notices, again.

Answer 1

sorry to disappoint you but this has been true all along ALL RELIGIONS do this and always have throughout history one of the most successful at this has always been the Roman Catholic Church check any truthful history book look at the pope who sheltered in France under the wing of Phillip the fair in the 13th century ( the one who allowed the destruction of the Knights of the Temple ) can't remember the name offhand but he was chased from Rome and started with nothing his solution was to sell forgiveness and blessings this was so successful he made more money than any previous pope and started a practice that most religions have adopted and continue to this day
on a more apologetic note I would like to mention that the Mormons do in fact stack up as better than almost any other church I have seen as far as charity and taking care of their own though I still do not agree with some of their policies and yes I have examined them closely they do have some profit making enterprises though I do believe that the profits do go to the needy

Answer 2

Exactly why I as a Christian do not support the Catholic inspired practice (adopted by most Protestant and other religions) of calling giving 10% of one's income a tithe. It's worship of mammon you have described and unfortunately 99.99% of the world's religions are caught up in this church money system to profit or "racketeer" from the gospel that Jesus said He came so the poor could have it preached to them. Only those who are worthy to eat of the gospel and are not working for the Lord for greed or self-gain should be supported through spirit led free will love offerings by others from what they have to give, the ones who have an abundance. Neither Jesus nor His disciples taught or practiced such nonsense but taught against it. Love thy neighbor as thyself is the second greatest commandment. Jesus was ran out of the synagogues and threatened to be thrown over a cliff for His speaking the truth about their financial practices of the day as he whipped the moneychangers out of the temple. (Do it again Lord) It's not any big secret that the Pharisees are still in control. Their spirit never died! The fact is "the people love it to be so." They feel spiritual if they give money but often substitute giving for true obedience which is better than sacrifice.
If you get a violation notice it's likely because you mentioned a specific organization. I, my friend, named virtually all of them including those independent ones who don't have head-quarters who think all the "tithe" should go to a paid pulpit minister no matter the size of the congregation or to the church who then unscritpurally selects a salary amount, so I shall have the more enemies! I'm not even loved by those who agree that the tithe is not for today's church! It's still the truth! Oh for more new testament patterned churches today!

Answer 3

You have been grossly misinformed.

The LDS Church does not gain profit from any organization or business other than its own welfare programs. And that "profit" goes to help those in need. When Hurricane Katrina hit, the Mormon church was the first there with medical help and aid. Even before Red Cross. Their Bishops and leaders are volunteer only.
The LDS church is also the only church to not be in debt.

Get your facts straight. www.lds.org

Answer 4

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Answer 5

I laughed out loud when I read your question. Publicly held companies are required to file financial statements, listing who owns more than a small percentage of their stock. Bell Helicopter is owned by Textron, which is in turn largely owned by AXA Financial, a French concern. Nowhere in their filings is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mentioned. A few minutes research on the internet could have calmed your concerns.

Another concern seems to be with the assets owned by my faith. As others have mentioned, the church owns many farms. They are used to grow foodstuffs to feed the poor and to help in times of need. When a faithful member of our church falls on hard times, they can go to a storehouse, stocked with food, clothing and other things produced on such farms. These items are given without charge. When disaster strikes, we usually have truckloads of tents, food, water and other emergency supplies on scene within hours.

We also own churches and temples and educational buildings, but they are money-consuming assets, not money-producing ones. With 13 Million members, we need a few places for them to worship. Indeed, the growth of the church means that, on average, a new building is dedicated every day of the year.

Are Mormons just in it for the money? Consider this:

The leaders in our congregations are unpaid volunteers. For example, the local bishop (leader of a congregation) supports his family by holding down a job, just like everyone else. After he serves for about five years, he’ll be given a break, and someone else will take his place. His only pay for his service is the satisfaction of serving the Lord. Ditto for the organist, the Sunday School teacher, etc.

Our missionaries are also unpaid – indeed, they pay their own way. When I served my mission in Scotland, I saved virtually every dime I could make for the better part of a year, so I could serve a two-year mission. When my money ran out, my parents supported me.

My church is the only charitable institution I know of that have ever asked me to donate less money than I used to. When I first joined the “Mormon” church, we often needed to contribute to a building fund, because our growth meant some congregation nearby needed a new or bigger building. Now, those funds come from the tithes of our members, and building fund contributions are a thing of the past.

Years ago, we needed to contribute to pay the expenses of running the church. You know, heating and lighting the building, buying Sunday School books and hymn books, making repairs and maintenance costs. Someone had to pay to send the Boy Scouts to camp, or our youth to conferences. However, church members are now more faithful in paying an honest tithe, so that expense now comes from Salt Lake, not as an additional contribution from my pocket.

If the leadership of our church was out to get money, they’d have never CUT the request for contributions!

Answer 6

The Boston Diocese is bankrupt because of the large sums of money they had to pay to the victims of pedophile priests.
Perhaps they will get bailed out by the organizations you mention that make money building bombs.

They do all that because God told them so. No ?
Ramen !

Answer 7

They use the profits to build temples and to send help to third world countries and to help the sick and needy here in the United States and abroad. They have donated billions of dollars and food to help other countries. Why don't you read about their charity work??? They sent a lot of help to Louisiana and Mississippi and whereever there was help needed, PLUS some of their members went to help.
By the way, DON'T KNOCK SOMEONE OF SOMETHING UNTIL YOU HAVE THE FACTS STRAIGHT.

Answer 8

I would like to see your information you are getting for the "ownings of the Mormon church"...
The church owns farmland to supply welfare food for members, to build future churches or temples...the church does not own ANY "for-profit" organizations, where ever you are getting your information is incorrect, sorry.
There may be LDS members who hold shares in big companies or things like you are talking about, but it is the members NOT the church. Get it straight please and stop spreading things that are untrue.

Answer 9

There was a Golf War and the Mormons won?

Lisa
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/secularhumanism/

Answer 10

If you get a violation for stating an inconvenient truth, you are joining the ranks of some very good people. god bless America. Go team go.