Mary Kahn reminded me yesterday in a comment about John Oliver of the brilliant piece he did on Religious Tax Exemption.
This is satire at its finest — exposing truths through humor. It is cringe-inducing funny.
If you have never seen this, or if you haven’t watched it for a few years, it is VERY instructive. I recommend it highly as it lays out a LOT of information and gives insight into scientology and its ongoing tax exempt status.
This is, in part, why the IRS has been perfectly content to allow scientology to be tax exempt all these years. There is also the fact that scientology intimidated the IRS into granting exemption in 1993 and they do not want to relive the nightmare.
It also answers a question a lot of people have about how Miscavige is able to jet around the world on Tom Cruise’s Gulfstream jet — or live “lavishly.” In fact, he is not in the same league as these so-called Christian pastors who BUY their own jets with cash and live in $6.3 million dollar mansions that are designated “parsonages.”
It also explains the lack of oversight by the IRS on any organization that is designated a religiously exempt activity.
It gives you some idea of the influence churches have had on IRS regulations, using the First Amendment as a weapon and a shield against government oversight of religious activities.
Though these money-making schemes of Christian televangelists are pretty disgusting (and the vast majority of people they convince to send them money to buy their jets are elderly), what sets scientology apart is the fact that the IRS regulations state that an organization cannot engage in illegal activities or things that are in violation of public policy (watch the Aftermath show tomorrow night for more on this — though not nearly as much as I would have liked to include as it doesn’t make for good TV unless you have talent like John Oliver and a comedy show). Convincing people to send/give you money — no matter how bizarre the pitch may be — is NOT illegal.
But these christian churches do NOT have policies and practices to:
a) Hire Private Investigators and lawyers to intimidate and harass
b) Threaten those who leave with financial ruin, smears and breaking up their families
c) Defrauding people by promising their money will be returned in order to get it, but then refusing to do so once you ask for it back
d) Child labor law violations
e) Obstructing justice with false testimony, destruction of evidence and vanished witnesses
Perhaps some of these other churches DO engage in some of these activities — but if they do, they can have their exemption revoked. Jim Jones feared the IRS were going to revoke the exempt status of the People’s Temple before he headed to Guyana.
Just saw your Feb. 5 program. The mechanism is there for the status of public (non-religious) non-profits organized under 501(c)(3) to be scrutinized annually, but it isn’t used effectively. Among the reasons the CoS and other “churches” don’t want to be classified as non-religious charities is because they would be required to file an IRS Form 990 yearly to prove to the IRS’s satisfaction that they are still using donations properly. The form is a detailed balance sheet and asks for lists of donors and a description of the governance of the organization that pertains to the criteria and standards for maintaining tax-exempt status. If you haven’t seen a Form 990, look it up online and imagine the CoS having to complete one! Another requirement is an independent audit by a CPA, who must certify that the books are in order and that the Form 990 is a truthful representation of the organization’s activities. The final requirements for public charities that would be show stoppers for the CoS are the availability to the public of the names of donors over a certain amount (used to be $5,000) and the access to financial records that must be provided at a moment’s notice to anyone, donor or not, who happens to walk through the door and ask to see them. Such regulations are bound to part of the reason that Hubbard wanted to form a church, rather than a public charity, given that his only goal was self-enrichment.
Although the US has a good system of oversight for non-religious charities, all of it does no good without enforcement. Instead, the IRS waits for “whistleblowers” to step forward and bring the malfeasance of some of those in the leadership of charities to light, and the media have to get involved for pressure to be brought to bear on politicians who then pressure the IRS into acting.
The sad truth is that the IRS does little or nothing to examine non-religious charitable organizations, and the law has completely tied its hands where churches are concerned. The UK’s approach to regulation of religious organizations might do much to stop the thieves, but to be effective, the standards and criteria must be enforced. Where non-religious charities are concerned, the IRS could examine a certain number of charities yearly, but because no income would be forthcoming from most of the audits, it is unlikely to undertake such an effort.
Mike Rinder, your blog and Leah Remini’s and your television series are so persuasive that it is amazing and frustrating that there has been so little response from those who could put an end to the thuggish and devious practices of the CoS. At the very least, the political apparatus in Florida should join hands and rescue the citizens of Clearwater from the suffocating presence in their lovely town of the CoS.
Thanks for that explanation. There’s an argument that religious organizations shouldn’t have to submit to government scrutiny, particularly the names of donors, and regardless of its validity, I think the reality is that it’s going to be at least a generation before there might be political will to
However, I think there’s an unassailable argument that all organizations granted the benefit of tax-exempt status – which means that they are given an effective back-door subsidy, particularly when it comes to not even having to pay their own way in the community through normal obligations like property taxes – should at least be required to have an independent private auditor prepare annual or bi-annual reports available internally as well as to the public who provide the benefit. If nothing else that’s an important check against fraud and theft, which is exactly why responsible religious groups submit to such internal audits voluntarily and as a responsibility to their members – and those groups should be allies in making sure that all organizations play by basic rules of good internal governance. Such reporting and disclosure would allow members to be properly informed of how their support is being used, and would serve to expose the bad actors to scrutiny.
True story:
I was six years old and it was a Sunday afternoon and I was alone in the living room watching Oral Roberts. My mother was cooking dinner. My father was outside fixing the car.
I had intended to watch some kind of kiddie show but as I was flipping the dial I saw Oral Roberts talking- almost shouting, in an impassioned way. Shouting and sobbing.
I was alarmed. A grown man crying! I had never in my six years seen a grown man cry.. Only children cried, I thought. Something had to be VERY wrong! I kept the dial right there.
Oral Roberts was making an impassioned speech.
He was pleading for some group that needed help. My memory about who they were is vague but these people – they were in desperate straits, apparently.
Cold, hungry, needing clothes, medicine. Needing God. Needing Jesus. Desperately needing Jesus.
He spoke movingly about them, what good people they were and how little it would take from each of us watching on TV to help them.
Just one dollar. That’s all we had to do! Send one dollar! To him.
As I said, he was a moving speaker, to my mind. He totally got to me.
Cold, friendless, hungry, ill people…shivering children without shoes, none of them had toys or dolls…
From the kitchen came the smell of my mother’s delicious cooking. .A few steps away in my small pink and white bedroom was a closet packed with dresses of every color plus coats and many shoes. Lining the shelves of one pink wall were dolls, games, toys and stuffed animals. Outside in the driveway was my father, tinkering with the car, ready, I well knew to give me whatever I wanted….which right then was a dollar.
Something had to be done for these people! I had to send a dollar immediately!
Oral Roberts continued to thunder and sob pretty much along this line:
“Friends, it is SOOO little. Its just a dollar! SEND that dollar to me! So little can do so much! DON’T hesitate! Take that small dollar and put it in an envelope and send it to me right now! Do it for me. Do it for these suffering people. Do it for God! Here is my address:(frantically I found a pen and wrote his address on top of TV Guide).Thank you from my heart. God thanks you. Jesus thanks you. Again, here is my address (I checked to make sure it was correct) Mail it today!! There’s not a minute to waste! These people are waiting, suffering…they NEED you…they need JESUS. Thank you! God bless your kind heart!”
And then he was off the air.
I tore outside without putting on a coat.
“Dad! Daddy!”
He had the hood up, tinkering underneath. He didn’t look up. “What?”
” I need a dollar!”
Not looking up, his eyes fixed on the problem under the hood, he said, “Okay”.
I waited.
He ignored me, all his concentration on what he was doing. He tinkered. Some moments passed.
“Daddy!”
“What?”
“The dollar!”
He put his hand in his pocket. “My wallet’s in the house. Do you need it right now?
“Yes! RIGHT now! I must have it RIGHT NOW!”
He looked up. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Nothing! Nothing’s the matter with me! I just need a dollar, that’s all! But right now, please! There’s no time to lose!”
Frowning, he said, “What the hell are you talking about?”
His tone filled me with doubt. This wasn’t going well… Maybe he wouldn’t give it to me? But he always did! So why not now? I was nervous, for some reason.
“Nothing”, I said, attempting nonchalance. “I just need it, that’s all. But right away”, Not meeting his eyes.
He leveled his gaze at me. “What for?”
“For somebody…people…something important! Its VERY important!”
My father, the most generous of men, didn’t give a fig about a dollar, but I had managed to arouse his curiosity, or interest, or suspicion, or all three. So I was not about to be let off the hook.
“For WHOM is this dollar? Or, for WHAT? And why must you have it IMMEDIATELY? Why is there “no time to lose’?”
Impatiently, I burst out, “its for Oral Roberts, Daddy!”
“Who the hell is Oral Roberts?”
“A MAN – on TV. He helps people. He needs me and EVERYBODY to send him a dollar! Each of us has to send him a dollar right away! For these people who need HELP! . I have to mail it NOW! I wrote down his address! I have to send the dollar TODAY!”
My father closed the hood of the car and said, “Come with me”.
In the kitchen my mother was told him who Oral Roberts was and what he did.
.After a brief, murmured exchange between them I heard him say, “The nerve of that son of a bitch!”, as he slammed the kitchen door and headed back to the car.
I tagged after him. “Don’t stay out here without your coat.”, he flung over his shoulder.
“Can I have the dollar now?”
“No.”
“DADDY!!!”
“Go inside.”
“Daddy, pleeez? Pleeez give it to me!”
“No means no. You are not getting a dollar for that…go inside now”
Heartsick, I turned back to the house. I was letting Oral Roberts down.
I dragged my feet a few steps and then stopped and looked at him reproachfully But the hood was back up and he was back to tinkering.
Before going in I heard him mutter, “The nerve of that son of a bitch”.
I remember decades ago watching that crazy comedian “SOUPY SALES”…his TV Show was one geared at “the kiddies” but many times it hit right to the adult side of comedy.
In one episode/skit….”Soupy” asked every to send him ONE DOLLAR….Well, as the $$$$$ began to roll in, this got “Soupy” in a lot of trouble….he was banned from TV for a few weeks. Geeeez….I missed that man those few weeks.
Today we seen infamous “Joel Olsteen” in his mega stadium, along side his lovely bejeweled wife Victoria…..APPOINTED PASTOR….of his “Christian Flock”….WITHOUT A DIVINITY OR THEOLOGY Degree….. HIs words are sweet, loving, with his well modulated soothing voice as he speaks about LOVE. & Kindness & forgiveness from God.
Ahhh….the pitchman….never never never a word about anyone in “the flock” receiving God’s much feared punishment/banishment to HELL…..even the WORST person in the world……nothing really stated about Evil….
Osteen’s smooth sweet soothing voice causes the CASH to roll in as he pitches his Books, DVD, C.D’s etc etc etc.
Meanwhile, they live in a house that’s around 10,ooo Square Feet…..during the horrific hurricane his church was “not really open” to those NEEDING SHELTER…..NEITHER WAS HIS HOME…..so much for $$$$.
@ Balletlady,
Yes, I remember Soupy getting in very hot water for doing the same thing. Millions of people sent him a dollar! So funny.
What a great story Aqua! Thanx for sharing that. When I was 5 someone came to our door collecting for some children I believe. It was a nice lady and her description of children in need was devastating to hear. I had no idea people were in this dire situation. I immediately told my Granny I had better give all $4 that I had saved to help these kids. Then the lady seemed to feel bad as she had been quite impassioned. They convinced me it was just fine to only give $1. Back then you never knew if it was a legitimate cause or something like Oral Roberts. Today you can do the research.
The thing is there has always been those who knew how to get around the system, there will probably always be those who will know how to get around the system, know someone who will overlook what they are doing, etc. The IRS seems to have the ability to overlook a lot of those who are in arrears because of their position or whatever.
The Aftermath is doing more to help by putting the truth out there and by helping people who want to get away from this cult than anything the IRS can do except maybe send the cult a bill. They have the money to cover it and the legal team to tie it up for a long long time.
The disheartening thing is that no matter what happens there are still going to be people who believe in scientology no matter how despicable it is. They will still offer their up body, mind, soul, and cash to it. And, it’s generational. Children follow their parents and the cult does a bang up job of taking control of their children in order to brainwash them and indoctrinate them into this fake religion.
With all the information and testimonials from people who got out and are so darned brave to speak out at least the numbers may dwindle within the cult, and with the exposure of the horrible treatment of the members maybe at least the ones still in may get better treatment.
Biggest hope is that those who believed they had to disconnect from their family will get the courage to find their way back.
Peggy, the number of public now is only about 10% of what it was in the late 80’s. The “Indies” really don’t exist anymore. A few more years and it is dead in the USA
That’s great news Wynski. I think what most of you have been saying all along is that this whole scam is unsustainable must be coming true. I just really hope that the families who have been torn apart can find a way to get back together. The older I get, and the more family I seem to have to bury, the greater I realize what’s really important.
Peggy I too pray for the families ripped apart. I am almost 100% sure that in the absence of the evil cult those people will heal their rift as it was only caused by the cult.
That was awesomely funny! Thanks for the clip. I wasn’t aware of this comedian but I will now be on the lookout for this show! I am appalled at the IRS and how lax these laws are. I know that there were some federal cases in the 80’s or 90’s against some of the bigger “scam” artists (Bakker comes to mind) so there is some hope. Good luck to all of you fighting to fix this.
“Scientology Suppressive Persons List”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imuEhZ7-qSU
“In 1992, Scientology published a comprehensive list of “Suppressive Persons” to all its organizations. This was list of any and all people that Scientology deemed “enemies” of the group.
This list is kept up by Scientology to this day. As this list is over 25 years old, people have been added & some may of even been removed.
It is possible that the current list of Suppressive Persons is longer than those still involved with Scientology.”
Hmm, this list makes me feel a bit suppressed and unfairly treated;-) 10 yrs earlier, 1982 , we were at least 20 people here in Sweden who left the cult and I could only see a handful of them on this list. Why am I not there? I even got my advanced money back from Flag, using an attorney which I beileve many used at that time…
Shall I contact OSA? 🙂
Great article Mike. What it tells me is that maybe trying to get IRS tax exemption taken away is the wrong approach. They let all these crazy con artist religious scams continue, so what makes us think that they’ll shut down our crazy Scn con? So let’s look elsewhere to bring them down. We can look for breaking the law stuff and report it. Maybe DM’s personal income tax returns can be audited, maybe the human trafficking aspect can be reported, maybe many other things. But we need to widen our net for more than just IRS tax exemption to catch DM because it is obvious the IRS let’s the wildest cons go on day after day, plus theirs is intimidated by the thug mob activity the church engaged in with them years ago and don’t want a repeat of it. I’m hoping some of the whales will start secretly watching the Leah and Mike A&E show and leave and take their money with them. Anyone have any other ideas how we can take DM down? There is more than one way to skin a cat.
I feel like I’m making way too many posts, but this has become fascinating to me. While you have some good points, I noticed when I was looking into Scientology that there is a pending case about the actor Danny Masterson. If the church knowingly tried to influence, coerce or blackmail witnesses (not necessarily monetarily but with backlash and threats of action against them or family members) or if they knew of a crime but failed to report it- there is a chance that they could end up in criminal court- which would effectively negate tax exempt status. Based on all that I have learned from this blog and other sites, I have to believe that Miscavige and other higher up “officials” in the church did just that. I also have to think that there would be audio recordings of these meetings and auditing sessions that may have involved this situation. I’m also assuming that Miscavige has become so overconfident in his belief that he is untouchable that he won’t destroy these (and other) tapes. He obviously doesn’t understand hubris and learned nothing from the Nixon episode. I think that that situation, as horrible as it is, may be the key to break the “church”. If subpoenas go out….
And the delicious irony would be that one of the celebrities that the church so studiously cultivates would be the very thing that would bring it down.
Good points, Kat LaRue. I hope what you say comes true.
Yes ma’am/Sir They are digging their own grave with a Teaspoon….a long and painful death. The mighty often fall at the least opportune moment…even the likes of John Gotti & Al Capone went to prison.
Yes! Whenever I get discouraged I remind myself that the Teflon don (Gotti’s nick) was finally brought down with slow, painstaking, methodical precision (thank you, Robert Mueller) while Al Capone tumbled from his mighty invincibility due to a dumb error. Too cheap to pay his taxes so they got him that way. But Elliot Ness still deserves a great deal of credit for all the good detecting he did to bring Scarface being brought down , I think. He kept the FOCUS on Capone.
Who knows the Who or the What or the How that will finally bring Miscavige and his fake cherch down. There are dedicated/intelligent/caring/well connected people “gunning” for him (OSA note the quotes – that means its a figure of speech and not to be taken literally).
Interesting times.
Tick Tock.
At the end of the day, what is the absolute heart of the exemption issue? The exemption is granted because all of the churches (to varying degrees) provide some sort of CHARITY. Enter scientology. Not only do they not provide help to the local community, they have a clearly written policy AGAINST charity! It’s out exchange. In my view this should be enough to revoke it.
Yes detroit, they do NOT qualify as a tax exempt org under US law.
“…they do NOT qualify as a tax exempt org under US law.”
Wynski, I don’t disbelieve you. I’m not knowledgeable about such things. But if what you’ve stated is true, then why can’t pointing out and proving the illegality of Co$’s tax exempt status to the correct people be the means of getting it taken away?
Watch the show tonight. I hope it helps answer some of these things.
Yes Aqua watch as will I, Mike has a much better understanding of the dynamic between the CoS the IRS than I ever will.
My personal favorite:
Get me 18 million dollars by the weekend!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7Ntj3-XHY
Have not seen that video since the 80’s. On the original MTV. Thanks for the flashback.
My folks got into the “Seed faith” and you can be healed scam. One of those: “Someone out there has a left foot that is hurting.” My mom told me that she just knew that the scammer was talking to her, and she and my dad hugged the TV to get the vies, before sending in money to get more money. I was giving my folks a 100 dollars a month to help out with their bills as they were on SS. I found a open letter from Farrwell (spelling) that he appreciated them sending the seed donation and he would go up to the prayer tower to pray for more money for them to receive. I cut off the l00 dollar donation to my folks. LOL.
Oral Roberts was yet another favorite of their “He can heal you via fath” and of course if you send money you will be healed faster. Sigh**
I have seen the skit before, and enjoy it every time. Thanks for resending it.
And remember everyone. Behave yourself, because God will send you to a pit of fire forever if you sin. But, take heart, he really does love you.
Lance, thanks for sharing that. Are you the Lance who used to be in the Scn Toastmaster’s group?
No, I am the Lance that years ago when I showed up at the Portland Org and some SOB was screaming over and over to a woman the same thing. I threatened to punch his lights out…The cult decided I was a poor choice of personality to join the rest of the kool aid drinkers. LOL.
I still to this day get a magazine from them. I hope that makes me an honorary SP.
Just an aside: I was working in the mail room at the Corps of Engineers, and there was several bags of U.S. Mail with “Dianetics” books in the bags addressed to each and every employee in the building. This was about 1983-84. Now, I think it was because they wanted to show that they had a mailing list of people who wanted to read LRH’s trash. Does anyone else have similar stories of free books coming to their place of business.
Those faith scammers are right there with CoS leadership in being total scum suckers. It sucks they were able to get to your parents. One of the worst is Peter Popoff and his friggin’ miracle water. I requested some (since they said you could get it for free) on their website just for the LOLs, and of course it never came without paying up.
ENTIRELY OFF TOPIC: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan called for a separate state for Black Americans in an Instagram video posted on Thursday, saying that’s “what God wants” while those opposed he described as “slaves.”
Farrakhan, who in recent months has made numerous anti-Semitic comments, made his call for a nation-state separate from white America in response to the question whether it’s still his and the group’s goal.
“That’s not just my goal. That’s what God wants. Most of our people don’t want it here,” Farrakhan said. “You love your enemy. You want to stay with your enemy. You’re in love with his wealth. I understand the fascination, slaves. I understand that. But God has something else for us.”
“Let me tell you what’s gonna happen. Yes I’m after a separate state. A separate nation. In the 60s what was our cry? We weren’t saying we want to integrate, we were saying ‘It’s nation time!’” he said.
This is an excerpt. Read more at Fox News.
Thanx SSOA. He’s so full of hate I am shocked when he speaks well of scientology and lrh. I guess he loves the money he’s making from it. He’s as despicable as scientology, lrh, and miscavige! All equally disgusting.
Well, I guess that settles that. Dave gets downtown Clearwater for his nation state and Louis can have South Chicago.
Wall them off and let them live their dream.
Cant we just give them both downtown Clearwater and watch them kill each other off- much easier (not a literal statement about killing- in case foolproof is reading and wants to get all crazy)
John Oliver is a national treasure. Glad we stole him from England. BTW, there is an actual website for Our Lady of the Perpetual Exemption. Go ahead and type it in your address bar thingy. It has closed down (I won’t tell you the reason as this is a family-friendly blog). But in stark contrast to Scientology, they gave all the money people DID send them to Doctors Without Borders.
You saying that you can’t tell us why it was shut down on a family-friendly blog is not making me feel good about putting that in my address bar. 🙂
Love Wanda (Debbie Downer).
The sad part about this otherwise hilarious video is that it is so heartbreakingly true how people are ripped off by these charlatans (including the church of scientology and its tactics used to get money).
As I’ve said, you can’t legislate against stupidity or brainwashing but the tactics used by the church of scientology to get money should be illegal. Having said that, I believe most despots, such as david miscavige, eventually do commit actual crimes. So besides the IRS revoking tax exempt status of those organization that do commit crimes, I really do believe that there should be some accountability held to religious tax exempt organizations as far as the “greater good” that they provide. It’s also very maddening that these zealots have jets and mansions and all the benefits of luxury living such as david miscavige is provided. Come on IRS! Wake up!
A Texas televangelist lost his job and his followers when someone posted aerial photos of his church-supplied home, a big rambling structure on some acreage, with a huge Jesus-shaped swimming pool. Apparently the pool was a bit too much, even for hoodwinked parishioners.
Ammo – That’s good to hear that one of these guys got shut down due to his in-your-face ridiculous extravagance.
I’m a Christian and seeing these televangelists, prosperity gospel types, etc. drives me nuts! Our church is super involved in serving the community, nat’l and int’l projects. The biggest thing we try to train people is that so many groups (faith-based and not) go in like “they” have something important or better to give to others and try to make that community more like them. So we’re trained that we have just as much to shut-up and learn from the people we serve as we might think we have to offer. So we serve alongside, etc.
I remember one int’l project we went to scout. We were told locals were upset w/in-country reps of the charity and felt they weren’t honored or treated w/respect (given the runaround on building a school for years). We get there and the local guy had been taking add’l donations to “make it happen faster” but that wasn’t passed on to the charity (the requests OR the $)! He insisted on using his own interpreter, so we brought 2 bilingual team members without sharing that info.
The partner community gives land for the school & raises starter funds then we bring in people to help, lobby local gov’t for permits & long term support. We/charity provide 70% of the money, curriculum (if they don’t have their own), materials bought locally (so we contribute to the local economy) and work alongside community members to build and get started. (Sorry for the novel… just makes more sense)
Well the community had come up with almost 45% of the $ (25% had been turned in) and our interpreters figured out quickly the local guy was selectively sharing info & making other promises we had no way of keeping, etc… these kids get maybe ONE meal a day (3 after the school is running) and most don’t even have shoes… yet this guy is grinning and running his game. He goes to leave and makes a big deal that he’s walking (as locals eyeroll) so one of our guys follows him and he goes around the corner to his brand new Mercedes! These kids would’ve had shoes, meals and education but instead he got a flashy car for himself! Made me physically ill… until we got him fired! Thankfully our group of people called back home & was able to quickly raise the funds that he’d absconded with and were able to leave our short (2week) trip having broken ground in the school, finished a park/playground next to it and found them a local partner church to keep going on the school until our bigger team would be back to finish.
All of that tl;dr to say these guys are disgusting!… generally the people who are most giving tend to be the ones with the least money/resource (our church was comprised of 50% college students at the time & it was amazing how generous they were w/time & any $ they could give). So seeing these slime balls take advantage and truly steal food from people’s mouths and shoes from kids’ feet deserve to rot in a jail cell & never sleep well!
The fact that co$ scams people and then still bleeds them dry of any savings, home equity, retirement and then starts in on their families?!… I want their tax exempts status GONE and charges filed against appropriate parties – this HAS to stop!
I watched this from your link on the other post. It’s good to make it a stand alone post.
These TV evangelist are just the worst scum in the world. I’d throw them in the same burning hell pit along with all the other types who prey upon people in need – the vulnerable, little children and the elderly..
As a kid, having this reaction to these obvious bad guys gave me a false sense of certainty in my own powers of observation and discerning eye. … I joined the Scio cult, sucked right in!
“We’re All Mad Here”
Scientology also operates on the “seed planted to bring in money “. How many time have I heard that I should donate to the IAS which will in turn ” open up your flows”, to bring in money. This concept is constantly pushed by staff and public alike.
Christopher, once way back an IAS reg said that by outflowing X$ I’d get 10X back. So I said, “If the IAS wants a million dollars they should give me one hundred thousand dollars as it will come back 10X. Needless to say the reg wasn’t amused.
Good counter punch, Wynski 🙂
Very clever , Wynski.
That was a hilarious episode! Their clothes, their religiously fanatical verbal expressions were all perfect replications of the tv ministers…but satirized about money. Awkwardly funny, laugh out loud funny. I was agog at their accuracy. LOL. We can lend support to those who have the courage and the wherewithal to bring this to the public eye like Mike Rinder and Leah Remini and….John Oliver. LOL Well done!
Fascinating and yes, it makes it clear why there are so many preachers and cults that amass a fortune with an applause from IRS.
However, it will be even more interesting to find out WHEN this law of tax exempt for beliefs-churches-etc, started, WHO was behind pushing it and WHAT benefits the IRS gets out of it (or someone related to it ).
LRH had the knowledge that in order to make easy money you just have to establish a church, that was before 1950…somewhere there is a why that may explain what IRS gets out of this exempt cults. Maybe Jeffry Augustine can look into this
Rachel Drach has done some very funny $cieno bits. Her ‘escaping $cientology like Katie Holmes’ is hilarious.
‘Religion’ in the USA is a caveat emptor thing. If people are stupid enough to send Creflo Dollar money so he can trade in his Gulfstream 550 for a Gulfstream 650, well, the IRS is ok with that. Same with huge personal mansions and highly paid subordinates.
If Billy Graham Jr. can spend lots of money on political, things, so can you. Especially if your late father was a well respected preacher.
Word clear Caveat Emptor for me and apply its tenets to religion, just like you apply them to buying a mattress.
LOL Great vid. Simply Darwinism at work for those televangelists. Glad he exposes them! The brilliance of the 1st Amendment
In the UK, churches other than the Church of England fall under the watchful eyes of the Charity Commission. Thus, the Mormons, Catholics, Methodists, and so on have to file reports with the Charity Commission every year. This includes financial records as well. The Mormon church remains quite secretive about its financial reports. I was raised in the Mormon church and every year at General Conference, they would announce that the books were in order. But they never told us the amount of income they received. My father was a bishop of a Mormon ward, so he would have had some idea of what his local congregation collected. But that is just the congregation. However, under the laws in the United Kingdom, they are required to make a financial report every year and these are made public. This is part of the requirements to be a “registered charity”.
…under the laws in the United Kingdom, they are required to make a financial report every year and these are made public. This is part of the requirements to be a “registered charity”.
This should be the case everywhere. Charities should be under closer scrutiny than regular businesses. A regular business tends to have natural checks and balances. The market in which it seeks to survive. Accountants and bookkeepers. Shareholders for public companies. Charities are in a position to more easily rip off those who give funds than any other organization.
In the US, they have unfortunately convinced the government that to engage in any oversight of their activities would be in violation of the First Amendment…
Totally agree, Mike!
This is where a public benefit test could help a lot…
Agreed! More scrutiny and a public benefit test. If ones entire basis for existence is as a non-profit to benefit others, then transparency is a natural, logical state in which to exist in response to the benefits derived.
If ones entire basis for existence is as a non-profit to benefit others, then transparency is a natural, logical state in which to exist in response to the benefits derived.
100% agreed.
A public benefit test to QUALIFY and an annual audit to remain tax exempt.
I really hope that someone in the government will look at their tax exemption, because this is clearly not a religion. A weird coterie of people who believe cranky things about psychology, sure. A money-making scheme, definitely. But scientology is no more a religion than a local chess club would be. They share a common interest, reading the writings of a madman/con man. Obviously not a religion.
But I doubt anyone in the government is going to touch this. The way that Scientology will ultimately be relegated to the ash heap of history will be by people publicizing it, showing what it does and what its nature is, showing that its founder was a liar who did all the writing off the top of his head, and that the nonsense “tech” doesn’t work.
It’s already happening. They are living off the money they fleeced from people for generations, but it’s already dying. If Scientology is around in 20 years in any meaningful way it would be a shock. We’re just in the waiting room.
Marc, the Gov doesn’t decide on what is or isn’t a religion. You don’t understand the US Const.
BTW, here is a great vid about Hubtard from a person who knew him VERY well. Anyone who can watch this and still think Hubtard was sane and a good person is 100% of a criminal mind.
The video address didn’t appear in my post above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw-At2NNyZo
That John Oliver is simply brilliant. Well worth 20 minutes of my day.
Thank you. What a great expose you guys are doing. Perhaps taking John Oliver’s advice and starting your own anti Scientology church. The United Fellowship of Truth.