Churches are a big money-making business. They take in a lot of money, but they pay zero taxes. They bring in over $1.2 trillion per year. The churches (a.k.a. “faith economy”) are worth more than the top 10 tech companies in the United States. This includes Apple and Google.
The Guardian reported analysis comes from Georgetown University in Washington DC. Brian and Melissa Grim, co-authors of the study, came up with three values of religions in this country. The lowest number, $378 billion, just covers the revenue from faith-based organizations. The middle estimate, $1.2 trillion, was calculated as an estimate of the market value of goods and services provided by religious organizations and the contributions of businesses with religious roots.
The Guardian also said this number was calculated based on the value of religious schools and other institutions. That includes hospitals, schools, daycares, and charities. These figures also include media outlets and faith-based businesses. Tech companies don’t do all of those things, but at least they pay their taxes.
This is the conservative estimate. Over 344,000 churches in this country employ hundreds of thousands of staff members. The top 50 faith-based charities in the United States have a $45.3 billion operating cost.
The analysis didn’t include the values of the physical assets held by religious groups. The Guardian said the report also didn’t cover:
“… The negative impacts that occur in some religious communities, including … such things as the abuse of children by some clergy, cases of fraud, and the possibility of being recruitment sites for violent extremism.”
Now, there are some churches that do great work, but there are others that are total scams. The hugely rich televangelists take people’s money by scamming them. They make billions of dollars by targeting their constituents’ fears.
One of our fabulous writers, Marty Townsend reported that the church in Florida was actually caught billing their members each month to attend the church. That is no longer a religious organization. That situation turns them into a business.
When churches are making that much money, the really need to be taxed.
Here is John Oliver’s great take on televangelists and their scams:
Featured image by oarramzli via Flickr. Available through Creative Commons Attribution No-Derivs 2.0 Generic License.
