Money and Religion

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

I am curious about the economic power of organized religion, since along
with foundations and organized labor, they are players in political affairs
(though of course much less directly consequential than capitalists), and
they are poised to become more powerful as many neoliberal thinkers and
politicians push the so-called non-profits--churches, NGOs, 'civic
organizations,' etc.--as a way to compensate for the erosion of social
welfare benefits and services. Also, while Americans fiercely object to
taxation, private giving to religious organizations has been going up, I
think.

How much money does organized religion control? How do they raise it? To
what extent does organized religion serve as a way to _tax_ the working
class? And don't the wealthy use donations to organized religion in order
to minimize their tax obligations while employing religious
organizations--their prestige as well as manpower--to influence ideological
conditions and even explicitly political affairs? And how do religious
organizations spend their money? Who monitors their books?

Shouldn't religious organizations be _taxed_?

Yoshie