AOL/Forbes Reports: Christian Capitalism

[jc84corvette]

Wow interesting facts. I did not know they had $1 Billion of merch. WOW!

[Passionate-fool]

It is quite appalling at times isn't it.[xx(]

But just try and remember that most of the general laity doesn't have a clue and are good honest people.

[GhostRider]

 I'm just waiting for the massive (Disney'sh) theme park, the specialty T.V. channels, and the franchise churches... oh, wait a minute, we already got them... oops!

 Then again, can it be any worse than the major corporations who hide their profits overseas and in off-shore bank accounts, occasionally threatening to lay off thousands of workers when the politicians are gutsy enough to even mention making them pay taxes?

~GhostRider

P.S.~ But as investments go, some of them Christian stocks are good, steady gainers...almost recession proof! ...$$$!

[Beth]

[]When I logged on this morning--this is what was waiting for me:[]

http://www.forbes.com/2003/09/12/cz_cc_0915wmtslide_7.html?thisSpeed=6000

"...Wal-Mart's annual sales from Christian-themed merchandise, which is estimated to already exceed $1 billion annually, is growing at a rapid pace..."

http://www.forbes.com/2003/09/16/cx_el_0916gaming.html

http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2003/0303/115.html

"...Left Behind II: Tribulation Force...the Lalondes' success [the makers of the Left Behind Films] comes more from marketing than from filmmaking skills. The brothers have persuaded churches eager to attract and entertain teens and young adults to sponsor occasional theatrical screenings, like those on New Year's Eve. The effort helped the company pocket $2 million over one weekend for the first Left Behind movie, after it had been released on video, making 2001 a record year for Cloud Ten with $42 million in sales."

"...Jonah--A VeggieTales Movie, released last year by Artisan Entertainment, distributor of The Blair Witch Project, has grossed $26 million and spawned a line of Fisher-Price toys."

"...A-men, says Lalonde, who is taking meetings at big studios and talking of selling a 51% stake in Cloud Ten. Says he: "While there's a separation of church and state, I don't think there needs to be a separation of church and entertainment."

http://www.forbes.com/2003/09/17/cz_lk_0917megachurch.html

"...In 1970, there were just ten such churches, according to John Vaughn, founder of Church Growth Today, which tracks megachurches. In 1990, 250 fit that description. Today, there are 740. The most common trait that these churches share is their size; average number of worshippers is 3,646, up 4% from last year, according to Vaughn. But they also demonstrate business savvy, with many holding conferences (47%) and using radio (44%) and television (38%), according to a 1999 survey conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. The average net income of megachurches was estimated at $4.8 million by that same survey. [Note: That is a total of over 3.5 billion annually!...and]

Churches are exempt from income taxes. But in some cases they do pay an unrelated business income tax on activities not substantially related to the church's religious, educational or charitable purposes. (Churches do pay payroll, sales and, often, property taxes.) ... No doubt, churches have learned some valuable lessons from corporations. Now maybe they can teach businesses a thing or two. Companies would certainly appreciate having the armies of nonpaid, loyal volunteers. "The business world would love to have that kind of fellowship," says Vaughn."

http://www.forbes.com/global/2002/0610/096.html

"When the swindler Clyde D. Hood prospected for investors, he would boast that he had something Wall Streeters didn't have: a hot line to the divine. Hood, whose pedigree includes work as the manager of a pool hall, claimed that the "Supreme Commander" had ordered him to launch a "Christian program" to help "the little people." He didn't mention the pool hall but did say that he had made a pile turning big profits for corporate clients by trading something called "foreign bank debentures" offshore.

Every hundred dollars invested with Hood's Omega Trust & Trading, in Mattoon, Illinois, would generate a 51-fold return in 275 days. Roll the stake over and your $100 would beget $225,000 (the arithmetic was off a bit). This joint venture of God and Mammon began in 1994 and went on for six years before the secular authorities rose up and smote it. By then Hood and his cronies at Omega had relieved their believers--10,000 victims, from as far afield as Australia and China--of $20 million.

It's an old, sad story: Investors let down their guard when they get a pitch from a self-proclaimed fellow follower of God. With help from the internet, religion-based scams hauled in $1 billion last year, estimates Joseph Borg, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association...

Hood was a master at soothing anxious investors. He taped messages for the investor service phone line that promised "... everything is going fine." As the years wore on with no payoff, he inveighed against mysterious "enemies." He begged for daily prayers to help "in this battle against Satan and his disciples." And in the meantime, he said, "Keep the Lord's warehouse full."

http://ads.forbes.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/ft_popunder_bizpfmark_030908/ft_popunder.html

"If the Vatican allows the Archdiocese of Boston to file for bankruptcy in connection with the lawsuits it faces over sex abuse scandals, one thing is certain: Its vast real estate holdings will be used to make the settlement.

Since its early days, the Christian church has been one of the largest landowners in the world. This property traditionally includes not just churches and related structures, such as convents, bishops' palaces and schools, but also non-related structures and real estate.

It is unlikely that the Boston Archdiocese would literally go broke in connection with the $100 million sex abuse settlement. According to a report in The Boston Herald last August, it has about $160 million worth of income-producing commercial real estate and total property worth between $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion..."

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Dear God, Please ...stop the madness...