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You would be surprised to see that many churches had no income , as many have turned their backs on God and His church ....Still there are many churches which are still alive as these are non profit and have to help the poor ,........... and many non religious non profit organization also help the poor to qualify a non profit status ....... and then there is political party donations , which is non profit , but do no help the poor only the poor politician get elected
If a pastor is saying "Hey! You need to learn to give more and learn about suffering" and you look up that pastor's past and find out that pastor is making $330,000 a year then you might think you were being swindled. You find out all the pastor ever did in life was to play sports in college, go to seminary and then become a pastor. Their wasn't any history of unusual suffering in that pastors life. If anything that pastor has lived like a rich man from cradle to grave. They might as well be eating caviar and drinking champagne in their ivory tower while discussing what to do with all those thousand dollar bills stacked up on the desk.
Can you imagine a pastor making $330,000 saying that to a walmart employee who works graveyard shift? And then the employee is told to show up to Church on Sunday after a Saturday night graveyard shift and is expected to be sleep deprived all just to please the Church. That's abusive.
How is it that a pastor writes some books on the Bible and works 20 hrs a weeks is entitled to make $330,000 a year? That's making money off the Bible.
How is it that a pastor writes some books on the Bible and works 20 hrs a weeks is entitled to make $330,000 a year? That's making money off the Bible.
Well I am not one to defend theism and its institutions but you are assuming way too much. I have little doubt that some pastors work relatively modest hours while having their egos stroked and their coffers filled but I have also known pastors who really believe in what they do, put in long hours, and take very little pay. The pastor of the rural church I grew up in got a salary of $95 a week and free gas for his car plus use of a modest home. That wasn't much even in the early 1970s. Pretty much subsistence living for a guy with a wife and two kids.
Pastors don't just dash off a sermon, preach once or twice and daydream the rest of the time. They are generally responsible to visit the sick, comfort the bereaved, and do a steady stream of personal counseling. And they live in a "fishbowl", always judged, very little privacy.
I actually think low six figures is arguably an entirely reasonable salary for the pastor of a large church. It's an executive level management job with huge responsibility.
It's the guys who make millions selling anointed prayer cloths that are the real shysters.
Or the ones who get their followers to literally give everything they own and then skip town (I saw that happen once).
But even this atheist doesn't suggest that there aren't lots of pastors who mean well and try their best to do well. Do I think they are making good use of their energy and talents? No. But I do believe that they are sincere and probably in many rural towns / smaller churches, nearly all are underpaid and taken for granted.
Well I am not one to defend theism and its institutions but you are assuming way too much. I have little doubt that some pastors work relatively modest hours while having their egos stroked and their coffers filled but I have also known pastors who really believe in what they do, put in long hours, and take very little pay. The pastor of the rural church I grew up in got a salary of $95 a week and free gas for his car plus use of a modest home. That wasn't much even in the early 1970s. Pretty much subsistence living for a guy with a wife and two kids.
Pastors don't just dash off a sermon, preach once or twice and daydream the rest of the time. They are generally responsible to visit the sick, comfort the bereaved, and do a steady stream of personal counseling. And they live in a "fishbowl", always judged, very little privacy.
I actually think low six figures is arguably an entirely reasonable salary for the pastor of a large church. It's an executive level management job with huge responsibility.
It's the guys who make millions selling anointed prayer cloths that are the real shysters.
Or the ones who get their followers to literally give everything they own and then skip town (I saw that happen once).
But even this atheist doesn't suggest that there aren't lots of pastors who mean well and try their best to do well. Do I think they are making good use of their energy and talents? No. But I do believe that they are sincere and probably in many rural towns / smaller churches, nearly all are underpaid and taken for granted.
That's a strange irony I've seen in life. Small town pastors that you describe working all hard and living in a fish bowl only making a small salary of probably $30,000 or less a year. Then on the other hand I look at the tax return at citizenaudit.org of pastors making $330,000 or more and it says "work: 20hrs a week".
That's a strange irony I've seen in life. Small town pastors that you describe working all hard and living in a fish bowl only making a small salary of probably $30,000 or less a year. Then on the other hand I look at the tax return at citizenaudit.org of pastors making $330,000 or more and it says "work: 20hrs a week".
I wonder where that figure of 20 hours comes from or how typical it is. Seems odd. If literally true it would definitely be an excessive salary unless sight was being restored to the blind or something ;-)
I wonder where that figure of 20 hours comes from or how typical it is. Seems odd. If literally true it would definitely be an excessive salary unless sight was being restored to the blind or something ;-)
Some of them are really running a business along with their Church activities. I'm not sure how they get away with in through the non-profit status. I do like some of the rich pastors as long as they are honest about their wealth and not trying to keep it hidden.
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