Coming financial crisis of churches

I would like to repost this article here, but moderators have told me it is against the rules and will delete this thread if I do that, so instead I will simply post the link:
How will the post-pandemic church pay the bills? (religionnews.com)

It looks like as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, combined with other trends in society, many churches are facing severe financial challenges, and it looks like many of them are going to go bankrupt and have to close.
That will likely leave fewer churches than there were before.

Just a guess, but I would imagine some of these churches will simply have to become smaller and start meeting outside in free public places, or small church groups that meet in people's private houses. That is how many of churches had their beginnings in the first place, so might not be all that unusual.
But as a result of this, there will probably be fewer people going to a church.

This could have repercussions that will last many years or several decades.

There was already a round of church closures after the 2007-2011 Recession.

 

Perhaps they could sell some of those airplanes.

 

Have they tried praying?

 

The following video expresses my thoughts on TV preachers going broke.
https://www.youtubetrimmer.com/view/?v=0cW8bHtJJKU&start=9&end=18

 

God will take care of it if He wants to.

I never go to church myself.

 

From the linked article in the OP;

IOW's the GREED obsession of the Wall Street Casino Banksters ENABLED by the fiscal malfeasance policies of the GOP have ended up HARMING their own supporters.

This is known as the Law of Unintended Consequences and having it come back to bite them on the butt is Karma in action.

Then there are the other factors such as religion becoming less and less relevant to people's lives with an ongoing decline in religious affiliation overall. Given that there is no effective means of recruitment the burden on those already financially stressed by the greed obsession policies mentioned above does reach unsustainable levels for those still attending places of worship.

And then we have the Covid straw that is breaking the proverbial camel's back by the evidence that religious services in enclosed spaces are de facto super spreader events with deadly consequences.

This is where EVOLUTION kicks in and the term ADAPT or DIE becomes an imperative.

Even with an effective vaccine the fiscal woes are NOT going to disappear without a massive overhaul of the economy and taxation and that can ONLY occur AFTER the Progressives achieve sufficient control of Congress. Since that is probably still at least a DECADE away from happening these places of worship are going to be FORCED to change their business model or close up shop.

The attached article mentioned an interesting business model that might work although whether it is feasible everywhere is still TBD. Infrastructure is expensive and the internet has put brick and mortar businesses on the ropes. Perhaps Zoom services will be the future of religion given that it is far less expensive and has the ability to reach directly into people's homes in an interactive way.

Going to be interesting to see how this all plays out.

 

Pay to pray.

 

Christianity has dropped to about 62% in the US, that's including Mormons, and most Christians no longer go to church, so it's not a supprise

 

Timely subject with the recent supreme court judgment:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/26/politics/supreme-court-religious-restrictions-ruling-covid/index.html

 

More than half of the televangelists you see on TV are abusing their position and defrauding people. There are a few megachurches that do that as well.
Obviously the majority of churches you do not hear about on TV and they do not own anything like airplanes. Church leaders getting lots of money is definitely not the norm.

 

Oh no! More people will have to talk to their imaginary friends at home, what a tragedy.

 

The pandemic is mostly accelerating trends that were already happening. Churches were already on their way out, but the pandemic has sped that up.

 

Churches are like fat people and the elderly. They were going to die soon anyway.

 

I believe there are two main causes - probably both about equal - the hollowing out of the middle class, who can no long afford to sustain churches with donations like they used to, and changing trends in society, with the majority of people becoming less religious. It's going to be like it is in Europe with empty church buildings everywhere.

Literally, a lot of the old churches in Europe, hundreds of years old, big buildings, you can walk inside and only see 12 or 15 people in the pews on Sunday, when it's obvious the building once housed 100 to 200 people. And even the persons that are there are 75 and 80 year old women.

 

they should apply for tax payer money if God won't support them, just be sure and give credit to the tax payers

"Bush's Faith-Based Initiative Gave Obama's Former Church $1.5 Million"

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...itiative-gave-obamas-former-church-15-million

"Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Ill. – where Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama worshipped for two decades – has received more than $1.5 million in federal tax money since 2003 through the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives"

 

What about the small community church that the pastor lives in and is on his/her own? There are tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of those tiny churches where the ministers make just enough to live on. Ignorance is bliss.

 

I imagine some if not many of those "brick and mortar" churches facing bankruptcy will go virtual, either temporarily or permanently.

That's extremely unfortunate given that one of the greatest things about religion/church is that it brings people together, but for many people an online community is better than no community at all.

 

Out of curiosity which rule would posting this article violate?

As for churches closing, I don't think lack of churches is the greatest problem facing religion's decline today. "Church is where the heart is."

 

If they make just enough to live on, there won't be much of a burden on them if we do the right thing and tax churches according to their income and property held, like everybody else.

If they can't make enough money to get by on due to changes happening, be they Covid or declining churchgoer numbers, maybe its time for them to find another career. Or maybe they should be encouraging the idea of universal basic income.

 

Yes, let's increase taxes on the poor, unemployed and underemployed because it "won't be much of a burden on them". What a truly "progressive" fantasy.

FYI:
Clergy Tax Guide
https://money.howstuffworks.com/personal-finance/personal-income-taxes/clergy-tax-guide.htm

By the way, are all charitable organizations and non-profits taxed on their income and property? No they're not - so much for "like everybody else"...

Indeed, maybe they should find another line of work, but that doesn't mean they should encourage idiotic socialist ideas like "universal basic income", i.e., not having to work for a living and earn their income.

 

Maybe priests should learn to code.

 

Everybody is to be taxed on their income. If you have little income, then the tax is minimal. At low enough numbers it is zero. There is no need to make exceptions for priests. If they take in a lot of money, they should be taxed a lot of money.

Their employees pay income tax. In my province non-profits, true non-profits, are entitled to a 40% rebate on property taxes. But churches, churches are tax free. The catholic church even gets public funding for special catholic schools that no other religious group gets. It is not just.

As if a preacher ever earned anything...

 

With some churches now considering looking for alternate revenue streams, it reminds me of that Simpsons episode "She of Little Faith".

 

From the elite snobbery of the secular haters. Thank you Mr. Hater. No, there is something called the Constitution that prohibits what you think is appropriate. But, hey, don't let that stop you, right! Cheat on elections and you can limit people's liberty, freedoms and steal people's hard earned income and property. Just like China, USSR and all others who use the same Marxist crap that destroys countries and the people they run.

 

If they make anything at all. A lot of them have to work at day jobs.