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Religion In US 'Worth More Than Google and Apple Combined' (theguardian.com)
A new study says religion in the United States is worth $1.2 trillion per year. Not only is that equivalent to the 15th largest national economy in the world, but it's more than the combined revenues of the top 10 technology companies in the U.S., including Apple, Amazon and Google. The study, "The Socioeconomic Contributions of Religion To American Society: An Empirical Analysis," was conducted by Brian J. Grim from Georgetown University and Melissa E. Grim from Newseum Institute. The Guardian reports: The Socioeconomic Contributions of Religion to American Society: An Empirical Analysis calculated the $1.2 trillion figure by estimating the value of religious institutions, including healthcare facilities, schools, daycare and charities; media; businesses with faith backgrounds; the kosher and halal food markets; social and philanthropic programs; and staff and overheads for congregations. Co-author Brian Grim said it was a conservative estimate. More than 344,000 congregations across the U.S. collectively employ hundreds of thousands of staff and buy billions of dollars worth of goods and services. More than 150 million Americans, almost half the population, are members of faith congregations, according to the report. Although numbers are declining, the sums spent by religious organizations on social programs have tripled in the past 15 years, to $9 billion. The report points to analysis by the Pew Research Center which shows that two-thirds of highly religious adults had donated money, time or goods to the poor in the previous week, compared with 41% of adults who said they were not highly religious. The analysis didn't account for the value of financial or physical assets held by religious groups, or for "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."
Is the future of mankind.
there are a number of non-religious people who hangout on Slashdot who do not understand a basic right called "freedom of association", and who have been propagandized into not knowing the difference between a tax exemption and a subsidy.
On the first point:
Churches are voluntary associations. The church is a collection of people who all pay their taxes on their income and property like anybody else, but who then gather together and chip-in some of their post-tax money for use by the group. Even the people who get tax breaks on their income for contributing to a Church, [which is the minority of church-goers since most people do not fully itemize their taxes] are still contributing post-tax dollars [they've just been taxed a little less on those dollars]. There are plenty of groups that gather together and chip-in money, like gaming groups, stamp collecting groups, cancer support groups, free speech groups, etc. It's unfair for government to tax such groups, and taxing them would inhibit the basic human right to freely associate with other like-minded people.
Apple and Google [cited by another poster] are for-profit corporations who are under no obligation to do anything charitable at all and are in it for the money. There's nothing wrong with that, but it makes them fundamentally different from a church or a charity hospital, or a comic book collectors' club. The purpose of a business is to sell stuff and/or services and make the founders filthy rich.
On the second point:
Post like this are always meant to say "they should be TAXED to pay for stuff I WANT!" and are usually accompanied by some moron ranting that the churches are being subsidised. Nothing could be further from the truth:
A Subsidy is when government takes money from person or entity A and gives it to person or entity B, to serve a purpose of the government's choosing [perhaps to punish A, or to help B, or both, or for reasons unrelated to A or B but to achieve some other desired outcome].
A tax exemption or tax cut is when government takes less of your money. That's it. Government might have planned to take 40% of your income,leaving you with 60% but it decides to only take 30% and leave you with 70%. You are not getting anybody else's money. You are not being punished. You are not being forced to suppport a policy you disagree with, and nobody is being forced to support you.Government is just stealing a little less from you.
If by that second point you meant an inverse relationship, then yes. Amazon's description:
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
Hindus come out on top, as they have for some time now: evidence that the more gods you believe in, the more successful you are in life.
A majority of Hindus in US will the upper caste (start from Brahmins) upper class who had the advantages of traveling to US for study (or work) and settled down. They are generically called "caste Hindus", they would be materially wealthy whether in US or India.
The right wing Hindu movement (not all of them are bat-shit evil, though quite ignorant) has a lot of support from US, so when the Indian PM Modi shows up at Madison Square Garden, he gets a full house. http://time.com/3442490/india-narendra-modi-madison-square-garden/
In India, they assert their power forcing down vegetarianism (this is a complex issue, which can be argued on moral, ethical and functional terms, here is a primer http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/on-diet-in-india-and-western-arguments-against/article7440854.ece, the usual fear of minorities, which includes Christians, lower caste Hindu's themselves, and other standard issue conservative and regressive ideals.
In USA, they will be seen as archaic with the next generation and the current Millenials, who had the fortune to study in secular American schools which promote some version of tolerance and humanism, which is closer to the core tenets of Hinduism in its truest essence...Tat Tvam Asi.
Tat Tvam Asi
Religious institutions, such as the Salvation Army and religious hospitals and shelters, fill many gaps that the government would otherwise have to fund. Religious institutions, as a rule, do so much more efficiently than the government. I believe that if you removed religious charities from the picture, the government would experience a significant net loss trying to deal with the most needy of our citizens. Religion may be tax exempt, but they more than pay their debt to society.
Are there some frauds in religion? Of course! But there is far more good than bad going on. And let's not kid ourselves, the government has its fair share of frauds as well.