Some of you may be aware of Senator Grassley’s inquiries into the alleged excesses of a half-dozen megachurches. Quoting an AP article:
“I’m following up on complaints from the public and news coverage regarding certain practices at six ministries,” Grassley said in a statement. “The allegations involve governing boards that aren’t independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls Royces.
“I don’t want to conclude that there’s a problem, but I have an obligation to donors and the taxpayers to find out more,” Grassley said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in an article reporting on one televangelist’s “voluntary” disclosure of the desired financial information includes a bit of discussion on the prosperity ministry that attracts the attention:
The six religious broadcast empires under the gun all preach and teach forms of a gospel that justifies the accumulation of money and material goods as one sign of God’s blessing. It includes benefits like health, a good family life and benevolence toward others.
It is an American-born faith that mixes Christianity with capitalism, individualism and materialism, said Shayne Lee, a Tulane University sociologist who studies megachurches and religion.[...]
“Without a doubt, my life is not average,” [Rev. Creflo Dollar of the World Changers Church International] said. “But I’d like to say, just because it is excessive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong.”
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that everything is at least nominally on the up-and-up as regards federal tax laws. And it’s certainly not my place to accuse anyone or any entity of heresy.
However, I am reminded of a disturbing sensation I had when in high school. I spent some time playing in the orchestra at Bellevue Baptist Church, recruited by my junior high band director who was helping secure musicians to fill out the ranks of an orchestra of biblical proportions for the groundbreaking of Bellevue’s new campus on the east side of Memphis.
Millions of dollars were being pledged and spent to build a mighty island of fundamentalist Christianity…and to assist the congregation in escaping a particularly destitute neighborhood in Memphis’ inner city.
It just reeked of hypocrisy.
I don’t want to begrudge anyone their success, and there is something to be said for matters of faith being an uplifting experience. There are definitely times where community-building and support can have an inward-focused nature.
However, isn’t much of the justification for giving religious institutions tax-exempt status driven by the concept that they, like other tax-free, non-profit entities, tend to have an expectation that they will benefit society at large, and therefore merit tax-advantaged status, as individuals’ contributions to such organizations could be interpreted as “directed support” rather than just relying on the state to allocate tax dollars in support of society appropriately?
In that regard, perhaps inquiring about certain alleged excesses at some megachurches might be appropriate.
