I am sitting in a family restaurant with, oddly enough, my family. A woman whom I do not know walks up to me and says... "are you THE escape artist?" Not one to blow my own horn, how do I answer that? "Yes I am THE escape artist," sounds at best, pompus. I tired to say yes in amore down to Earth way. Aparently she had seen the show I did last week and wanted to tell me how much her son enjoyed the show. I thanked her, and asked if she belonged to a church. Why not turn a chance meeting into a business opportunity? She said she did so I gave her a card and a magic castle guest pass. Who knows what could come of it.

Wait, Church is a business? Now I'm confused.

I do fund raising shows for non-profit organizations. get it?

AH! I see. That's cool. So you do shows for non-profits. Very interesting specialization. Is it to make money or just for fun, or both?

I'm a Methodist minister. Church isn't a business, but it does have to use *some* business practices!

Yes, and one of the oldest. The RC Church has assets in the billions. Funny thing how... oh wait. This belongs in the "Scam Artist" section.

In some parts of Europe, the people are taxed about 10 percent on behalf of the churches for up keep. A sin if you ask me. escapologist 2001, you should know you are in a business, all churches are, each has a different brand and advertised to a different type of person. Sometimes, believers will swap brand (church) because it doesn't like what it hears and is asked to do.

If it wasn't a marketed business, there would be only one church for one god, but there aren't, there are many gods and many ways to take the money.

there wouldn't be so many if they had to pay tax.

The C of E is the rich list in the UK, they own more property, land, gold reserves and pay less in taxes than anyone else. The congregation (Scammed) Still fill their plates up on Sundays even though Churches are becoming empty and the Clergy continue to get wealthy. Even at the end of their service the Clergy get hefty pensions and well paid seats in the House of Commons.

So long as there are suckers (Us) This will continue.

It's interesting to note that none of them are democracies but rule by fear. Fear of the unknown and get paid by congregation.
I just wish they had to prove what they were selling.

Out here they some of the best real estate, normally top of hills so they can look down on the human sheep. (and to the slaughter they send their children willingly)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nat......22742252

Tip of the iceberg...

What icebergs as well as real estate, gold and minds?

I am not a big fan of religion in general, but you guys are painting with a pretty wide brush . . . let's not toss the baby out with the bathwater . . . (thinking of another cliche to ring in . . .)

You can drink bathwater, but eating babies is generally frowned upon in our culture.

Some mother's should eat their young at birth.

Harley, you haven't see my bathwater . . .

The problem isn't religion, it's ORGANIZED religion. All organizations are corrupt: gov't, religion, corporate.

Take the organization out of it and there's no problem.

Except for the lone fanatic who blows himself up in a restaurant to "collect souls for Nyarlathotep."

In that case Steve, yes, there is the "lone nut" effect. But organizations have done more harm to the world than a whole basket of lone nuts. It's governments, religions, and corporations that start wars and murder people. Yes, there is the occasional psychopath, but stack up the bodies and one pile is so much larger you can't even see the other pile.

Years after Genghis Khan conquered what is now Beijing, travelers reported a white hill there. It was the bones of the dead.

Genghis established the second empire in history to practice religious tolerance. The first was that of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, who killed a LOT of opponents before converting to buddhism.

Neither was an EA.