Business of Religion (1-3 Parts) by Jose Thomas Vadasserikunnel

Business of Religion-Part 1

A recent article said that the Vatican has 100 billion dollars in assets excluding the real estate in the City of Rome.  The catholic dioceses all over the world have billions as their net worth. Other Christian organizations are just as wealthy and they are also powerful centers of influence. The Knanaya dioceses (Catholic and Jacobite) on their part also have done wonders with their net worth and wealth.  This is great news except they are not commercial or business entities manufacturing and distributing product and services to consumers. These are religious entities established based on teachings of Jesus Christ to guide all people to spirituality and away from materialism. But these religious entities look like business organizations engaged in the Business of Religion. They are engaged in the production and distribution of “God’s blessings” for a fee.

One wonders what happened to the teaching of Jesus Christ who said, “No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.” (Mathew 6: 24). Are the churches forgetting God in their frantic rush to accumulate wealth by building brick and mortar churches, schools, colleges, hostels, etc. with all modern material comforts? Why do our bishops need to drive very expensive cars and live in lavish, sprawling palaces?  Can’t they use some of those riches to provide help to the poor for food, shelter, education, medicine, etc.?  Do they always act like spiritual leaders, who are supposed to have taken an oath to serve the faithful? Or are they like corporate CEOs (GMs)? How much time do they have to focus on their own spirituality, let alone ours, when they are busy with maximizing revenue and profit from each parish and other businesses of the church such as rubber/tea estates and rental properties? Now even schools, colleges, and hospitals have become profit centers.

Christ also said, “Be careful not to parade your uprightness in public to attract attention; otherwise you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win human admiration. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you”. (Mathew 6: 1-4). Why then do the church encourage and reward large donors and sponsors by giving them parking spaces, announcing and displaying their names, and giving them special privileges (front row seats, stage time, microphone time, photo opportunity with bishops, etc.)?  Why does the church violate Christ’s teaching? Is it because it is good for the business of religion? Has church become an efficient place to worship the “almighty money” through constant fundraising and religious merchandising? Instead of guiding us the lamb to the safety of heaven, are our shepherds deliberately leading us to hell’s slaughter house by creating an atmosphere to commit sins?

Please listen to what Jesus talks about priests and high priests of his times. Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat;  so practice and observe only whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.  They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger.  They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,  and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues,  and salutations in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.”  (Matthew 23:1-7). What has changed after 2000 years? Nothing…Priests and high priests are still looking for power, influence, and the best seats in the house!

Part 2

Ten Commandments are the religious foundation for Judaism and Christianity.  According to the story in Exodus, God inscribed them on two stone tablets, which he gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. Violating these commandments is considered grave sin in both religions.

The first Commandment in exodus says “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:2-6).

Idols are defined as objects made out of wood, metal, clay or other man made materials. If you go to any catholic church, especially to any Syro-Malabar church, you will find the church full of idols. There are carvings, statues, and paintings to represent Jesus, Mary, Joseph, St. George, St. Sebastian, St. Jude etc. etc.   In some churches you will see idols to represent Holy Spirit and even God. However, the first commandment clearly prohibits placing any such idols made to look like a human, animal, bird, or fish (any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth) in a place of worship.  The first commandment also prohibits worshiping these idols by saying “you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them”.  But in the church, in front of all these idols, there are all amenities to worship them; i.e. places to kneel or bow down, provision to light candle or lamp, anoint the idol with oil, and above all the prominently placed offering box to serve these idols.

The reason churches clearly violate the first commandment is to enhance the business of religion.  More idols in the church mean more places to put the offering boxes. More boxes mean more money will fall into them.  The priests and bishops dupe the gullible faithful into worshiping these idols and encourage dropping money into the offering boxes. They use tactics of creating competition, guilt, or fear among worshipers saying that unless money is offered to these idols, something terrible is going to happen to the follower’s family. The religious hierarchy is not ashamed to threaten people, using their “bully pulpit sermons”, to make the faithful pay the maximum into the offering boxes.

To justify violating the first commandment, the Church hierarchy will come up with several excuses and “spin jobs” about placing idols in churches. But, anyone with half a brain will see clearly why idolatry important in the business of religion. It is a big moneymaker! The bottom-line, my friends, is that church is looking out for its own bottom-line. The church is consciously leading its followers to commit the sin of violating the first commandment for making money for the church!

Part 3:

If the laity criticizes the business of religion in the church, the hierarchy has very predictable responses. First they will ridicule and insult that person, claiming that the person is not qualified to talk about God, because the person has not studied years of theology. But we all know that Jesus did not select people with a theology degree to be his disciples instead; he selected ordinary fishermen with no formal education! He spoke in simple language that everyone can understand and used parables to make his teachings clearer.

The second part of the hierarchy’s response is an overt threat to laity that they should not to interfere in church affairs. Just pay and obey. That is the reason why Jesus has vehemently criticized priests and high priests for making religion into a business and exploiting the faithful by calling them “brood of vipers”, “false prophets”, “wolves in sheep’s clothing”, and “hypocrites.”

Worshiping and praying to idols was a common practice of gentile Romans and Greeks (Corinthians, Thessalonians, Ephesians, Phoenicians, Philippians, etc.) of Christ’s time. A large number of these gentiles became Christians due to the efforts of St. Paul, the “Apostle of the Gentiles”. Idolatry came in to early church influenced by the gentile converts.  Church hierarchy found out that idolatry is a good money maker and they cleverly disguised it as “Veneration” and “Prayer for Intercession.”

Let us examine prayer of intercession. There are currently 8050 saints in Catholic Church. The church has made some of the saints very powerful and influential who can make certain needs happen for the faithful. For example, praying to St. George will protect you against dying from bites of poisonous insects and snakes. Praying to St. Stephen will protect you from contagious fatal diseases.  Praying to St. Jude will give you hope when you are in desperation. Praying to St. Gerard Majella for motherhood will bless women with babies. Of course, Mary being mother of Jesus will get special consideration and influence for you in front of God. Over a thousand years of brain washing by the “highly qualified theologians”, the faithful are now conditioned to think that God is like the “Chairman of the Board and President” of heaven. He is so busy that He does not receive your prayers directly. He has to receive your prayers interceded through saints, who are his VPs, directors, and middle managers. Although God is your father and creator, these theologians make you believe that God has no time for the laity and He is unapproachable by common people. So, if you want to get things done, you have to bow down/kneel down in front the idols of these influential saints, light a candle or lamp, make an offering to them by putting some money in the box in front of them, and pray to them to intercede for you. This reminds me about going to get something done in a Kerala state government office; bribing the peons and clerks to get your file moved up ahead of others and put it on the desk of the officer for approval!

Jesus asked us to pray only to “our father in heaven”. (Mathew 6: 9-13). He did not ask us to worship or pray to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, prophets, or anyone else, but to God only. In the prayer Jesus taught us, we pray to God “your will be done”. That means we are going to accept God’s will whatever it may be. His will may be that we die out of snake bite or infectious disease. He may put us in many desperate situations. He may not give us any children. All that is his will. By saying “your will be done” in our prayer, we are promising God our acceptance of his will. What then, is the relevance of a prayer of intercession? The church is telling us that if we bow down in front of  the saints, light a candle, bribe them by depositing money in their offering box, and pray to them to intercede in God’s will, then the saints are able to talk to God and change his will! Is that possible? Are they that powerful and influential that they can really change God’s will? I am sure the “learned” theologians will find a way to convince you that it is possible if you drop enough money in the offering box.

Then again, why do we want to ask someone to intercede in God’s will if we already told God “your will be done” and we are ready to accept it in our prayer?  Isn’t that going back on our word, breaking a promise we made to God? Wouldn’t that make God angrier?

Friends, the prayer of intercession is another clever invention of the church hierarchy to dupe the faithful for increasing the revenue for the business of religion.