The Atheist
17th August 2007, 02:02 AM
Somewhere on the axis of intelligence vs religion lies another graph - religion vs poverty.
I guess it's easy to swallow the sky-daddy stuff when you're at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, but it saddens me that the people least able to afford to tithe to a church are the ones who spend the most money doing just that.
I have a classic example just 2 km down the road from my house. We're fortunate not to live in this particular part of Auckland:
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s97/TheAtheist/otarahouse.jpg
In New Zealand parlance, these are "state houses"; low-cost, low-rent housing provided by the government for people who are deservingly poor. The street which this one is in is made up entirely of this type of dwelling. The one in the picture is a block of four units. [I think, bit hard to tell for sure]
What do we have directly opposite this unlovely monument to New Zealand poverty?
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s97/TheAtheist/otarachurch.jpg
No, not a low-cost shopping centre, nor a block of modern units, and definitely not a free community centre. Yes, it's a mega-church.
The congregation will come almost exclusively from the housing project across the road - the lowest-decile area in New Zealand. The congregation will also be close to 100% Polynesian people, as almost all of these Kiwi-style mega-churches are.
Evangelical churches have a horror record of fleecing the vulnerable in this country - Benny Hinn sucked about 4 mio out during one Auckland "show" recently and even Pacific Islanders will relate stories of crass spending by pastors.
How on earth do we tackle the kind of ignorance which allows this to happen? The congregation are mostly naive types who work in lowly-paid manual occupations and they bleed themselves dry keeping their pastors in SUVs and beach houses. Even burning the churches down wouldn't work, because it would be the poor suckers putting their hands in their pockets to rebuild it.
I look at it, shake my head and accept that this is a battle which is lost before it starts. Because religion is subject to no accountability for performance or action, there's nothing to stop these charlatans preying on the weakest link.
Is there a battle to be fought here, or am I right and it's a lost cause?
I guess it's easy to swallow the sky-daddy stuff when you're at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, but it saddens me that the people least able to afford to tithe to a church are the ones who spend the most money doing just that.
I have a classic example just 2 km down the road from my house. We're fortunate not to live in this particular part of Auckland:
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s97/TheAtheist/otarahouse.jpg
In New Zealand parlance, these are "state houses"; low-cost, low-rent housing provided by the government for people who are deservingly poor. The street which this one is in is made up entirely of this type of dwelling. The one in the picture is a block of four units. [I think, bit hard to tell for sure]
What do we have directly opposite this unlovely monument to New Zealand poverty?
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s97/TheAtheist/otarachurch.jpg
No, not a low-cost shopping centre, nor a block of modern units, and definitely not a free community centre. Yes, it's a mega-church.
The congregation will come almost exclusively from the housing project across the road - the lowest-decile area in New Zealand. The congregation will also be close to 100% Polynesian people, as almost all of these Kiwi-style mega-churches are.
Evangelical churches have a horror record of fleecing the vulnerable in this country - Benny Hinn sucked about 4 mio out during one Auckland "show" recently and even Pacific Islanders will relate stories of crass spending by pastors.
How on earth do we tackle the kind of ignorance which allows this to happen? The congregation are mostly naive types who work in lowly-paid manual occupations and they bleed themselves dry keeping their pastors in SUVs and beach houses. Even burning the churches down wouldn't work, because it would be the poor suckers putting their hands in their pockets to rebuild it.
I look at it, shake my head and accept that this is a battle which is lost before it starts. Because religion is subject to no accountability for performance or action, there's nothing to stop these charlatans preying on the weakest link.
Is there a battle to be fought here, or am I right and it's a lost cause?