John Oliver's Last Week Tonight segment on televangelists and the 'seed faith' prosperity gospel. It looks at how US tax law lets preachers extract money from poor viewers, and how easy it is to start a church.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN cites it in threads on churches, tax exemption and religious fundraising, as the go-to explainer on seed faith televangelism.
“John Oliver did an excellent piece on a new crop of so-called "seed faith" televangelists”HN comment, 2016
“John Oliver did an excellent piece on a new crop of so-called "seed faith" televangelists”
Exposes 'seed faith' televangelists who fleece poor people
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Many people believe in the mistaken "no pain, no gain" philosophy. People seem to believe that somehow the universe will recognize their sacrifice and reward them accordingly. John Oliver did an excellent piece on a new crop of so-called "seed faith" televangelists that have popped up to fleece poor people that believe in this philosophy [1]. The reality, of course, is the opposite. The most successful people I have known have all started their businesses while their lives were relatively stable. That doesn't mean they started off rich, but it does mean they weren't spending all of their time trying to figure out where they were going to sleep or where their next meal was coming from. These days, it is wholly unnecessary to quit your job or move to SV to make a startup happen, and doing so is counterproductive in almost all cases. [1] this video
Strongly recommendssoheilMay 2017
“Some of his shows were incredible a few years back”
One of Oliver's incredible shows
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Not sure why you're getting so many down votes, but I completely agree with you. Some of his shows were incredible a few years back, two that come to mind: Televangelists[1] and Debt Buyers[2]. [1] this video [2] link
Recommendssnake117Nov 2015
“check out this video from Last Week Tonight”
Explains televangelists' 'seed faith' fundraising
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This reminded me of something similar: televangelists asking people for "seed faiths". If you haven't heard about this yet, check out this video from Last Week Tonight: this video
RecommendslinuxkerneldevMar 2017
“I believe John Oliver had an excellent analysis”
Analysis of how proselytizing victimizes the poorest
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> what's the economic return on proselytizing? Interesting question. I did a quick check. It looks to be incredibly profitable, at least for main stream religious organizations (which tend to also be tax free). The two top links for googling "profit of church" are: Eg: From CNN: " 1. The Vatican Bank has $8 billion in assets The Vatican Bank, which has about $8 billion in assets, has often been at the center of scandal and corruption since it was founded in 1942. Pope Benedict began the process of cleaning the bank up, and Francis has continued that work. " link " THE Sydney Catholic archdiocese controls funds worth more than $1.2 billion and has regularly made multi-million dollar tax-free profits. The royal commission into child sex abuse heard the archdiocese banked surpluses of between $7.7 million and $44 million between 2004 and 2007, a period during which the Catholic church was aggressively defending a claim for $100,000 brought against it by former altar boy John Ellis. " link I believe John Oliver had an excellent analysis of how proselytizing tends to victimize the poorest section of society. this video
Cites itmasklinnAug 2015
“the requirements for a church John Oliver listed during his show[1][2] are not exactly stringent”
Lists requirements for a church per the IRS
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Considering link is legal[0] and the requirements for a church John Oliver listed during his show[1][2] are not exactly stringent, it would probably work. [0] which you know because the phone number is 1-800-THIS-IS-LEGAL, it's a real phone number too: link [1] this video [2] straight outta the IRS: link
Cites itivancaDec 2015Full comment
All religion orgs are considered non-profit; the funny thing is that "religion" is purposefully vaguely defined by the IRS, related: Jhon Oliver televangelist bit this video Organized religions including televangelists are one of the best business around, in a more cynical world I think there would be VCs and accelerators for creating new of them.
Cites itstevenwooSep 2017
“John Oliver famously made fun of this on a segment.”
Oliver mocking how easy it is to be a church
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There pretty much is no such thing as an illegitimate church in the USA. The IRS is too scared to touch that anymore. John Oliver famously made fun of this on a segment. this video
CriticaljdmichalOct 2017
“the "seed faith" movement [1] needs to be nuked from orbit.”
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Agree that we're pretty much in line. Your arguments echo those you might hear from a "dissenter" type in the "spiritual but not religious" movement [0]: link > ... personally I think that 'men of the cloth' are criminals of the worst order, they willingly and knowingly spread mental viruses that cause great harm to society. I think this is probably the place where we differ the most. I think the people you discuss certainly exist. I think there's also people in those positions for the right reasons. As usual with any potential stereotype, it's important to look at individuals as individuals. (That said, the "seed faith" movement [1] needs to be nuked from orbit.) [0] Not that I'm aligning you to the movement. I'm just noting the similarity. [1] this video --- On the aside of my usage of "DAE", in this particular case it's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek reference along the lines of "preaching to the choir". That is, I don't think it would be a stretch to say that any argument presented as "rationality vs dogma" would have a population heavily leaning towards the former in this forum.
CriticalddebernardyJan 2018
“some "church" related activities are hardly not-for-profits”
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Churches are some of the wealthiest organizations out there: link And let's get serious, some "church" related activities are hardly not-for-profits: this video
