No Religion Equals No Recession

I'm not an economist by any means, so I don't pretend to consider myself an expert on the current recession from which we're suffering.

However you don't need to be an economist to realize that if you hadn't spent thousands of dollars donating to the religious institution of your choice, you'd still possess that money.

And I bet you could use it right about now.

As zealous as some of you religious folks are, I have a strong suspicion most of you fall short of donating the Bible-required 10% of your earnings to the church. But let's say you give 5%. Now let's say you've been doing so for 20 years and have made, on average, $50,000.

That's $50,000 more you'd have in the bank right now! And even if you did spend a portion of that money on yourself, you most likely would have made it back in interest. So that's a grand total of 50 G's you'd have to spend on food, clothes, and other essentials needed to make it through tough times.

Or perhaps you're still doing okay, despite the recession. Then you could have used the $50,000 to add on to your front porch so you'd be more comfortable sitting there on Sunday mornings drinking cups of piping hot coffee while watching the poor fools in your neighborhood go to church and ask God why they didn't have any money.

Is it irony that the above prayer would be answered, were there really a God, "Because I took it."?

Now let's say nobody gave any money to churches and multiply that $50,000 by 500,000 would-be church going adults. That's $25,000,000,000!

Let's say most people spent their portion of the $25,000,000,000 wisely; saving some and spending some to increase the quality of their life on this earth, the only life, mind you, that they're scientifically certain will take place. In that case, the loss of religious institutions wouldn't affect the economy in the least. In other words, the contractor who added the rumpus room to the church wouldn't lose the work because individuals with more money in their pocket would hire him to add rumpus rooms to their homes. That wouldn't equal the money he or she spent on church throughout the years, meaning some would be left in the bank for a rainy day, i.e., now!

Of course politicians who must run as Christians or risk being burned at the stake, I mean risk being soundly defeated, can't suggest everyone stop giving money to their church, or that churches give money back to those who have donated faithfully over the years.

Instead one political party accuses the other political party of being in favor of too much regulation, to which the other political party responds, "Not enough regulation is how we got into this mess!"

As a result of these petty arguments, nothing is resolved.

You know how people blame violent behavior on guns, bad diet, global warming and other weather patterns, video games, movies, etc., when the true reason behind most violence that takes place now, and has taken place throughout the centuries, is organized religion?

Well, the reason we're in this current financial mess is largely due to organized religion's stellar ability to legally con you into giving up a hefty portion of your paycheck.

Organized religion is the gift that just keeps on giving...