Religious People - Do you think it's wrong for people to get rich off your religion?

i'm an aethiest but i can tell u that the popes have been doing for years, up until recently when they have media attention. They used to tell people that if they paid the church money their children or them themselves would be allowed into heaven no matter what. All u got was a bit of parchment or something, hardly convincing, but people bought it.

The point is, besides the people who aren't at the top of these religions (ie. most people), religion has been a way of controlling people and taking there money for centuries and their justification of it is 'all in the name of god' and people still buy it.

If the books are actually "overpriced," then yes, I think there's an ethical problem there. But books are expensive, and authors rarely have control over the final price - nor do they see much of the money that comes from their sale.

The bigger problem I see is the intent of the writer. If the writer is primarily writing a book about religion for money, then it destroys the integrity of the book's content: they are going to write whatever will sell books. If the writer is writing primarily to communicate his or her beliefs and help others down a similar religious path, then I have no problem with them earning money for their effort.

I'm Wiccan and this is a major issue in our community. Most of the books that I like didn't sell very well. The really popular books tend to be more about magic than spirituality, talk about how cool Wicca can be, how easy it is, how much better your life will be because of it, etc. Why? Because buyers don't want to be told that spirituality (or anything else) actually takes time and effort.

The simple fact of the matter is that rich or poor we will all have to give an answer for how we used what GOD has put us in charge of. If any man puts money ahead of GOD that is a sin. If the rich man uses the money he has to bring others the knowledge of Christs' love GOD will be happy. If he hordes the wealth he will have to answer for it. There is a good article on the "prosperity gospel" on the news page at my source.

Remember, GOD loves you even when you don't love Him!