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http://infidels.org/library/historical/theodore_dreiser/church_and_wealth_in_america.html

The Church And Wealth In America
Theodore Dreiser
Chapter 14 of Tragic America
1931

I decry the power of the Church and its use of that power, in America in particular! Throughout the world, as all know, the churches are so organized as to have the wealth, size and formation of a great corporation, a government, or an army. And in America, the wealthy individuals who rule in corporate affairs appear to be attracted to the church by reason of its hold not only on the mind but the actions of its adherents. Politically, socially and otherwise, they count on its power and influence as of use to them. And not without reason, since especially among the ignorant and poor, its revealed wisdom counsels resignation and orders faith in a totally inscrutable hereafter. In short, it makes for ignorance and submission in the working class, And what more could a corporation-minded government or financial group, looking toward complete control of everything for a few, desire?

And besides, the wealth of the Church elevates it to an unsurpassed prestige. The contributions of the congregations of twenty-five denominations in the United States for 1928 was $402,682,961.82. Can the Standard Oil of New Jersey show anything like that? Not even the greatest of our financial corporations can boast either the financial or social or political prestige of either the Catholic, Methodist or Episcopal churches here. Thus, the gifts from the living as well as income on permanent funds and legacies controlled by these twenty-five church denominations in America totaled in 1928 $532,368,714.80. The Methodist Episcopals alone, one little subsidiary of this great group, received in 1928, $98,758,030. The Presbyterians had $75,054,538 to spend. The Methodist Episcopals in the South, a separate group, collected $42,837,679; the Protestant Episcopals $46,088,274, and the Baptists, in the South only, $40,038,259. Obviously this is why the Church (speaking of all denominations collectively) is able to organize tremendous lobbies, and, as I will show, does; also to exercise a preponderance of influence affecting education. And not only that, but to enter upon -- and for purposes of social and mental control always -- a score of activities which include asylums, hospitals, orphanages, protectories graveyards, and what not else, all truly functions of government and functions which should never in any way be dominated by either the leaders or adherents of these ignorant and dogmatic religious institutions.

Yet the Church, realizing the power of wealth as well as mentally-controlled numbers, seeks to gather to itself all it can. Each year in America we see its influence grow, the political and "educational" activities of the Catholic Church in particular being everywhere apparent. Thus, the phenomenon of a religious adherent such as Al Smith, seeking from a people whose political as well as mental independence is not acknowledged by his Church, the official (in the sense that an American President has that) control of the same. And not only that, but the spectacle of many of the most grasping commercial magnates in America being elevated to leadership in the Church. The late Haley Fiske, life insurance president, who told his policyholders to denounce Government ownership because their life insurance funds were invested in private utility companies, was prominent in the Catholic movement of the Angelican Church. S.S. Kresge, of 5 and 10 cent store fame, and a Methodist, joined with his denomination in its assiduous fight for prohibition and religious control of public morality. Thomas F. Ryan was not only an adherent but a helpful donor to the Catholic Church. The list is much too long to append here, Yet men of this mental bent not only command the policies of corporate power in America but are evidently, from what I can disclose, an important factor in shaping church pursuits.
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