[ElkGroveDan]

The Bakersfield Californian ran a series of church articles today. The conspiracy theorist in me makes me wonder fi they are setting up for a major Faith bashing piece.

http://www.bakersfield.com/

[billorites]

When I was growing up the poorest person we knew was the assistant priest at our Episcopalian church.

Looked underfed, lived in a cheezy apartment over a beauty salon, threadbare clerical collar and sold handmade Christmas ornaments to get enough money for smokes.

[GOP_Proud]

All you have to do to find out our pastor's salary is come to a business meeting. We hold them quarterly on Wednesday nights along with our weekly prayer meeting. Non-members can attend. There is usually an announcement in the Sunday bulletin the Sunday before a meeting.

[VOA]

"The conspiracy theorist in me makes me wonder fi they are setting up
for a major Faith bashing piece."

Could be.
But I wonder if the author (Mark Barna) has any relation to
George Barna and The Barna Group...that does lots of statistical surveys
on Christian-based issues.
See http://www.barna.org

[AlaninSA]

You can't get rich being a Catholic or Orthodox priest...but you can being a Sunday Windstorm. You should see the size of the John Hagee estate.

Too many of these Protestant ministers are into the cult of "me."

[Markdb]

I don't know why people, especially christians make such a big deal about this stuff. I mean if someone is corrupt that's one thing. There's no excuse for that. But why shouldn't pastors be able to be blessed and enjoy life? At my church we recently all went together and bought our pastors (husband and wife) a new truck just to be a blessing to them.

[Invincibly Ignorant]

If churches are going to claim their tax exemption, they oughta reveal individual salaries.

[David Allen]

I don't like wealthy preachers.

If a preacher is better off than most of his parishioners, somethin' ain't right, IMHO.

[marshmallow]

"Send in those donations now............God will bless you......"

[Protagoras]

Everyone in my congregation knows everything about every dime that is spent on anything. In fact, you don't need to be a member, you can walk in off the street and look at it if you wish.

[Rytwyng]

The Jews have a law that it takes a quorum of 10 adult men - a "minyan" -- before you can start a synagogue. Less than 10 men, you can't do it. Why this number? One explanation could be, the tithe: if 10 men each give 1/10th of their income, the sum of that is one average income -- enough to go out and hire a fulltime rabbi. As the synagogue expands beyond 10 men, there will be money available for other purposes: buying a building (instead of meeting in a living room), hiring additional staff, special events, etc. But it starts with 10 tithers hiring a rabbi whose standard of living, funded by their tithes, is the average of their own.

That seems fair to me. It's only fair that the pastor ought to be able to afford to live more or less the same way as his congregants. If they are all poor, he shouldn't be living high -- to do so raises suspicions that he is exploiting their charity. If, on the other hand, most of the congregation can afford BMWs or SUVs, then the pastor's salary ought to be commensurate. A parishioner who drives a Mercedes to church is in no position to get upset if the pastor rolls up in a Porsche!