I spoke to a friend who lives in Doncaster (In the UK) a week ago and he was telling me about how he was going to leave his church as every Sunday, all the Pastor talks about is money. There is always a ' seed to be sown' ranging from £100 to £1000. This is a stark reminder of how much commercialised some churches have become - seeing the leaders of the churches living in affluent and their flocks wallowing in poverty. This begs the question of whether churches should be regulated by governmen to prevent vulnerable people from been exploited or should they be self-regulating? Your thoughts please

Oh my God! Things have really gone awry in the churches. May be the supposed regulator should be regulated. I'm still thinking about it.

Nija4Life:

I spoke to a friend who lives in Doncaster (In the UK) a week ago and he was telling me about how he was going to leave his church as every Sunday, all the Pastor talks about is money. There is always a ' seed to be sown' ranging from £100 to £1000. This is a stark reminder of how much commercialised some churches have become - seeing the leaders of the churches living in affluent and their flocks wallowing in poverty. This begs the question of whether churches should be regulated by governmen to prevent vulnerable people from been exploited or should they be self-regulating? Your thoughts please

Lol, you want the incompetent, dysfunctional & largely corrput government that rarely succeeds at any project it sets out to do and is for the most part led by even greedier, theiving idiots to run/regulate a private, independent institution like a church?

Nobody is forced to go to church. If they are stealing from you stay at home or go somewhere else that they don't fleece you. It's as simple as that.

@JeSoul
I never stated I wanted the Government to regulate religious bodies, I only asked a question whether government should or if religious bodies should be self-regulated. It's all well saying people should not go to where they are fleeced but remember every society comprises of some ignorant and vulnerable people who don't even know they are been ripped off in the first place. I have only put up a discussion for debate and you are allowed to put forward an argument based on facts and reason

Nija4Life:

@JeSoul
I never stated I wanted the Government to regulate religious bodies, I only asked a question whether government should or if religious bodies should be self-regulated. It's all well saying people should not go to where they are fleeced but remember every society comprises of some ignorant and vulnerable people who don't even know they are been ripped off in the first place. I have only put up a discussion for debate and you are allowed to put forward an argument based on facts and reason

  The government cannot even run the most basic of things in the country. They will not now nor ever be put in charge of 'regulating churches', at least not in rational functioning societies.

  We can easily put all these "churches" out of business, if people stopped being so gullible. Ignorance and vulnerability is not a good enough excuse to allow yourself to be pimped out of your hard-earned money. Trying to bribe God and your pastor so they will bless you with riches, to me reeks of pure greed. The way I see it the greedy church-goers are just as guilty as the greedy pastors.

There are many good churches out there that that don't build their gospel on money. Infact I don't even remember the last time they spoke about money at my church.

You are lucky to attend a 'good' church so obviously it's not an issue for you but not everyone does. Also, it's not everyone that know they are ignorant even when they are and society has a responsibility to protect vulnerable people. If Government cannot regulate because they cannot even perfom the basic functions of government then surely Churches should self-regulate . But remember this is not limited to Nigeria alone, examples of some of these churches abound in the UK if you read my first post.

Church and government have nothing in common.


- The catholic church became wat it is today because Roman Government mixed with the early church in a particular area.

No matter how noble the intention, the long term effect of beaurucracy and government interference is deterimental to the church as a whole. at least close to 2000yrs of catholic heresy is evidence of wat can happen and how lives can be lost and how government inteference can actually result in retrogression of the church.

If the government cannot regulate churches, what about self regulation? Or should the churches (some of them at least) be allowed to brainwash and extort money from vulnerable people?

Who said the government cannot regulate churches?
In the UK there's a government parastatal called charity comission that monitors church finances and how they are spent to make sure the pastors don't embezzle funds for personal use.
Its the same comission that indicted pastor ashimolowo of the KICC for embezzlement.

The Nigerian government should take example but they won't why?
Because the the theiving politicians themselves are close buddies with the G.O's. . .

My take on this is that government has the right to protect vulnerable citizens in the society and ignorant followers of religion comes into this category

Religion should be regulated, . . .especially ATHESIM.

All atheists should be subject to a psychiatrist test every 3 months to evaluate their mental competence. . . by law.

How many times do we have to tell you this. . . .ATHEISM isn't a RELIGION . .You sure you don't need psych evaluation yourself?

@noetic 2

By regulation I don't mean questioning people's right to choose what they want to believe but provide a means of checking the exploitation of  people's ignorance especially when it is intended to make financial gains

@Naija4life.
The guy is just kidding. . . .he enjoys picking on we victimized atheists. . .

Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, etc., should be mandated to spend a certain mutually agreed percentage of their profits on the following:
1. Health care for the needy and poor
2. Education

This is after all inline with their claimed commitment to helping the poor.

Failure to comply should bag 50% taxation on all profits!

@Tudor
For the records, I am a Christian and believe strongly in God but by no means ignorant of how religion can be manipulated for selfish gains

@Naija4life.
I know you're a christian. . .from your posts it aint that hard to figure out.

Tudór:

How many times do we have to tell you this. . . .ATHEISM isn't a RELIGION . .You sure you don't need psych evaluation yourself?

says who? how can the deluded admit his delusion?

No2Atheism:

Church and government have nothing in common.


- The catholic church became wat it is today because Roman Government mixed with the early church in a particular area.

No matter how noble the intention, the long term effect of beaurucracy and government interference is deterimental to the church as a whole. at least close to 2000yrs of catholic heresy is evidence of wat can happen and how lives can be lost and how government inteference can actually result in retrogression of the church.

was it government that made you come up with your heresy of a black Jesus

Government cannot regulate them but government can tax them

@chukwudi
and have you seen from no2atheism's point of view that Jesus was black, have you heard his reasons for a black Jesus? so Jesus is white sebi? ode oshi

RCC na your papa own any attack on them inflames you

Nija4Life:

I spoke to a friend who lives in Doncaster (In the UK) a week ago and he was telling me about how he was going to leave his church as every Sunday, all the Pastor talks about is money. There is always a ' seed to be sown' ranging from £100 to £1000. This is a stark reminder of how much commercialised some churches have become - seeing the leaders of the churches living in affluent and their flocks wallowing in poverty. This begs the question of whether churches should be regulated by governmen to prevent vulnerable people from been exploited or should they be self-regulating? Your thoughts please

You have me a little undecided here, Are you asking for regulation for the methods in which the funds are being disbursed or regulation prohibiting the Pastors from asking for indiscriminate "SOWING"?
The last time I checked being a christian or attending a particular church is not by force but by the individual's own volition.
More than anything,christians must be convinced of their faith,why they believe and what the tenets of your faith is.
All this hullaboo about Pastors ripping members off is sickening, while am not exonerating some devious men of God, I still maintain the final choice to give or not lies with each individual.
How would the Nigerian government regulate a religious body , may be the flood will have to destroy the earth again by the level of evil that will arise

Nooo!!! The govt should stay outta dis! Otherwise, they are gonna fleece more cash outta innocent civilians. The pastors and the priests of those churches shall receive there punishment oneday. Only God knows when for sure.

Nooo!!! The govt should stay outta dis! Otherwise, they are gonna fleece more cash outta innocent civilians. The pastors and the priests of those churches shall receive there punishment oneday. Only God knows when for sure.

There should be an independent body that will monitor the cash they make and how it is being used. They should also be given social responsibilities since they dont pay tax.

It is the government responsibilities to protect the weak and the vulnerable.

Church' are built to make profit, cant just c any similari's btw ancient church' and the modern one.pastors God dey o o o o o o

[size=18pt]Government's interference in church affairs can only further lead to controversies in the body of Christ. Christians should however, be contented with giving 10% of their earnings to the church than allowing themselves to be fleeced by some thieveing pastors.[/size]

Jesus was black


The Khazar(savage-jew) only converted to the Hebrew faith 1400 years ago which is approximately 700ad.

So, everything in the Bible isn't not about you and predates all Caucasians.

you have plagiarize Nile Valley spiritual writings as being Jewish when in fact this predates the Caucasians by more than 50,000 years. As the ancient Greeks and Romans have written the Africans are the founders mathematics, science, biology, astronomy, architecture, medicine and the arts.

We are the progenitors.

For clarification of Jesus physical appearance, lets examine the Christian bibles description of him. He had lambs wool and feet the color of burnt copper. Lambs wool is very coarse in texture actually nappy - and burnt copper is what you call BLACK. To believe Jesus was something other than a Blackman is to be in complete denial.

I think i support the agument both the one for and the against the truth ramains that no body is farce to go to church or even to give, but if you are a christian u should try and understand your bible very well and do not allow any body to extote in the name of give and God will prosper you, no thanks to those so call prosperity preacher who has the primary purpose of their calling of being shephered and has become wolves that devour their sheep, the truth remains that the fundation of God stand sure having htis seal that God knows those that are his a day of reconing is coming when He God shall bring to judgement all our activities and works be worned [/size][size=8pt][color=#006600][/color]

tubabie:

You have me a little undecided here, Are you asking for regulation for the methods in which the funds are being disbursed or regulation prohibiting the Pastors from asking for indiscriminate "SOWING"?
The last time I checked being a christian or attending a particular church is not by force but by the individual's own volition.
More than anything,christians must be convinced of their faith,why they believe and what the tenets of your faith is.
All this hullaboo about Pastors ripping members off is sickening, while am not exonerating some devious men of God, I still maintain the final choice to give or not lies with each individual.
How would the Nigerian government regulate a religious body , may be the flood will have to destroy the earth again by the level of evil that will arise

My question was to do with regard to both methods you have described in your post. I understand that being a christian or going to church is voluntary but however the most fundamental responsibilty of any government is to protect its people. Vulnerabilty is part of that protection and in Nigeria there are many ignorant people who unfortunately falls into this category. You talked about individuals having the final say on the choices they make but fail to forget that individuals cannot make informed choices where ignorance rules. The reason why their is a 'hullabaloo' about this trend is because it has grown to alarming proportions and more and more people are now taking notice and voicing their concerns.

Something in the mould of the UK Charity Commission which monitors expenditure oF Church Funds should be apt.

I suspect however that if mooted, most Nigerian Churches will kick against it.

The Orthodox Churches always publicize their Statements of Account, but the Pentecostal ones are yet to follow suit (for obvious reasons).

Any church that resists the idea of a Charity Commission to monitor their funds clearly has alot to hide and should be investigated.

Wishful thinking in Nigeria though.

regulation should be left to tax agencies.