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> In the Bay Area a representative of Google was introduced to Scientology and our 4th dynamic campaigns through the Stevens Creek Ideal Org. This representativ

> In the Bay Area a representative of Google was introduced to Scientology and our 4th dynamic campaigns through the Stevens Creek Ideal Org. This representative connected us up with the department responsible for non-profit advertisements. And as a result, Google awarded us a $10,000-a-month grant for free online advertising. Scientology is a non-profit? is not founded as a company?

ivanca 11y ago
All religion orgs are considered non-profit; the funny thing is that "religion" is purposefully vaguely defined by the IRS, related: Jhon Oliver televangelist bit https://youtu.be/7y1xJAVZxXg https://youtu.be/7y1xJAVZxXg Organized religions including televangelists are one of the best business around, in a more cynical world I think there would be VCs and accelerators for creating new of them.
- macromancer 11y ago
  1. Create religion 2. ... 3. Profit!
  - kbenson 11y ago
    I think this is one of the few cases where you don't need a step 2, or step two is "get followers". Not much more needed beyond that.
  - sneak 11y ago
    “You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.” —L. Ron Hubbard
Jedd 11y ago
A fascinating question, and as noted by others, may (and does) vary depending on the country. Lawrence Wright's 'Going Clear' (more so the book than the HBO movie) goes into some detail about the apparent hand-wringing going on with the IRS as it suddenly had to come up with a definition of a religion. Predictably it's a pretty fuzzy set of criteria -- though whether you want religion defined by your revenue collection branch of the government is a whole other question. From http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/16/15-scientology-revelations-from-lawrence-wright-s-going-clear.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/16/15-scientol... : > In 1993, after a prolonged fight, the IRS settled with the church over its tax-exempt status. Miscavige was able to regain the status (after the government’s disastrous handling of the Branch Davidian siege in Waco, Texas) by paying only $12.5 million of the $1 billion (which would have bankrupted the church) in back taxes it owed.

ivanca 11y ago

All religion orgs are considered non-profit; the funny thing is that "religion" is purposefully vaguely defined by the IRS, related: Jhon Oliver televangelist bit https://youtu.be/7y1xJAVZxXg https://youtu.be/7y1xJAVZxXg Organized religions including televangelists are one of the best business around, in a more cynical world I think there would be VCs and accelerators for creating new of them.

macromancer 11y ago
1. Create religion 2. ... 3. Profit!
- kbenson 11y ago
  I think this is one of the few cases where you don't need a step 2, or step two is "get followers". Not much more needed beyond that.
- sneak 11y ago
  “You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.” —L. Ron Hubbard

Jedd 11y ago

A fascinating question, and as noted by others, may (and does) vary depending on the country. Lawrence Wright's 'Going Clear' (more so the book than the HBO movie) goes into some detail about the apparent hand-wringing going on with the IRS as it suddenly had to come up with a definition of a religion. Predictably it's a pretty fuzzy set of criteria -- though whether you want religion defined by your revenue collection branch of the government is a whole other question. From http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/16/15-scientology-revelations-from-lawrence-wright-s-going-clear.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/16/15-scientol... : > In 1993, after a prolonged fight, the IRS settled with the church over its tax-exempt status. Miscavige was able to regain the status (after the government’s disastrous handling of the Branch Davidian siege in Waco, Texas) by paying only $12.5 million of the $1 billion (which would have bankrupted the church) in back taxes it owed.