Swindling in the Name of Religion
IF YOU are shocked and saddened by the swindles mentioned so far, you are not alone. But there are swindles of an even more reprehensible kind—in the name of religion. One of the most common is connected with the belief that the soul lives on after death and that the living can benefit the dead. Millions of sincere people the world over have been led to believe that by paying large sums of money, they can assist or appease their dead loved ones.
Today, in some countries, there is a new wrinkle to this age-old scam. Recently in Japan, for example, Buddhist priests and priestesses claiming to have spiritual powers were arrested on suspicion of having swindled parishioners out of hundreds of millions of yen. Those arrested had advertised healing and consultation services. Respondents included four housewives who were told that they were being haunted by the spirits of their deceased children. “The women were then asked to pay a total of 10 million yen [$80,000, U.S.] for memorial services,” reported the Mainichi Daily News. One 64-year-old woman handed over more than 6.65 million yen (about $53,000). The woman had consulted the priests about the health of her child. “They allegedly told the woman that she would suffer misfortune unless she conducted a special service to commemorate the souls of her ancestors and to ward off spirits,” stated The Daily Yomiuri.
Accurate knowledge of the Bible would have spared these unsuspecting people from being swindled. It makes clear that the soul is not immortal. (Ezekiel 18:4) The dead “are conscious of nothing at all,” says Ecclesiastes 9:5. So the dead cannot harm the living. Neither can the living benefit the dead.
The Many Faces of Religious Swindling
Because of their own greed, some fall prey to religious scams. In Australia one couple who claim to have supernatural powers with the ability to bless money and make it grow were handed $100,000 by a man who wanted his money to increase. He was told to put the money in a box and hand it over to them to be “sanctified.” The couple took the box into the next room to bless it while he waited. When they returned, they gave him back the box, warning him that he must not under any circumstances open the box until the year 2000. And if he did? He was told that “the magic would be destroyed, and he would go blind, his hair would fall out, he would get cancer, and die of a stroke.” After two weeks, however, the man became suspicious and opened the box. Surprise! It was full of shredded paper. He blames himself, the newspaper reporting the incident said, and oddly enough, “he has started going bald.”
In Italy religious swindling has a novel twist: Some priests have been swindled by scam artists posing as devoted Catholics. The swindlers exploit the Catholic tradition of paying for requiem Masses for some deceased person. How do they do it? The Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana explains that the tricksters offer to pay in advance for a dozen requiem Masses with a phony check that is made out for a much higher amount than is asked. They deceive a gullible priest into giving them the difference in cash. The swindlers get the cash, and the priest gets a check that bounces!
In the United States, the elderly are often besieged on every side by religious cults that are looking for new recruits to fill their coffers with donations. “Nationwide, cults are obeying the cardinal rule of all confidence games: Follow the money,” wrote Modern Maturity magazine. “In exchange, they are offering everything from health to political change to the kingdom of heaven.” One cult deprogrammer was quoted as saying: “The elderly are a cult’s bread and butter.”
The financial stakes can be enormous. “I know a number of cases in which people have impoverished themselves,” said one New York lawyer who has handled many cult cases. “It runs the gamut from people who were solicited to make six-figure donations to those who have nothing but their Social Security checks to give.” He added: “It’s devastating—both to individuals and to their families.”
So beware! Swindlers are at work. Home-repair scams, telemarketing fraud, and religious swindling are just a few examples of how they operate. It is impossible to specify all their techniques, for they are always coming up with new scams. But what has been presented herein will no doubt alert you to the need to be wary, and that is perhaps your best defense. (See the box on page 8, “How to Avoid Being Swindled.”) The warning of an ancient Bible proverb is most appropriate: “Anyone inexperienced puts faith in every word, but the shrewd one considers his steps.”—Proverbs 14:15.
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Millions of people believe that by paying money they can assist or appease their dead loved ones