The worst is not yet over and there will be many more foreclosures of church property, they are “the next wave in this economic crisis” says Jesse Jackson. No doubt this will upset the gravy train that these preachers have been riding for a long time. And, as with all businesses, it is the small independent churches that are suffering the most as they don’t belong to large national organizations.
The WSJ gives the example of the Family Christian Center in Orangeville CA. The owners of this business were doing quite well as their dues paying members rose to 1000 from a few hundred in the nineties; until the crisis hit. They borrowed $4.2 million for a new structure, or sanctuary as they called it but with the housing crisis and job losses, many church members ended up unemployed or moved away and contributions fell. The value of the church property dropped to $2.5 million from $8.5 million between 2002 and 2008.
Bankers are more “reluctant” to foreclose on churches, the WSJ adds because they don’t like to “foreclose on God.” But in the last analysis as in all things, the real world, in this case, the capitalist economy, is what matters not the supernatural. “Religious organizations may be subject to the laws of God but they are also subject to the laws of economics.” Says one real estate strategist.
How they adapt religion to suit the economic realities of life. Jesus was credited with throwing the moneylenders from the temple but we live in a world in which the moneylender rules. They even consider churches a safe bet as they are a business that have regular cash flows in the form of tithes. Like the victims of the sub prime loan fiasco, moneylenders sucked the churches in, or more accurately, the folks that run the religion business were sucked in by low rate, short-term loans. This year is expected to be an even worse year for the churches as many payments on loans come due.
How could god let this happen I wonder? Is it possible he's angry at them?
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