Evil cult in Dublin city centre

Sangre

bandit*baby wrote:

the point i was trying to make if you could get off the anti-christian band wagon for two minutes is that your post about the christian church being one of the/the wealthiest organisations in the world is not comparable to to some man who is clearly a con artist harrassing you for a large some of money and making you fear for the safety of your family....

And how do you think the RC Church amassed its huge fortune? Did they simply ask everyone nicely?

philstar

bandit*baby wrote:

the point i was trying to make if you could get off the anti-christian band wagon for two minutes

no no im not being anti-christan as such.....its just that in this country, when ever a new religion comes around people tend to have a very narrow-minded view on it saying.... ah its a cult, they'll brain wash ya, they'll take all your money and the like..

But yet the biggest "cult" religion of all time has been right under they're noses.... i.e. the catholic church

Degsy

philstar wrote:

no no im not being anti-christan as such.....its just that in this country, when ever a new religion comes around people tend to have a very narrow-minded view on it saying.... ah its a cult, they'll brain wash ya, they'll take all your money and the like..

But yet the biggest "cult" religion of all time has been right under they're noses.... i.e. the catholic church

They only say "ah its a cult" if it appears to be acting in a strange way..ie extorting money from members or trying to prevent people from leaving.

bandit*baby

philstar wrote:

its just that in this country, when ever a new religion comes around people tend to have a very narrow-minded view on it saying.... ah its a cult, they'll brain wash ya, they'll take all your money and the like..

well now you see i agree with you there (she says as she gingerly steps down off the anti-philstar band wagon:D )

however this man is clearly a shamster and a potentially violent one by the sounds of things

and yes sangre i know the RC church aren't exactly blameless when it comes to violence and extortion but that is not exactly what this thread in about.

Slow Motion

PDN wrote:

This sounds like an urban legend to me. I can understand it's popularity since it's directed against both a racial minority and a religious minority.

Wondering when the race card would come out :rolleyes: Just because this guy is black doesn't mean he is not a scam artist ! Or am I picking you up wrong ?

galah

ehm, can I just say that in Germany, for example, there's actually a government "Church-tax" (which obviously goes to the government, not the church, but the principle is the same)...and that's totally legal...

(I think it's 9 % on the amount of your income tax, or something)

That aside, it sounds dodgy - just send the revenue people in, they'll sort it out...;-)

JIZZLORD

Everyone is going on about the catholic church and their wealth, most of it is tied up in property, it's not as if you can sell somebodys parish church for no reason but money, etc.
The anglican church is also wealthy. as are several others, but it's not liquid.

Not all religious are money hungry either, i'm not religious, but i know for a fact that despite living in a palace, my diocesan bishop drives a 15 year old peugeot.

Fighting Irish

Lazare wrote:

I was working in a ladies house today. She is originally from Africa and living here almost a decade. At midday, the angelus came on the radio and we got talking about religion.

I had heard her on the phone earlier and she seemed to be having an uncomfortable conversation with somebody. Anyway, we were chatting away and she told me that recently she was going through a tough time and her friend brought her along to a christian church in Dublin city centre run by Africans, to get her through her troubles.

She said at first she really enjoyed it, they were singing and playing African music, and in general it was a nice place. After some visits she noticed the minister was talking a lot about how the bible says that everybody should pay 10% of everything they earn to god, and this seemed to be the central theme.

When the collection basket came around she took out some change to put in, and her friend stopped her and said 'No,no you must give more', while herself putting €200 into the basket! Her friend insisted she must give this to 'god'.

Well, needless to say she got the fcuk out of dodge, but they have been calling relentlessly ever since (the minister and two of his staff). Each time they call they keep telling her the bible states she must give 10% of her earnings to them. She is in the process of changing her phone numbers.

This is the best bit, the minister himself called to her house demanding to know why she hadn't come back. I cynically asked her what car was he driving. He was driving a brand new Mercedes, had an Armani suit on with designer shoes a Dolce & Gabbana tie, and a €5000 Tag heuer watch!

I just could not believe how he could be so blatant, and how people were falling for it. She told me the parishioners, mostly Africans, some Irish and eastern Europeans all seemed brain washed.

I asked her why she doesn't just tell them to fcuk off, and she said she's terrified because she has small children, she said..'you don't know what these people are capable of'

I found the whole thing quite shocking and hard to believe. She didn't want to tell me the name of the church, but I'm going to look a bit further into it and contact a newspaper and the Guards.

Has anyone else ever heard of this?

Sounds to me like you're making **** up

PDN

Degsy wrote:

There's another one of those churches on westland row,the masses take place at the back of a bookshop aand it seems exclusively for africans.I wonder what would happen if i showed up one sunday..

I know that place. The pastor is an Irish guy called Brendan & I think they would be very glad to see you if you showed up.

Jesus Wept

Church: Cult, Cult: Church.

Degsy

PDN wrote:

I know that place. The pastor is an Irish guy called Brendan & I think they would be very glad to see you if you showed up.

Good,i'll bring some cookies with me then!

Tha Gopher

Hands up how many of the boo teh church crowd here had a massively negative experience with them that severely impacted on your life (not saying that none of you did, but the majority of you?)

Thankfully im content with knowing the church is an organisation where involvement is voluntary, and that they control nothing in my life (bar my canteens bizarre policy of fish on Fridays. The church did away with that rule years ago)

philstar

Tha Gopher wrote:

Hands up how many of the boo teh church crowd here had a massively negative experience with them that severely impacted on your life (not saying that none of you did, but the majority of you?)

but when u say "church" what church/religon r u talking about??

luckat

Maybe this lady could just cancel her phone line and get a mobile, and give the number only to people intimate to her?

Most bullies will go away if you become a bit invisible - they find a new (and more easily profitable) victim.

ats

galah wrote:

ehm, can I just say that in Germany, for example, there's actually a government "Church-tax" (which obviously goes to the government, not the church, but the principle is the same)...and that's totally legal...

(I think it's 9 % on the amount of your income tax, or something)

That aside, it sounds dodgy - just send the revenue people in, they'll sort it out...;-)

is it not Dependant upon your religion, my brother lives there and i did to some extent and my recollection is it's a different percentage depending upon your religion. Course if you try the Atheist card they check for a birth cert baptism cert and say well you where baptized a catholic and seen as you have not been excommunicated you are still a catholic so give us your money.

I think a quick word to the revenue is in order this smells like a scam if it is true

Sam Vimes

ats wrote:

is it not Dependant upon your religion, my brother lives there and i did to some extent and my recollection is it's a different percentage depending upon your religion. Course if you try the Atheist card they check for a birth cert baptism cert and say well you where baptized a catholic and seen as you have not been excommunicated you are still a catholic so give us your money.

I think a quick word to the revenue is in order this smells like a scam if it is true

so they think that you can't leave the church of your own free will and the only way out is to be thrown out? sounds quite like a cult to me

galah

No, in Germany, you would have to send a letter to your parish priest, telling him you don't want to be part fo the church anymore - and then you're exempt from tax... (I did it, not sure how it is for Catholics, I grew up in a Protestant area...).

So it's your own free will, but it's kind of a final decision - pay the money or stop believing...Not sure what they do if you decide not to pay tax, leave the church, but pray secretly...

DubDani

If you leave the church in germany to save the tax they will not let you marry in church, might not let your kid attend the kindergarten (which are often funded by the church and cost only about 80 euro a month) and they might refuse to bury you on the cemetery.

They also might refuse to baptize your kids or refuse the wholy communion. There are quite a lot of consequences. But do it as I did... I left church... and I will go back if I have a family, because that's not a problem at all.

And the money goes to the church, and not to the Government. A lot of hospices, hospitals, retirment homes, kindergartens etc. in germany are run by the church (catholic and protestant), and most of the money is used for these causes.

BTW... muslims, buddhists, atheaist don'ty have to pay.

allianz

I think we're getting off the point here. Surely this problem is beyond just a religious issue. This is another example of the trials and tribulations that immigrants face. We hear in the news about various Asian, European and African gangs using different means to extort money from their own people. This isn't a concept completely alien to us either. Some areas of Boston are well known for their Irish gangs "taxing" the Irish immigrant businesses and workers.
We really need to help our immigrant communities integrate better into Irish society. It can be very hard working in an unfamiliar country, not really knowing who to trust.

Ruen

Church of Scientology! These fúckbags have been on the go for years and have been robbing vulnerable people of their homes and everything...an organisation that demands so much money before you can receive the next level of teaching or whatever is not a religion. I hate the bástards:mad:

Ruen

philstar wrote:

an evil cult......

the wealthiest organisation in the world.....is the catholic church

so when you're finished investigating that african crowd why don't you look into them:rolleyes:

Thing is philstar the CC dont demand money off people to be part of their religion and if you look at alot of the charitable orders within the Roman CC you'd see that these people do alot of good in the world where governments and the people responsible for helping people dont keep up, look at the SVP(a roman catholic charity) who are the largest charity in Ireland who are helping needy people and families in this country every day of the year. You'd probably be guaranteed these arseholes demanding 10% arent supporting charities so much as supporting their lavish suit fetishes.

Mrs. MacGyver

agent smith wrote:

Are donations to religious organisations not tax deductable?

The church can get tax releif/credit if you are PAYE and pay over E250 (i think). If you are self-empoyed. If you are self-employed it's yourself and not the church that gets the tax releif so self-employed persons are encouraged to donate more. In the Church of Ireland people pay an annual sustentation fee. THe worst thing about the Catholic church is how they charge for to say masses for deceased people, i can never understand this (the other half of my family are Catholic and they are at a loss to explain this...i'm not anti-Catholic by the way)

The scientology place on Abbey Street in Dublin in freaky. You are lured in to do a 'personality test' . They find out your are in a vulnerable state eg relationships, lack of self-confidence etc and they prey on this by offering you a course that can address these 'weaknesses', which do cost you and are on different levels. Some people are so vulnerable they feel they can't say no.

The whole psychology of cults is a mind boggling field indeed.