They have certainly influenced my rejection of religion.

Someone is always going to take advantage of the stupid. If it ain't these douche bags, it will be some other douche bags with other scams. There is no way to save these people.

The prosperity gospel. Prosperity for the preacher that is.

Oh my gosh this reminds me of a conversation I had just yesterday with my father....he was asked as a young Catholic to save his money for the Pope. The school kids were expected to make donations. Even as a child my father saw the disconnect of this kind of thing! "The Pope looked like he was doing pretty well for himself from where I stood, one of 7 children in a household struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table as it was back in the 1940's." He has a lot of stories about the nuns and the kinds of discipline used back then, too!

You need to send them more money in order to get the best benefit. Everyone knows that.