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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 12/06/2006 : 17:32:34
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It is said that you can't con an honest man, only those who want something for nothing. If that is true, one would think that churches would me immune to these scams. But such seems not to be the case. quote:
Churches, Ministers Targeted By Nigerian E-mail Scammers
December 06, 2006 12:30 PM
Brian Ross and Joseph Rhee Report:
Nigerian e-mail scammers are successfully targeting American churches and ministers, cheating them out of millions of dollars under the guise of spreading the word of Jesus.
"They are going after small churches, claiming someone has left them a lot of money to improve their church or help others," U.S. postal inspector Steve Korinko told ABC News for an investigative report on the Nigerian scams to be aired Friday on 20/20 and World News with Charles Gibson.
I note that it says "smaller churchs and their ministers." I'd guess that such as Falwell and Robertson have so many of their own hoodwinks going that they really are immune. Or in cahoots with
I sometimes wonder if 'faith' makes someone more vulnerable to this sort of thing. If one believes in the unbelievable to start with, would it not make belief of another sort of pie in the sky easy to persuade?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
 Posted - 12/06/2006 : 18:41:05 [Permalink]
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quote:
filthy:
I sometimes wonder if 'faith' makes someone more vulnerable to this sort of thing. If one believes in the unbelievable to start with, would it not make belief of another sort of pie in the sky easy to persuade?
Based on the New Ager's that I know, I would agree that a very good case could be made that once a person is open to one reason defying belief, that person runs the risk of becoming a credulous thinker. I see the whole New Age as an extension of religion.
That is not to say that all religious people are open to other kinds of bullshit, but once a person allows themselves the room for sloppy thinking, the door is open…
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Neurosis
SFN Regular
USA
675 Posts |
Posted - 12/06/2006 : 19:53:29 [Permalink]
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| It is definitely a slippery slop. I have seen the progression first hand many times. It has been said that to believe in god is to belief in everything/anything. I think there is more than a grain of truth in that whether it be god, unicorns, dragons, elementals, leprechauns, .......... |
Facts! Pssh, you can prove anything even remotely true with facts.
- Homer Simpson
[God] is an infinite nothing from nowhere with less power over our universe than the secretary of agriculture.
- Prof. Frink
Lisa: Yes, but wouldn't you rather know the truth than to delude yourself for happiness?
Marge: Well... um.... [goes outside to jump on tampoline with Homer.] |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2006 : 22:09:56 [Permalink]
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Let's see, the church promises salvation and scams the congregation, then the Nigerians scam the church. Interesting.
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Neurosis
SFN Regular
USA
675 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2006 : 22:12:37 [Permalink]
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| Arguing for Karma? |
Facts! Pssh, you can prove anything even remotely true with facts.
- Homer Simpson
[God] is an infinite nothing from nowhere with less power over our universe than the secretary of agriculture.
- Prof. Frink
Lisa: Yes, but wouldn't you rather know the truth than to delude yourself for happiness?
Marge: Well... um.... [goes outside to jump on tampoline with Homer.] |
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Ghost_Skeptic
SFN Regular
Canada
510 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2006 : 02:25:53 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by filthy
I sometimes wonder if 'faith' makes someone more vulnerable to this sort of thing. If one believes in the unbelievable to start with, would it not make belief of another sort of pie in the sky easy to persuade?
Definitely - HMS Financial is an excellent example. This Ponzi scheme started in the Mennonite town of Linden, Alberta Canada and then spread to the Mormon town of Cardston Alberta. They have flecced the flocks of about $100,000,000 Canadian. A few years ago we having trouble getting inurance for a car for our son because it had an engine swap, so we used the previous owner's insurance agent who happened to be located in Linden. Recently I heard on news item on the HMS Financial fraud. They talked to to our insurance and a Policenan from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commercial Crimes Division. The Mountie expressed frustration at the reluctanc of victims to come forward or even admit they had been defrauded. Many of them believed that the vanished fraudsters were in the US trying to recover the money. The insurance agent said that he had tried to warn people that this was a fraud and lost a lot of friends as result because people didn't want to hear it. Church congregations are excellent fishing holes for fraudsters as I believe you pointed out a while ago. |
"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. / You can send a kid to college but you can't make him think." - B.B. King
History is made by stupid people - The Arrogant Worms
"The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism." - William Osler
"Religion is the natural home of the psychopath" - Pat Condell
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" - Thomas Jefferson |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2006 : 18:33:57 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Neurosis
Arguing for Karma?
Not the 'fate' kind, but certainly the, 'I don't have a lot of sympathy' kind. |
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