A woman on Reddit has sparked a wave of outrage and sympathy after revealing that her mother regularly claims they are broke, while secretly sending thousands of dollars to a megachurch.
“My mom says we don’t have enough money, but I catch her giving thousands of dollars every month to a megachurch,” wrote the person on r/mildlyinfuriating earlier this year. The post, which included a photo of a receipt for a $600 online donation to Bill Winston Ministries, attracted more than 142,000 upvotes and more than 7,600 comments.
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The receipt showed contributions such as $300 in charity, $100 for missions, and a $30 donation to the “Airplane Fund”. That last item became a flashpoint for ridicule and anger in the comments section. “I want to have that plane fund so Pastor Fancy Pants can soar with the eagles and not have to be sitting next to some poor sinner on a United flight,” one person wrote.
Others pointed out how blatant the grift seemed. “The depth of the plane on the receipt is very bold,” said another commenter. Some joked that church leaders couldn’t possibly fly in a “metal tube full of demons”– a reference to a televangelist. Kenneth CopelandAn infamous explanation for why he needed a private jet.
The screenshot added fuel to growing frustration about prosperity gospel churches, which promise financial blessings to donors. As one person wrote, “This is not light. It is infuriating!”
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Commenters flooded the thread with personal stories of loved ones who were also caught in similar cycles. One person said the grandmother lived in a roach-infested apartment but sent most of her fixed income to her church. Another wrote, “We didn’t have enough money to go to the doctor or the dentist, but we sure had enough to give her church $100 a week.”
The thread painted a bleak picture of religious manipulation, with many describing megachurches as cults. Some have called for regulatory action, questioning how these tax-exempt organizations can rake in millions. “How is this even legal? I think an IRS audit is overdue. Televangelists are vultures,” said one person.
One of the most upvoted comments put it bluntly: “These people are nothing more than tax-exempt fraudsters.”