Some people hide a Ponzi scheme behind religion. They lie about their faith in order to take your money. However, where you are talking about someone with genuine faith, they will often take a dollar of your money and stretch it further than any other charity because they are willing to get by with only what they need and nothing more. Look at what Habitat for Humanity or the Salvation Army can do with a few dollars of your money and you will see what I mean. Before you decide that Christian organizations only exist to take your money, look at the organization and ask if it is genuinely Christian. Test them by the Gospels and see if they live up to the very difficult standards that Christians are held to. By their fruits shall you know them. If they are bearing fruit as God expects them too, then you can be assured that any money you give them will be put to good use in the world and that they will only take money willingly given. If they fail the test, then they weren't Christian to begin with, they were hiding behind the church, and they will steal your money like anyone else that tries to pose as something they are not. Now, I know this is oriented toward Christianity, and your question asked this of all religions. I can't speak to other religions as I am not a part of those religions. I can only speak to that which I know. As a Christian, I know that the church provides an excellent cover for all manner of criminals. After they victimize Christians, the Christians get held accountable for their crimes and told to clean up their own house. No one says that to the schools after a pedophile sneaks in and harms a child. No one says that to the schools after they get robbed. Churches are the same way. Criminals use whatever they can in order to get what they want.

Yeah that sounds about right.

There are some like that. They cannot have a service without begging for money. You pretty much can figure them out after a short while. Most local Churches of all religions do not do this. Their activities and budget is ligament.

Worse. Because if you raise enough ruckus in a Ponzi scheme, you can get a refund. No religion does that. They just threaten to excommunicate you if you get out of line.

some religious organizations are scams, but most are not. also, most churches don't take your money for something that may or may not be true. they use it to pay people's salaries, keep the church in good repair, pay utility bills, operate charities, feed the homeless, etc. money donated to a church doesn't just disappear into thin air.

Yes, which is the reason why they even wrote the 'god wants you to spread his word' thing in the Bable: the more the member, the more the money coming in. In a Ponzi scheme, the people at the bottom benefit for as long as the pool doesn't dry up. In religion, it's only the ones at the top that benefit