John Oliver is on a roll. The comedian and satirist has taken aim at a lot of interesting topics as of late. From the plight of Washington DC citizens to the sad state of food waste in America, the 'Last Week Tonight' host continually sheds light on some of the country's most disturbing practices.
His latest expose on Televangelists however, may just be one of his best yet. Over the course of the 20 minute clip, Oliver exposes the disturbing industry that allows TV preachers to extract millions of tax exempt donations from unknowing believers.
"There are roughly 350,000 congregations in the United States, and many of them do great work: feeding the hungry, clothing the poor. But this is not a story about them. This is about the churches who exploit people's faith for monetary gain." Says Oliver, before beginning to detail some of the shocking things televangelists do.
Oliver says most of these preachers operate using a doctrine known as 'seed faith' which encourages followers to donate money to the Church in exchange for acts of God. He cites the case of preacher Creflo Dollar, who urged his believers to fund his $65 million private jet.
He then takes aim at the IRS. The organization's vague and sometimes non-existent criteria for what constitutes a Church has allowed thousands of extortionist preachers like these to prosper.
To test the rules, Oliver himself established a Church with the IRS, in a process he called 'disturbingly easy.'
His church dubbed 'Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption' is accepting donations now. A fine print on the site reads:
"Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption may choose to wind down and dissolve in the near future. Upon dissolution, any assets belonging to the Church at that time will be distributed to Doctors Without Borders, a non-profit charitable organization that is tax-exempt under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (EIN: 13-3433452) and which provides emergency medical aid in places where it is needed most."
