 If you believe in the separation of church and state and the acceptance and inclusion of secular Americans, then you are my boss and I work for you. Now, first thing is we begin. If you like sex, please raise your hands. Oh, I see some holdouts. Good for you. Good for you. Stand on those principles. You don't let the majority push you around. We welcome diversity here for sure. Now, also, next, please put your hands together if you like religious services. Come on, I'm not judging. Go ahead. If that's your thing, there you go. Now, I do want to make sure, however, that we all know the difference between having sex and attending religious services. U.S. House Member Mississippi's own Chip Pickering seemed to have a little trouble making that distinction, you see. C Street is a rooming house that religious politicians used as a residential home in Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and they got tax deductions like a church allegedly for holding services in Washington, D.C. Now, Representative Pickering was enjoying services all right and he may indeed have just shouted, oh, God. But these are not the type of services that you're supposed to get a tax deduction for. But sweet deal for Representative Pickering, because he paid about half what I pay for my apartment, which is quite a commute away from Capitol Hill. C Street also has partial maid service effectively subsidized by the secret organization that many of you may know, the Family. And the Family's theology, I'm not making this up, is that powerful people are exempt from the rules that apply to the rest of us. And speaking of family, Representative Pickering was a very vocal family values politician. You know the kind that I mean. His family values included opposing a woman's right to choose, imposing a national top-down federal mandate to protect marriage from those gay invaders, and get this voting to impeach Bill Clinton for adultery. Yeah, funny though that the religious services Representative Pickering was receiving were not from his wife. But Representative Pickering was not alone at the Prey Boy Mansion. You remember Nevada's own Senator Enzen and his adultery. Well, he's a C Street alumnus and then Congressman Mark Sanford, who also lived at the Prey Boy Mansion. Sanford later sought counseling from his C Street pals because of certain actions he took that led to the colorful euphemism that you may remember hiking the Appalachian Trail with an Argentine woman. Now, these kind of tax shenanigans are actually illegal. But even more interesting are the loopholes that are perfectly legal. For example, federal law permits religious organizations to give housing allowances to ministers. It's called the Parsonage Exemption. Now, I want you to think for a minute about how much of your income goes to your housing costs. I mean, just think of some of the things on the list, the down payments, the mortgage principle, the interest, the fees, real estate taxes. The list goes on and frankly, that's not all, folks. It continues, so repairs, utilities, furnishings, appliances like pool tables, I'm serious, telephone, television, internet. All of these costs are provided by the church and not counted by law by the minister as part of their income. And it gets better. Even though the money provided by the church for minister housing is exempt from income tax, ministers are still permitted to deduct from their income taxes, the mortgage interest, and the real estate taxes that they paid with free tax dollars. Now, that is some sweet double dip. And this is the power of what I call the religio-industrial complex. Now, I'll give you some examples here. Here's one. Eight so-called ministers got housing allowances at Robert Shuler's Crystal Cathedral. Now, three of these received housing allowances of $100,000 plus a year. And three happened to be relatives of Reverend Shuler. Reverend Shuler's daughter bought a house now valued at $2.29 million. Now, keeping up with that kind of mortgage, you know, it's a burden. And of course, we tax payers should pitch in, shouldn't we, right? I mean, come on. And what? I mean, if you're not a mega minister or a family of a mega minister, well, bad planning on your part. And I want you to just sort of forget about that old living simply stuff because if you're familiar with the prosperity gospel, it teaches us that God rewards those who pray for houses or for new cars. And I'm not making this up. Joel Austin said this. Good restaurant seats. That's effective. Joyce Meyer, America's top woman minister, lives the prosperity gospel. Full out, I'll tell you. Her ministry brings in over $100 million annually. And of her money, she says, there's no need for us to apologize for being blessed. And Meyer asked, quote, is there no reward for anybody who's doing what I'm doing? Luckily, God has provided a very specific answer to that question. One part of the answer is a multimillion-dollar private jet because flying commercial is so, to quote Meyer, uncomfortable today. Meyer got bad publicity when it was found out that she had a $900,000 a year income. But her accountant finagled things so that she actually makes more money now but has a lower official salary, which is much better for media consumption. And Meyer says, when people give to her ministry, the money will at some unspecified later date, quote, come back to them many times over. Very generous that way. See, Meyer grabs their cash now and assures the faithful that God will reimburse them. Poor Bertie Madoff's in jail had Madoff only said that God would provide return on investment. He'd have his own television show now. Now, Meyer's TV commercials invest millions of dollars to praise Joyce Meyer for her ministry's foreign aid. She refers to herself in the Royal Third Person and Meyer says, quote, she has helped so many people. But one investigation in fact found that only about 14 million annually is spent on humanitarian direct aid. And of that 14 million, much of that is actually spent on proselytizing. And that 14 million is out of more than 100 million. And this figure is not anomalous. It is typical. One study showed that only 29% of money given to churches directly addresses real world charitable needs. For basis of comparison, say the Red Cross, the figure is approximately 91%. So, nonetheless, taxpayers subsidized Joyce Meyer's jet in the sense that the contributions to her ministries are tax deductible despite unethical practices that would result in revocation of tax deductibility if it were a secular nonprofit. Meanwhile, many far less famous ministers benefit from this parsonage exemption as they claw their way toward the Joyce Meyer level of wealth. Now, they may not have a type of home like Joyce Meyer's humble cottage that you see here, but hundreds and hundreds of mega ministers live extravagant lives on your dime by using this parsonage exemption. Now, sometimes pastors, as they get extremely wealthy and famous, they forgo the parsonage exemption but don't mention that they used it for decades prior to that. And their families do in these multi-generational situations. One such example is Joel Osteen. Joel Osteen is the pastor of the largest congregation in America in Houston. And Osteen, as you may know, is famous for crying during his sermons, and he has a lot to cry about. Like Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, and his co-pastor wife, Victoria, aren't they a lovely, sincere-looking couple there? They have trouble with airlines. The Osteens made the mistake of slumming it, really, and without a private jet. They were so humble. A Christ-like one might say, as to fly first class to Vail for a ski trip. And Victoria, rather tragically, was aghast to find, and I'm not making this up, according to court records, that there was a stain about the size of a quarter on her first-class armrest. And you can imagine how she felt. To paraphrase Lady Macbeth, out damn spot! And when the flight attendant did not respond immediately to Queen Victoria's screeching command for spot relief, Victoria did the only reasonable thing. She stormed the cockpit demanding justice. And really, I mean, who can blame her? She was flying first-class, after all. However, even first-class passengers must obey FAA regulations, and those ungrateful bureaucrats imposed a $3,000 fine on Victoria. Well, that's something like $20 to you and me. Meanwhile, the flight attendant, smelling a little prosperity gospel of her own, brought suit. Witnesses described Victoria's behavior as that of a, quote, combative diva. Still, the jury ruled in Victoria's favor. The FAA had already punished her cockpit tantrum, and Victoria had only yelled at the flight attendant she hadn't hit her. So naturally, though, the Austeans devoted their next sermon to the suffering that they had experienced. Joel said, and I quote, it's not just a victory for us. It's a victory for God's kingdom. And then Victoria came on stage, literally jumping up and down, declaring, I place a banner of victory over my head. And Joel said, God is against those who are against us. Let that sink in. And the gods of the IRS have made sure that the Austeans and their ilk are more equal than the rest of us. You see, one, unlike secular nonprofits, churches don't have to file 990s, allowing very secretive finances, making it difficult to even find out whether there are financial improprieties in these organizations. Second, only a high IRS official can even authorize an audit of a religious organization. Churches rarely respond to IRS audits because they are so rarely even instigated. Individuals, for-profit businesses, secular nonprofits, you can be audited by any old IRS agent, no doubt about it, but not churches. They almost never are. And then third, the Parsonage Exemption. Now, a mega-church is defined as 2,000 or more on an average Sunday. The growth of mega-churches in the United States is a fundamental change in American society. In 1970, there were fewer than 100 mega-churches in the United States. Now, there are hundreds upon hundreds of these churches. And remember that 2,000 is the minimum number. In fact, there are many of these mega-churches that have many orders of magnitudes more in their congregation. And people who understand this include executives at Exxon Corporation. They sure know this when they help fund organizations that spur climate change denial among the religious. I suspect there's many an atheist corporate executive who sees quite a beneficial alliance with fundamentalism that has already changed and continues to change the nature of American society, along with the helping hand of the C Street type of politicians that I describe in my book. There are usually multiple ministers in each mega-church, each one eligible for this Parsonage Exemption. It is a driving force in their motivation. Now, I want to know, have you researched the mega-ministers McMansion in your area? Because in a YouTube video I have entitled Dawkins Foundation, Innovating for a Secular World, we offer a specific multi-point plan for, well, taking over the United States. And today I'm announcing that the Richard Dawkins Foundation U.S. is starting a project to expose the religio-industrial complex through a professional documentary that reveals both the human injustices caused by fundamentalism in law, but also the lifestyles of the rich and religious. And you can help. With a little bit of investigating of public records and Google Maps, you can, in your state, document what is happening and show that this is a pervasive problem and not an anomaly. And don't forget the homes of the children and the siblings who are called to God to get a really sweet tax exemption. You know, Kevin Phillips, who is a true fiscally conservative Republican, has documented how the prosperity gospel enriches the ministers, but detrimentally affects millions of average people who follow the bogus prosperity gospel delusional thinking and assume mortgages that they cannot afford and had a real effect on the housing crisis. Just as intelligent design is creationism tarted up in a party dress, the prosperity gospel is the descendant of the power of positive thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, a close friend of Nixon and Billy Graham, Peale's philosophy of so-called positive thinking was that rather than working with your fellow citizens to solve problems, the average person should submissively change their attitude about problems rather than be assertive or collaborative. And after all, the little people, they are promised a reward later. This ruse sounds blatantly ridiculous, but the religio-industrial complex has only become more bold. Recently, ministers have organized to openly defy the IRS prohibition on endorsement from the pulpit, and the Obama administration has taken no action whatsoever. So it falls to us, to secular Americans, to become activists. We must honor a noble tradition, a tradition deserving not merely of parlor debates, but a great tradition that is worthy of vigorous organizing. I want you to consider in this tradition the first person to win a Nobel Prize in two separate fields, Madame Marie Curie. Now she was not a religious person, but Curie believed strongly that people quote, share a general responsibility for all of humanity. Einstein said that Curie was never seduced by her fame, and though her research led to saving many lives, Curie never felt worthy of the queenly attention that a Victoria Austin demands. Curie said, I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy. Praying for prosperity? Not enough. Curie, the first woman ever awarded a PhD in all of Europe, said, quote, I never see what has been done. I only see what remains to be done. She said, science has great beauty. A scientist in the laboratory is not only a technician, but as a child, placed before natural phenomena which impress like a fairy tale. Curie, unlike the bogus prosperity gospel sought to improve our shared world, not pretend the world is different than what evidence tells us it is. Besides Curie, there's only one other person to have been awarded no bells in two separate fields, and that is Linus Pauling of Oregon. When he first met his future wife, by the way, he selected a chemical at random and said, Miss Miller, tell me now about ammonia hydroxide. And she said, well, all right, it's bleach, so he asked her out. Good first move. In addition to two no bells, Curie and Pauling shared something else. Both lacked any belief in things supernatural. Coincidence? Well, a survey of NAS physical scientists found 79% were atheists. And it is just the opposite of a cold world view. Linus Pauling said that the golden rule needed amending. Pauling said, do unto others 20% better than you'd expect them to do unto you. Do correct for subjective error. Now, Pauling's analysis of genetic molecular mutations can save lives for generations to come. And Pauling's work to ban nuclear testing earned him his second Nobel for peace. Contrastingly, President Bush pointed to the book of revelations regarding his decision to invade Iraq. This religious industrial complex war mongering is not what we see from double Nobel winners. Pauling's science and straight talk is characteristically American. Another straight talker, Thomas Edison of the phonograph, the light bulb, the movie camera, the electric power plant who said, quote, I never did a day's work in my whole life. It was all fun. Edison also said, I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul. No, all this talk of an existence for us beyond the grave is wrong. And he added, religion is all bunk. And a scientist who preceded Edison was Ben Franklin, who coined the electrical terms positive and negative, electric motor and electrical battery. Franklin said, quote, I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absented myself from Christian assemblies. Franklin, Edison, Pauling all spoke for a deep current in American thought that takes great joy in learning about our world as it is and working with others to improve it. Franklin was also a politician and he was proud of it. His religious skepticism was almost as strong as that of Jefferson. These founders were not alone in their secular approach. Madison and later Lincoln and Kennedy stood out for their advocacy of science, technology, and the separation of church and state. The belief that we work with our fellow human beings and not for some deity is strong among skeptic entrepreneurs like Soros, Buffett, Gates, and Zuckerberg. But the hard reality is that America's political life is no longer dominated by the likes of Franklin and Jefferson and Kennedy. Though the Zuckerberg generation gives us hope, the Richard Dawkins Foundation, for reason in science U.S., is so necessary because there is such a disparity between the rationalism on the rise in our youth and the theocracy that is on the rise in our politics. And make no mistake, regardless of what happens in this presidential election, the vast majority of theocratic politicians who hold seats in legislatures and Congress will still be there after November. With the help of these theocratic congressmen who I describe in my book, a preacher lives an elite, luxurious lifestyle subsidized by special tax exemptions offered only to them and required nowhere in our Constitution. Recent politicians have simply quivered before the religious right, so we are thus obligated to organize and to be bold. In my YouTube speech innovating for a secular world, I list many specifics about what the Richard Dawkins Foundation U.S. is doing to help lead our effort for a secular world. But I ask you to help in two ways right now. First, help the Dawkins Foundation create our documentary expose on the religious right by exposing the tax subsidized lifestyles of the rich and religious in your state. Email me at ministrymoneyatrichardawkins.net. And second, help create statewide secular policy-focused organizations. We can all do this. All the organizations can do this as a team. I'll come to your community. I'll do a grassroots training and work with you. Our tax code, our nation's laws today encourage the shiny, shyster charlatans when our heritage really is Franklin's boundless curiosity, Edison's endless tinkering, Pauling's meticulous analysis. You know, the innovator Steve Jobs once said, remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. Jobs said, my model for business is the Beatles. There were four guys who kept each other's negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the parts. Great things are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people. Americans today face a choice. America can clog its intellectual arteries with the greasy words of hucksters out to pick vulnerable pockets with the help of the IRS, thus enriching the religio-industrial complex. Or we together can inspire the secular movement to be a joyous and innovative team devoted to the interests of our fellow citizens. Our organized efforts in exposing the scheisters and rewarding the innovators is of great historic importance. The world is faced with a stark choice between a dark age of fundamentalism or the light of reason. The greater our devotion, the greater our commitment to the greatest cause in all of human history, the cause of the enlightenment will result in our greatest gift to future generations. Let us together document the unvarnished truth about the injustices of fundamentalism in America today, and together we will create a more compassionate and honorable world. Thank you very much.