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[Servant Corps]

What about Free Speech, mainiac? Well...er...today, I'm sure the Catholics would be for for it, but back in the Middle Ages, I'm not sure they (and most people for that matter) would support people spreading heretical thoughts. Even today, people can be offended by hate speech. Maybe not C+, of course, but how about..er..M?

As for influence this infighting, isn't that what the Sleepers are for? I always saw the Priests I turn into sleepers as establishing their own brand of 'Liberation Theology' to their congeration.

[Neonivek]

When we say Catholics with respect to LCS we are only really refering to Priests, Nuns, and whoever the other guy adds.

Technically there is no REAL religion in LCS only people who's job involves a religion.

Similar to games with "Priests" but no real established religion in the setting... or heck downright saying there are no religions.

[narskie]

I pretty much agree that Catholics are mostly liberal by LCS definitions.  I remember hearing about two nuns who climbed a US gov't nuclear missle silo and painted a red cross on it in protest.

That aside, I think adding specific religions beyond the general priest (like Catholic Priest, Protestant Televangelist) would add too much potential for being offensive to people.  Plus I think it's mostly unnecessary detail.  But adding a high-level conservative televangelist encounter is a good idea, so long as it's non-specific as to it's religion. 

We can use our imagination. 

[socially_inept_butterfly]

No, no. Leave religion out of this.

The entire point of Televangelists is that they don't care about religion. Sure, they should have a high religion skill but only because their job requires it. No, Televangelists care more about the money they can milk from innocent people who believe everything they hear rather than spirituality.

[Servant Corps]

Woah, woah, woah.

I don't know what Televangelists you heard or interacted with, but the Televangelists that I watch just, you know, give lectures on religion and answer questions on how to follow my religion correctly. I don't believe they make money on donations, rather, they make money through commericals that are shown on television in-between the lectures (and, at one time, subscriptions to watch the television channel to begin with).

[Fieari]

Then you've never heard the "Prosperity Gospel" then?  That all you need to do is send me money, and then g-d will send you money?  It's a pretty common theme.

[Servant Corps]

Then you've never heard the "Prosperity Gospel" then?  That all you need to do is send me money, and then g-d will send you money?

I read about it in Time maganize, but I am mostly unfamilar with that, and in any event, neither are the Televangelists I watch.

EDIT: Wait, evangelists mean born-again? Oops. I thought televangelists are just people who talk about religion on television. Ignore my thing then, my 'televangelists' aren't evangelists.

[Neonivek]

The version of the "Televangelist" we are using are those really fake kind... You know the ones who slap people to heal them on the air and speak in some sort of odd circus tone.

[Servant Corps]

I never seen or heard of these people, especially those who slap people to heal them. :|

[Jonathan S. Fox]

You might be thinking of "evangelical" and "evangelicalism". I believe "evangelist" and "evangelism" just refer to the activity of promoting Christianity to non-Christians. I'm not an expert on Christian theology, so if I'm mistaken, let me know. With that said, I believe most televangelists, or at least the stereotypical televangelists, are evangelicals.

In LCS it would be most interesting to play up the stereotypical televangelist. This person would have fabulous personal wealth, and would tell viewers that having faith and buying the televangelist's books, CDs, videos, and random junk nobody needs will make the viewer wealthy and successful too. Plus, they will claim to have the personal ability to heal people or create miracles.

I'm sure this is not universally the case, but there have been enough widely discussed cases of the above that televangelism is often perceived negatively by many people, both Christians and otherwise.

[penguinofhonor]

Yeah, this would give us a chance to recruit someone with a really high religion skill. They'd have a decent persuasion skill, and lots of heart, wisdom, and charisma.

They could be found at the TV station sometimes and at the megachurch if we get one. I think it would be fine as long as we didn't specify what branch of Christianity they're in.

[E. Albright]

Servant Corps, think Jim Bakker, who aside from the whole Jessica Hahn scandal, was notable for such extravagances as air-conditioning a doghouse. He got himself convicted for eight counts of mail fraud, fifteen counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy via his televised promotion of prosperity gospel. Now, Bakker's heyday was the late eighties, but his kind are still floating around, albeit with their excesses slightly less noticed by the public at large.

Hmm... actually, the Wikipedia entry for televangelism itself does a decent job of summing up why such individuals are stereotypically held up as exemplars of cynical corruption of faith.

[Servant Corps]

I guess it may only be me that I find it highly comical that an 40-year sentence was overturned because the judge said he was "offended" by Jim Bakker.

I guess I could see how Prosperity Theology would work: if you praise God and do good deeds, God can reward you, and it could stand to some reason that God can reward you in this life as well as the hereafter. The problem lies however in how would buying tapes, etc. would actually provide you with said 'good deeds'. Donating money to charity, of course, would be a 'good deed' in and of itself, but...