The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition

Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition,
The

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Title: The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition
Author: Upton Sinclair
Release Date: August 7, 2005 [EBook #16470]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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The Profits of Religion

An Essay in Economic Interpretation

By UPTON SINCLAIR

CONTENTS NEW YORK VANGUARD PRESS

VANGUARD PRINTINGS First-January, 1927 Second-April, 1927
Third-June, 1928

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

OFFERTORY
This book is a study of Supernaturalism from a new point of view--as a
Source of Income and a Shield to Privilege. I have searched the
libraries through, and no one has done it before. If you read it, you will
see that it needed to be done. It has meant twenty-five years of thought
and a year of investigation. It contains the facts.
I publish the book myself, so that it may be available at the lowest
possible price. I am giving my time and energy, in return for one thing
which you may give me--the joy of speaking a true word and getting it
heard.
Note to fifth edition, 1926: "The Profits of Religion" was first
published early in 1917. The present edition represents a sale of over
60,000 copies, without counting a dozen translations. In this edition a
few errors have been corrected, but otherwise the book has not been
changed. The reader will understand that references to the World War
are of the date 1917, prior to America's entrance.

This book is the first of a series of volumes, an economic interpretation
of culture, which now includes "The Brass Check," "The Goose-step,"
"The Goslings," and "Mammonart."
* * * * *

#CONTENTS#
#Introductory#
Bootstrap-lifting
Religion
#Book One: The Church of the Conquerors#
The Priestly Lie
The Great Fear
Salve Regina!
Fresh Meat
Priestly Empires
Prayer-wheels
The Butcher-Gods
The Holy Inquisition
Hell-fire
#Book Two: The Church of Good Society#
The Rain Makers

The Babylonian Fire-God
The Medicine-men
The Canonization of Incompetence
Gibson's Preservative
The Elders
Church History
Land and Livings
Graft in Tail
Bishops and Beer
Anglicanism and Alcohol
Dead Cats
"Suffer Little Children" The Court-circular
Horn-blowing
Trinity Corporation
Spiritual Interpretation
#Book Three: The Church of the Servant Girls#
Charity
God's Armor
Thanksgivings
The Holy Roman Empire

Temporal Power
Knights of Slavery
Priests and Police
The Church Militant
The Church Triumphant
God in the Schools
The Menace
King Coal
The Unholy Alliance
Secret Service
Tax Exemption
Holy History
Das Centrum
#Book Four: The Church of the Slavers#
The Face of Caesar
Deutschland ueber Alles
Der Tag
King Cotton
Witches and Women
Moth and Rust

To Lyman Abbott
The Octopus
The Industrial Shelley
The Outlook for Graft
Clerical Camouflage
The Jungle
#Book Five: The Church of the Merchants#
The Head Merchant
"Herr Beeble" Holy Oil
Rhetorical Black-hanging
The Great American Fraud
Riches in Glory
Captivating Ideals
Spook Hunting
Running the Rapids
Birth Control
Sheep
#Book Six: The Church of the Quacks#
Tabula Rasa
The Book of Mormon

Holy Rolling
Bible Prophecy
Koreshanity
Mazdaznan
Black Magic
Mental Malpractice
Science and Wealth
New Nonsense
"Dollars Want Me!" Spiritual Financiering
The Graft of Grace
#Book Seven: The Church of the Social Revolution#
Christ and Caesar
Locusts and Wild Honey
Mother Earth
The Soap Box
The Church Machine
The Church Redeemed
The Desire of Nations
The Knowable
"Nature's Insurgent Son" The New Morality

Envoi
* * * * *

#INTRODUCTORY#
#Bootstrap-lifting#
Bootstrap-lifting? says the reader.
It is a vision I have seen: upon a vast plain, men and women are
gathered in dense throngs, crouched in uncomfortable and distressing
positions, their fingers hooked in the straps of their boots. They are
engaged in lifting themselves; tugging and straining until they grow red
in the face, exhausted. The perspiration streams from their foreheads,
they show every symptom of distress; the eyes of all are fixed, not upon
each other, nor upon their boot-straps, but upon the sky above. There is
a look of rapture upon their faces, and now and then, amid grunts and
groans, they cry out with excitement and triumph.
I approach one and say to him, "Friend, what is this you are doing?"
He answers, without pausing to glance at me, "I am performing
spiritual exercises. See how I rise?"
"But," I say, "you are not rising at all!"
Whereat