Reply #2: Hammond is another self-designated "minister" [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

who founded a church without being vetted by anyone.

Mainline clergy have to go through about a two-year process of self-evaluation, evaluation by their parish, and evaluation by their local governing body before they're even allowed to take a three-year seminary course.

They're expected to follow their national church's salary schedule, which is based on the size of the church they're serving, and it would be very difficult for any of them to dream up moneymaking ventures, because they are answerable not only to their national and regional church governing bodies but also to an elected governing board of lay people.

The megachurch types, especially those that brag about being "non-denominational," are often one-man operations (most likely funded under the table by conservative political foundations, or else they wouldn't be able to build churches so quickly) run as dictatorships by untrained ministers who push their particular hobby horses, whether it's homosexuality, abortion, or "the Islamic threat."