Religion in US worth more than Google, Apple combined

$1.2 trillion per year - the number that US religion makes per year, more than the 10 biggest tech companies combined.

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We all know religion is big business, but did you know that the mostly tax-free religion industry in the US is an absolute profit monster? According to the latest numbers, there are around $1.2 trillion (yes, that's trillion with a 't') in religious "healthcare facilities, schools, daycare and charities; media; businesses with faith backgrounds; the kosher and halal food markets; social and philanthropic programmes; and staff and overheads for congregations".

Religion in US worth more than Google, Apple combined | TweakTown.com

The report comes from The Socio-economic Contribution of Religion to American Society: An Empirical Analysis, co-authored by Georgetown's Brian J Grim and Newseum's Melissa E Grim, and published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. The authors say that the $1.2 trillion estimate is "conservative", noting that religion as a whole has been declining in the US, and that spending on religious "social programs" has tripled since 2001, to a huge $9 trillion.

The report notes: "Grim and his co-author Melissa Grim of the Newseum Institute in Washington came up with three estimates of the worth of US religion. The lowest, at $378bn, took into account only the revenues of faith-based organisations. The middle estimate, $1.2tn, included an estimate of the market value of goods and services provided by religious organisations and the contributions of businesses with religious roots".

"The top estimate was based on the household incomes of religiously affiliated Americans, and placed the value of faith to US society at $4.8tn annually", the report added, continuing: "The analysis did not take account of the value of financial or physical assets held by religious groups. Neither did it account for "the negative impacts that occur in some religious communities, including... such things as the abuse of children by some clergy, cases of fraud, and the possibility of being recruitment sites for violent extremism".

A truly insane number: $1.2 trillion per year is absolutely mind blowing, especially with most of it being tax-free, just like most of the US tech companies that get bundled into this argument. Imagine if some of this wealth was redistributed amongst Americans, and pumped into infrastructure, and job creation. I must be crazy, right?

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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