Scanned by Charles Keller with OmniPage Professional OCR software THE PROFITS OF RELIGION An Essay in Economic Interpretation By UPTON SINCLAIR The Profits of Religion 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. The present volume is the first of a series, which will do for Education, Journalism and Literature what has here been done for the Church: the four volumes making a work of revolutionary criticism, an Economic Interpretation of Culture under the general title of "The Dead Hand." 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