The Profits of Religion

An Essay in Economic Interpretation

An eye-opening condemnation of the economic sins of organized religion

Throughout his adult life Upton Sinclair was an unapologetic idealist and a tireless crusader for the rights of the common man. In this powerful and scrupulously researched critique, he argues that organized religion is a gargantuan moneymaking operation in collusion with industry in their shared quest to strike down dissent while bleeding profits from the millions in their thrall.

Sinclair catalogs how spirituality, “the most fundamental of the soul’s impulses,” is used as a tool for exploitation by unsavory clerical organizations. He specifically details the hypocrisy and self-serving, parasitic nature of churches in the West, from the entrenched fortresses of ancient Christianity to the “nonconforming” Protestant sects to the cultist “new religions” that came into vogue in the early twentieth century. A controversial, impassioned broadside, The Profits of Religion is Upton Sinclair at his most provocative and persuasive.

This ebook has been authorized by the estate of Upton Sinclair.