[MilStdJunkie]

I grew up Catholic, but had some Charismatics as friends from the 80s to the late aughts. In Florida, their mega-faith-church-complex was a combination movie theatre, shopping mall, food court (with one fancy restaurant), and modest arcade . . surrounding and attached to the vast "church" area proper, which was more like a stadium. All, of course, were religious organizations . . I often wondered to myself: how much money could you spend entertaining your family in this . . religio-entertainment-complex . . which you could then write off on your taxes? Rather a lot, it turned out.

[azinman2]

You’re saying watching movies and eating food were considered non-profit donations?! I don’t think the IRS would agree.

[MilStdJunkie]

I wasn't in the church, so the details I am a little short of, but they had something like a tiered system where everyone had cards like on a cruise ship. So you could get some things here, but not things from there, with a limit. It seems not unlikely that they had to separate the donation from the transaction, but there was still a "transaction-like" activity there. I'm honestly not sure if that church is still around, but it was enormous.