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> Are religions another form of MLM?

No. The lowest "tier," parishioners, generally have no interest in moving into leadership. The defining trait of MLM is that people join, hoping they can recruit someone who will generate them more income. This isn't why people join religions.

> we are trading our time, effort, and money for status within a community

I wouldn't call MLM a "community" in the same way, and donations to religious organizations tend to be private, so donating more doesn't lead to a better status.

> there are hierarchical ranks

This is true of most organizations.

> And both MLMs and religion rely upon false premises, mythology, peer pressure, and irrational fears.

These are standard sales tactics.

Mormons are a vanishingly small percentage of all religious people. You asserted that MLMs are correlated with religion (with no qualifiers), and instead of backing up that assumption with data, you went right into sociologically theorizing of why it might be true. With even more unsubstantiated claims about religion. No downvotes from me, just pointing out flaws.

You're being downvoted, I assume, for breaking HN guidelines, specifically around the accusation of brigading: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I just upvoted this person. I have always felt MLM was a fusion of (secular) religion and business. Similar testimonials, group social support, groupthink, and reliance on faith are employed. This is saying something completely different than the connection between MLM and organized religions, which in the case of Hispanic evangelist groups and Mormons, is well established. It is saying that for some, MLM participation confers some of the benefits of a religion.

I should have included the following characters "Edit:"...I was downvoted multiple times before I even mentioned brigading. That was a post-hoc edit after I'd been downvoted multiple times, I think I was at -2 within 1-2 minutes.

HN commenters simply downvote things they disagree with, even if it pushes the narrative further and promotes more thought. IMO, downvotes should be reserved for low-effort wastes of space comments, not dissenting viewpoints.

" we are trading our time, effort, and money for status within a community; there are hierarchical ranks, obtained by recruiting more people and proselytizing effectively...and MLMs and religion both seek to answer tough questions, whether that be creation or health, salvation or financial freedom. And both MLMs and religion rely upon false premises, mythology, peer pressure, and irrational fears."

Or is this the University system?

I left the church and have a fairly negative view of it, but claiming that there's no difference between devoting your time to a religion and a scammy company is pretty dismissive of the positive impacts being part of a religious community can have for people.

The spread of Christianity, and to a lesser degree, Judaism, has a lot in common with MLM. Genesis 9:7.

I didn't downvote, but I suspect you ran into two things here: #1 yea duh, there's a lot in common. it comes off as "iamverysmart"

#2 imho you have the order backwards. MLM is what happens when the profit motive, "consumer capitalism" and hustle-entrepreneur culture gets mapped onto religious communities/social-structures. Other religions arent a form of MLM, MLM is a new form of religion.