Hacker News Reader

Comment by hbarka | Hacker News Reader

I acknowledge this is anecdotal but in the Bay Area CA I drive by many churches (of different faiths) occupying large areas of land on prime hilltop real estate. I’m astonished by this.

View on HN

Much of that land has been owned by the churches for 100+ years. The land was probably on the edge of town and not so prime back then.

Given the extreme wealth in the bay area, I am astonished you find it astonishing. Billionaires and multi millionaires would have funded these churches. Most churches and other religious organisations run on a tight budget and deter important costs like building maintenance because of lack of funds.

I have seen crumbling Catholic churches, and I have seen the Vatican Meusum. Two extremes of wealth.

Churches are almost a 2000 year old thing. Back in the day, rich person wanting to have the papers in order for the life after, would donate his fortune along with 45,000 acres to the church. Now there exists a major city and an acre goes for $50 million or whatever.

And so on...if we could turn the clock back and buy land on Manhattan or Las Vegas we'd be rich (on paper at least too)

I am astonished by your astonishment: churches were one of the first buildings to create a nucleus of a new city, so you can say they created the value of that estate out of an empty hilltop in the middle of nowhere.

A binding agent?

Presumably they were there before the rest of the area was so built up?

Mormon church biggest land owner in Florida.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com