Introduction of Offering

CK: Doug, I know you've been thinking a lot about the religion of the future, but have you thought about the church of the future?

DM: As a matter of fact I have. And I think that it might be very different from the kind of churches we have today.

CK: How so?

DM: Well, for one thing it might be a lot cheaper to operate.

CK: Why would that be?

DM: (Puts on wrap-around sunglasses, pretending they are VR glasses.) The church of the future might be able to put its meeting house out in virtual reality. No real estate costs. You never need to paint, or rebuild the steeple.

CK: They'd still have to pay a minister.

DM: Maybe not. (Takes out a computer disk.) The minister of the future might be an artificial intelligence program. It could live on a disk somewhere. It wouldn't have to raise a family, or eat, or do any of those expensive things that ministers do.
So you see, with future technology, it might be possible for a church to get by on almost no money at all. What do you think?

CK: (pause) I think we'd better collect the offering.