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I'm an agnostic-atheist now, so I don't find it a bit offensive...
If my parents get sick, will they be able to go to a doctor, in spite of the faith healing stuff?
Definitely. They indeed believe that they can be healed through faith - miracles from God - but absolutely do not rely on it as an exclusive method. I've never heard of any AG church promoting that sort of thing. Believe it or not, those churches are much more extreme than AG.
Will they take all my parents' time and money, and cut them off from their family and friends?
There are typically 3 church services per week - one on Wednesday, and two on Sunday (AM & PM). They may have little social groups now and again, but other than that, it's pretty much your normal church-going.
If your parents are staunch Christians, then it will be recognized, and their personal lives will pretty much remain just that. Only when an unbeliever comes to the church and gets "saved" will people get involved with their personal lives. I would say this is usually accepted with open arms by the "saved" person, because they will come right out and ask people their advice - should I do this? Should I not do this?
Money - of course. If they becomes members, they, like everyone else, will be expected to tithe. Of course, it's not actively enforced, but it's still an expectation, and one that's usually complied with. The time factor is all up to your parents.
Will they really tell them how to vote? How extreme are they? My dad is a pretty rigid Christian. Do they do any actual good? For example, do they help the poor and homeless?
Hmmm. This Republican-Christian thing is (usually) not something explicitly "taught" from the pulpit (as far as I've ever seen). This usually comes about through social interaction with other members of the church over time. Pat Robertson is an AG guy (or at least very close), so his words are like gospel. A consistent dose of the 700 Club will surely seal the deal with regards to politics. "Well, Pat Robertson is a hardcore Republican, he must have it right." Not much critical thinking going on here, it's just that simple.
How extreme? I'm not sure how to answer that. Theologically, it's very dogmatic, black-and-white. Interpretation is a bad word. It's "code" for justification of sin. They adhere to a literal interpretation of the bible, etc. The extremism is borne of its rigid, unbending theology, much like Islamic fundamentalism.
It's all up to your parents on how much "good" they want to do. There's not a lot of organized "good Samaritan" activities, but I'm sure the outlets are there if that's a priority for your parents. Most of these "helping hand" initiatives are not so much for the act of helping itself, but an opportunity to "witness", which means proselytize. That's the underlying goal at all times - conversion.
My father seemed quite proud that they deny membership to couples who live together out of wedlock, and prohibit divorced people from being deacons. Considering that the Bakkers, Jimmy Swaggart and Ashcroft are some of their more notorious members, I think they could stand to have a bit more humility about themselves.
True, if you're not married, but live together, you are "living in sin." This is highly frowned-upon. In such cases, I can imagine a church "leader" approaching those people for "counseling."
As far as divorce goes, in my experience, it seems to be a bit more "liberal", as opposed to the Catholic church. If there is good reason for the marriage to end, they are not opposed. I've never heard of divorced people being denied deaconship, but I wouldn't be surprised if some churches are like that. Oh, by the way, there is no humility. They are the "true" Christians, Catholics and liberal Christians are not. They are deceived. This lends its hand to their fervor for proselytization.
My parents are not educated. They both dropped out of high school in the forties. Does the church prey on the uneducated, and prefer to keep them ignorant?
As an atheist, I think religion in general fits very well into throngs of the uneducated, and AG is no exception. Of course, as I said above, a strict, dogmatic, black-and-white worldview is perfect for the uneducated. No nuance, no need for interpretation or analysis or critical thinking, just answers. However, your question seems to infer that the church hierarchy is aware of this ignorance - as per your phrase "keep them ignorant." This is certainly not the case. They are all ignorant, and happily spread it around for everyone to share in the delusion. Likewise for the "preying upon" - objectively it is a predator-prey relationship, but this isn't consciously so. The predator has GOOD NEWS to share about Jesus Christ! And he wants the prey to hear it, so that he can accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior and get to heaven someday! Seriously, that's it. Like I said, one big shared delusion.
As for their gullability, I take it they are not adept at critical thinking. What I said above applies here of course. Sorry to say, but it sounds like they might be very happy there.
One note: these are my experiences, which is only a handful of churches in the Midwest. I would assume that the AG denomination is fairly consistent across the spectrum, but I'm not sure. But even then, individual churches might have some weird quirks involved, because there isn't really any theological oversight going on. Also, most of these churches were not very large, so bigger churches might be a little different as well. Anyway, just something to keep in mind. Hopefully this will help a little bit. Feel free to ask me anything else if you wish.
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