“The First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause prevents the government from intruding into the internal affairs of the church. And tax exemption is one way to prevent the government from unnecessarily interfering, which is why churches have always been exempt. Unfortunately, this legal battle is not an isolated incident. Opponents of religious freedom have repeatedly threatened to revoke churches of their tax-exempt status. Freedom From Religion Foundation also challenged a provision in the federal tax code that exempts pastors’ housing allowances from taxation. Fortunately, in March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of the allowance, and this tax exemption is still available to ministers across the country. More recently, a former presidential candidatestated churches that oppose same-sex marriage should lose their tax-exempt status. Churches do so much good for their communities. Revoking their tax-exempt status would deplete churches’ financial resources, distract them from ministry, and decrease the charitable services they provide to their communities.” http://blog.adflegal.org/detailspag...er-attack-on-churches-tax-exemption-thwarted# Religious freedom in my opinion is under assault in America today. Secular progressives are waging an unrelenting war against believers and our churches. Churches do do much good work in their communities and their faith based charities as well. Separation of church and state precludes the government from taxing churches. The power to tax is the power to destroy and and that power would put government in a position of power over the church.
How many yachts and planes and mansions does Joel Osteen and his fellow evangelical preachers need????
The wealthy leaders of single mega churches and or major individual tv preachers are tiny outliers compared to the overall church and the many missions and charities they provide here and abroad.
So we should turn a blind eye to a few bad apples that give the majority of churches a bad name, okay..
Get Osteen,Franklin Graham and Falwell and the many other so called evangelical con men to beginning sharing the vast amounts of wealth they have garnered championing the poor, which they have obviously kept for themselves.Anyone giving to them needs their head examined.
Most of our churches have about 100 adult members and struggle to keep the electricity on. Joel Osteen is an aberration. But you go on using ridiculous examples.
I didn’t say that. I’m suggesting the opposite. That you cease sliming all the rest of us who do a vital and good work in our communities and around the world because of a few.
Falwell and Graham do a lot of great things with their ministries, charities and the latter running a huge university
So... you don't want to be forced to pay for poor people's healthcare, but are fine when poor people are forced to pay for your electricity?
He said that they struggle to pay for their electricity. He never ever implied that anyone else should help them pay for it.
Churches could (and should) avoid taxes simply by refusing to accept money as tithe. Few of them would do so, of course, because most of them exist for the money. The best thing that could ever happen to Christianity, other religions and humanity at large would be for govt to start taxing them as businesses, because then those that operate as businesses would dissolve, those that remain would be free to speak politically, and true believers would once again get involved in society, instead of just absolving themselves with tithes. Of course, this will not happen. The last thing the establishment wants is the religious becoming politically involved and motivated. As it is now, folks are happy giving 10% to be told to wait around for Jesus to take them to a better place, and the establishment is happy for them to be so doscile. Kill off the charlatans with taxes and drive the religious to real congregations that want to build a better place centered around love and morality and Free Will instead of just waiting to die, and the establishment will have a real revolution on its hands. The 'bitter clingers' are being lulled to complacency by their money-grubbing false shepherds. By all means, defund those false shepherds. I'm all for it.
Paying for poor (destitute) people's healthcare? Ok. Having all 330 million of us forced into "Medicare for all"? Crazy. And yes, churches are non-profit and do much good in the community. Taking away their tax exempt status would be foolish.
donations should be tax exempt, not businesses run by the church and if the church gets political they have to pay to play thus lose the tax status Christians attack other religions via our government, yet the right remains silent... this is not about religious freedom, this is about some wanting to force a Christian nation on everyone
"Churches do so much good for their communities. Revoking their tax-exempt status would deplete churches’ financial resources, distract them from ministry, and decrease the charitable services they provide to their communities.”" much of that good comes from faith based initiatives anymore (IE taxpayers, the donations hardly pay the salary of the employees of the church) if the church pays no taxes, maybe the gov should not be giving them our tax dollars either, works both ways http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...itiative-gave-obamas-former-church-15-million "Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Ill. – where Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama worshipped for two decades – has received more than $1.5 million in federal tax money since 2003 through the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives" http://rationalrevolution.net/articles/history_of_the_separation_of_chu.htm "When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one. - Benjamin Franklin: in letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780"
Personally I think the best way to ensure religious freedom is to bolster free expression generally and view religion as a subset of that rather than something unique. Tax exempt status makes sense if they're reasonably non-profit and providing charity services.
religion is the greatest hoax ever played upon humankind... i'm all for taxing the sh^t outta them...
Churches do help the poor and sick from time to time. Personally I think they should be taxed like all businesses. I never understood why people continue to donate to these flashy bejeweled preachers who live in mansions, drive a Rolls Royce, and have a private airplane. They all say the same thing -- "Mail God 10% of your money, here's my address".
Government not taking taxes is not payment. And poor people don't pay taxes they sick on the tit of government. That is truly my biggest difference I have with dims. I do not understand how you people get into the thinking that the government owns all the wealth and anything we have is what they allow us to keep.
I believe he is say that if the government is not taking the churches taxes, the government has less money the give to the poor.
Do they also struggle to pay for the electricity needed for the streetlights, or the public roads, or ... everything that local governments pay with taxes collected from sales tax and other taxes that the poor do pay?
If what you say is true, that's great. Society getting together to help each other is the fundamental principle of Democratic Socialism. I'm an atheist, but for churches that do that (and not all of them do), I'm all for it. They become charity organizations.... and that's fine. Whether they are secular or not, to me, is irrelevant at that point. But the fact is that right-wing Evangelicals have been major opponents of the community helping each other when it comes to public healthcare... especially for those who can't afford it. But are fine with having those who can't afford healthcare help them pay for public services. A little consistency would be in order.
Wrong! Poor people pay more taxes than churches do! You believe that poor people tit off government, but refuse to understand that that's exactly what churches are doing.
