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Star-Dusk β Religious Exemption Laws
Published: 2013-05-02 21:12:24 +0000 UTC; Views: 3084; Favourites: 116; Downloads: 2
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As in these laws, I mean tax exemption, scumbag exemption and child abuse (I've heard cases where couple choose prayer over hospitals and their child dies, and they don't get charges pressed against them). After doing research, I saw that secular organizations aren't tax exempt and yet religious organizations are, what the fuck? And another reason why I think these should be abolished is because the first amendment explicitly says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." That's right there, in the first fucking Amendment, so these religious laws should be unconstitutional.And besides, abolishing these religious exemption laws wouldn't hurt anybody, since the first amendment promotes religious freedom, however; I don't fucking see why people don't see "freedom from religion" as a right.
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Comments: 95
This is pathetic.
whatstheharm.net/faithhealing.β¦
whatstheharm.net/religiousfundβ¦
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EDIT: I'm a doof and just realized I commented on this stamp in December of 2014. Whoops!! Well... I still agree with it!
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I wholeheartedly agree and I'm a Christian.
Well, a Progressive Christian, that is, which is an important difference, IMO... Progressive Christians focus on the whole "love thy neighbor" thing and taking care of the poor and those in need without the bigotry and self-righteous judgment of everybody, respecting the Constitutional rights of others to not believe in what we do, and everybody is welcome no matter what. It basically makes Evangelicals and fundies say we're not "real" Christians.
BUT I DIGRESS.
If Evangelicals want to force their version of Christianity onto the entire country via legislation penned by Evangelical elected officials, they can pay taxes like the rest of us. I don't see the point in tax exemptions for religious institutions of ANY kind, anyway. Unless you're a legitimate charity organization, pay taxes. It seems pretty simple to me.
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I support religious organizations being tax exempt so long as they keep out of political matters (after all, it's unfair to tell someone they have no say in the government only to turn around and tax them). However, if they try to weasel their way into politics -- and they often do -- I say tax them. Tax the hell out of them.Β
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Religious exemptions for child vaccinations should end NOW. It's a matter of public health.Β
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since the first amendment promotes religious freedom"
You been paying attention to America the last 10 years?Β
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If religious institutions want to get involved in politics and erase the line between church and state, they can also pay taxes. Tit for tat.
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It's because religious organisations don't exist for the purpose of making money, and their clergy don't exactly have big salaries.
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And yet look at them, making money and living in huge houses.
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They don't make that much money and an average priest's home is about the size of a middle-class home.
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You're obviously not from the bible belt, they're disgusting down here...
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I said priests. As in, Catholic. Not the Evangelists.
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They do the same thing.
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No. I've seen the home of Catholic priests. They're essentially the same as middle class family homes.
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I still support ending the laws, because the church would still give them homes. Churches make money. It wouldn't make sense to make everyone except Catholics obey something like that, not one bit.
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I'm not saying we should end it for everyone but Catholics. And where do you think that the Church makes money?
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I was forced to go my whole life. To special sermons, on mission trips, to concerts, etc.
They can handle standard taxes.Β
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Fairly certain the Catholic Church doesn't have concerts...
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That's more Methodist, I've been to multiple types of churches in my day. but I've been to tons of catholic events when I was little; full raffles and wine, and the like and they always say they made so much and yadda yadda. Pointing out minor details doesn't make your stance seem very valid by the way, if were pointing out tiny details now.
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Raffles and banquets. That's for the basic maintenance of the parish. They hardly make enough from that to tax it.
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I feel as though you're talking about a specific one, or group of them, or maybe you don't travel much or study it the same way as I do, but the religion would survive, and so would many of it's buildings if taxed. Then they would be paying their share like the rest, and seeing them in everyone's face wouldn't strike as bad of a nerve.Β
Maybe it's that I was forced to be in it so long that I feel this way, I don't know. But I do know a lot of people in my generation have been soured on the idea of organized religion in one way or another.Β
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It's still unfair to tax them for minor events. You can't possibly imagine that the Church's wealth is a result of such things.
The fact people don't like it doesn't justify discriminating against it.
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I don't say tax events, that wouldn't make sense.Β
I'm not discriminating, I'm saying they should be treated the same.
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You can't treat institutions that are fundamentally different the same without it being blatantly unjust.
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They can't force themselves into other people's lives without being blatantly unjust. Everyone's unjust.
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They have, they do, it's how they get more "believers".
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You talk about proselytization like it's forced conversion.
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the word proselytism, as we know it, refers to the attempt of any religion or religious individuals to convert people to their beliefs, or any attempt to convert people to a different point of view, religious or not. My personalΒ experienceΒ with this was when I was in aΒ center for kids with severe depression, anxiety, and the like; and one of the people who supervised us daily brought in "The Secret", which is the Scientology babble. We had to watch it, because it was "T.V. time". So don't use that word like it can't be forced; whether it's your religion or not. And there's all sorts of proof that it has been before, articles and court records, etc. I could give you links if you really need that to see that before any religion deserves a break that they should fix their own problems.
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There is a world of difference between the Church of the Holy Copyright and real faiths.Β
I certainly did not say it can't be forced, simply that it generally isn't, and the sins of those few doesn't justify removing the rights of all faiths.
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I never said to remove anyone's rights, I said to tax the buildings. The Catholic church doesn't seem to flaunt the priest's homes because most of them take a vow of poverty, meaning they personally choose not to live an overly-lavish lifestyle. Every other citizen of the country is made to pay taxes REGARDLESS of how morally good they may live their lives, and priests are no better than any other person.Β
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Priests don't pay taxes because they don't make money.Β
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I googles this and it took about 10 seconds:
1. As of 2008, a Catholic priest can expect a median wage ofΒ $33,100Β a year, while a Catholic music minister madeΒ $42,700Β a year. By comparison, a Protestant minister earned an annual salary ofΒ $48,100, while a Protestant music minister earned an annual salary of $53,700 for that same year.
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How much of that do you suppose he is actually given as opposed to what is deducted by the costs of living. Also there's the fact I don't really know what a reasonable yearly pay is so I can't tell whether or not that's a whole lot.
Also, where exactly are you getting those figures?
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Well, together my parents never cleared 30,000 a year so it's well enough, and like I said, you could type "how much does a catholic priest make yearly" and it'll bring up recent stats for it on Google. Info like that is easy, which is why i'm confident in backing my belief further that taxes are perfectly reasonable. We did it with less and I don't recall going without.
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How exactly is that related to taxing Church properties.
I found where you got those figures and it was explaining that Catholic priests are paid less than most clergy in the US. And again, you haven't factored in that a significant amount of the pay are used to pay for the usual life of a priest.
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They're paid less by choice, vow of poverty; remember? How is it NOT related? And where is your backup besides "general life expenses" since I haven't been making you get proof yet and I've had to explain up and down my opinions; show me links or images of anything showing they're as worthy of being special snowflakes.
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I'm not saying Catholic priests specifically should be given exemptions! I'm saying overall tax exemptions for religious groups are a good thing.
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Now you're bactracking, because before you pointed out that you said "priest". To be specific: "I said priests. As in, Catholic. Not the Evangelists." I'm assuming you're doing so because you can't find proof to support your case.
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At that point I was identifying the difference in a priest's standard of living from a Protestant minister's. I never said the Church alone should have tax-exemption.
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You never identified the difference in anything besides their title, I alone mentioned why there's a difference. And while you never said that they "alone" should, you never gave reason as to why they should not; which is really what I've been waiting for. Valid reasons that aren't based on your personal bias.Β
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They should not pay taxes off of property because the property is not used for the sake of money.
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Neither is mine, does that mean I shouldn't have to pay?
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So does the church.Β
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With bake sales adn donations.
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various rich benefactors giving donations, and the local, state, and federal governments in the United States subsidize religion in the amount of 71 billion every year. It doesn't specifically say "Catholics" whom you're defending, but most of it probably goes to the Christians since they're the biggest slice of the pie out there. And many churches use that for their own agendas like keeping people from having birth control and refusing them them the right to abortions and hating the LGBT community. I get the feeling you think it costs a lot more to run a soup kitchen than it really does, since most of that is donated food and volunteer labor. Not to mention the 400 million they spend annually in lobbying. Instead of saying they need these tax breaks, you should pray that they learn to keep a budget.
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You cam't tax donations.
Birth control and abortions and you perception of gay rights is contradictory to most Christians moral system. You can;t expect the Churches to only use their money for causes that you sanction as being alright.
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Are you really so dense that you don't see where they can sustain themselves in that situation?
That's exactly WHY they spend so much on it. I sanction them as right, they spend money because they disagree. They specifically put money into stopping these things from happening around them.Β
You really don't make any sense.
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It's not being dense to say that taxing donations is contradictory to the idea of donations.
What about the people who put great swathes of money into campaigning for gay rights.
Said the pot to the kettle.
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Just because people hand it to them doesn't make it any less of an income.
The people campaigning for gay rights are looking to give them the same rights as everyone else because they're people too. If they church teaches love, why would they try to stop them from having the rights? Why would the church be so intolerant as to pay to stop them?
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