Separation of church and YOUR FACE

[LMNO, PhD (life continues)]

In a matter of days, some 1,400 American pastors are planning to break the law.  And they’re likely to get away with it.

As part of “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” on Oct. 7, religious leaders across the country will endorse political candidates — an act that flies in the face of Internal Revenue Service rules about what tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, can and cannot do.

Though the regulation has been in place since 1954, in 2009, the U.S. District Court of Minnesota ruled the IRS no longer had the appropriate staff to investigate places of worship after a reorganization changed who in the agency had the authority to launch investigations.

New procedures for conducting church audits have been pending since 2009, which has left the IRS virtually impotent in conducting any kind of new investigations.

Well, fuck -- if a church wants to endorse a political candidate, then they should fucking pay taxes.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Yep.

But that's for a second term thingie.

[Elder Iptuous]

what is the justification for churches not paying taxes, again?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

what is the justification for churches not paying taxes, again?

Separation of church & state.

[stelz]

They've been telling people how to vote since the 80's at least. Probably longer.

[Elder Iptuous]

Roger,
so, is the thinking that churches that pay more taxes due to higher revenue will have more political clout?

TFFAYS,
i think it's a couple hundred years longer than that.  at least here in the states.

[Internet Jesus]

It'll happen and the government won't do shit.  Because most Americans don't understand why churches are tax exempt, they don't much care because they cling to their sky buddy like a binki and they have the powers of being able to distract their followers by screaming "hey look over there!"

That's how the Catholic Church has managed to avoid much fallout from covering up kiddie fucking.

[stelz]

Yeah.

And a lot of people think telling churches ANYTHING will get them a smack from skydaddy. That's why they cower in the corner when Jehovah's Witnesses come knocking, instead of telling them to hit the road.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Roger,
so, is the thinking that churches that pay more taxes due to higher revenue will have more political clout?

TFFAYS,
i think it's a couple hundred years longer than that.  at least here in the states.

No, it's since they are non-profit and aren't (HA!) allowed to interfere in politics, they get a pass.

[stelz]

Roger,
so, is the thinking that churches that pay more taxes due to higher revenue will have more political clout?

TFFAYS,
i think it's a couple hundred years longer than that.  at least here in the states.

 

[Cain]

Sorry, but there's only one church that matters this election cycle, and it's located in Utah.

The funny thing is, American liberals don't want to talk about it, presumably out of fear of offending people with money.  And they don't come much richer than the Church of Latter Day Saints, it must be said.

[V3X]

What's hilarious is that the entire notion that churches shouldn't pay taxes flies in the face of specific words from Jesus ("Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's").

Also, although churches have been tax free in the US since the beginning, the rule against political interference has only existed since the 50s.

[Juana Go?]

Funny fact: that does not mean what everyone thinks it means. Jesus, in the full context of the time (an oppressed colonial backwater with an awful lot of frothing anti-Roman religious radicals in the countryside), meant that Caesar was owed nothing because he owned nothing that was in Palestine.

Sorry, but there's only one church that matters this election cycle, and it's located in Utah.

The funny thing is, American liberals don't want to talk about it, presumably out of fear of offending people with money.  And they don't come much richer than the Church of Latter Day Saints, it must be said.

Jesus christ, yes. The Mormon church owns huge swaths of farmland. I've always thought they ought to be taxed on that, if nothing else.

[V3X]

Funny fact: that does not mean what everyone thinks it means. Jesus, in the full context of the time (an oppressed colonial backwater with an awful lot of frothing anti-Roman religious radicals in the countryside), meant that Caesar was owed nothing because he owned nothing that was in Palestine.

The case can be made for that, but the case can also be made that since the Pharisees had accepted Caesar's de-facto rule by using his currency, then they owed him the taxes he demanded because it's dishonest to only play the game halfway.

[Juana Go?]

Yes he was talking to the Pharisees when he said that. But remember that in the wake of the Jewish-Roman wars, Christians were trying to persaude the Romans that they weren't like those Jews, and Jesus was one of those frothing religious radicals.

I'm smelling a threadjack in the make. Separate thread or no?