-Caveat Lector-
BF>I believe that religion, when it remains non-profit and non-political, should be
allowed
the priviledge of exemption. Remember than many of us tithe. This helps our religious
organizations, and also finds its way to charities that help the needy. It is a Divine
Commandment, not abrogable by the State.
I am sure that the Deists probably have their religious exemptions too. If
not, are
they too selfish to help the needy? One wonders how much of this is good old fashioned
all-American stinginess. Obviously, I do not believe that political advocacy or
businesses
should be tax exempt. This is common sense. Corruption should not be allowed.
However, to
deny tax exempt status when other non-profits have it would be unfair and gross.
Bates
Euphorian wrote:
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> >From http://www.deism.com/tax_religions.htm
>
> >>>This becomes even more relevant when even I can think of at least two religions
> that make contributions to religious centres in foreign countries that have little
>or no
> interest in supporting or defending the Constitution of the U.S. [and may be, in
>effect,
> contributing to its demise]. I say let the Americans get their cut first. A<>E<>R
><<<
>
> }}}>Begin
> SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT! As you read the below article keep this fact in
> mind. According to the tax appraiser's office for Pinellas County, Florida the dollar
> amount of exempt real estate held by religions in Pinellas county alone is:
>
> $583,581,970.00!!!
>
> That half a billion dollars plus could be added to the tax base and used to help the
> uninsured that the faith-healers can't heal, or to help clean up the environment, for
> education, etc., etc., etc. Instead it goes to promote superstition.
>
> SHOULD THE CHURCHES BE TAXED?
> by Leland W. Ruble
>
> Should organized religion be taxed? And if not, why not? For most of the population,
> religion exists in a peculiar, rarefied atmosphere. It is for most people (even
>though
> they may have some doubts) the only source of hope they have for continuing their
> existence after the body has expired. Naturally they expect restitution in heaven, a
> sort of reward for countless prayers; a moral life; and obedience to God. Obviously,
> taxation of a faith based on a biblical God, would be a desecration of this image.
>
> Religion therefore, has been able to develop, grow and prosper without the payment
> of taxes that are required from most other organizations that teach a certain
> philosophy or concept of existence. The majority do not think of religious mysticism
> as an ideology that is taxable. They feel, you cannot tax a church whose reverend is
> a representative of God. A person who has daily conversations and visions pertaining
> to a sometimes benevolent, sometimes revengeful Lord of all, the Almighty.
>
> Presumably because religion is more concerned with the afterlife, Heaven, Hell, and
> a government presided over by an assembly of angels, saints, and evangelists, and
> considers sin as the main cause of discord on this planet, it has been exempted from
> taxation. It is a privilege that has granted religion an elite status that few other
> organizations, activities, and the productivity of human labor is immune from. The
> mystical exploitation of religion has created a hierarchy of sanctimonious
> pedagogues who prosper in an environment free of obligation to the society from
> which they profit immensely. There is no such thing as a non-profit religion. If
>there
> were non-profit religions, most established religions would not exist.
>
> Why then, is religion exempt from taxation? There are those who assume that it is to
> prevent government influence into the activities of religion, and to prevent the same
> from interfering
> in the affairs of government. It is also thought that taxation of religion would
>restrict
> its growth, thus constricting the freedom of worship and making it difficult for
>religious
> activity to flourish. This does not make sense. If a mystical organization cannot
> prosper or survive because of taxation, it must not have a message or purpose worth
> sustaining, nor the ability to communicate a concept that appeals to the public. If
>it
> requires exemption from taxation as the only way it can exist, then it is a religion
> based on a superficial concept of Biblical nonsense that eventually the public will
> ignore.
>
> James Madison, the fourth President of the United States of America and a leading
> promoter and authority of the U.S. Constitution, had this to say in regard to the
> exemption of taxation for religious organizations: "Are the U.S. duly awake to the
> tendency of the precedents they are establishing, in the multiplied incorporations of
> religious congregations with the faculty of acquiring and holding property real as
>well
> as personal...? The people of the U.S. owe their independence and their Liberty to
> the wisdom of descrying in the minute of 3 pence on tea, the magnitude of the evil
> comprised in the precedent. Let them exert the same wisdom, in watching against
> every evil lurking under plausible disguises, and growing up from small beginnings."
>
> Apparently not all future legislators or bureaucrats visualized the tenacity of
>religion
> to develop into huge corporations with vast properties, investments, and influence
> over legislation favorable to its prosperity. The present has proven Madison correct
>in
> his assumption. The scheming and manipulation of the frenzied, right wing religious
> fundamentalists with their army of enthusiasts, has proven that religion untaxed, is
> more dangerous to Liberty than taxation of the same. Why should an institution
> founded on fantasy and myth, the incredible and improbable, be exonerated from
> taxation while existing in a society that supports the infrastructure and services
>that
> make it possible for that religion to succeed? My freedom, yours, and every other
> individual that exists in this society, is threatened by the immense influence of
> organized religion in its massive appeal to legislate laws favorable to its
> establishment. We, unlike the religionists, do not as individuals, have the use of
> untaxed funds or Christianized Coalitions that exist to peddle, distribute and
>exercise
> leverage over politicians.
>
> What is Democratic, what is justifiable in allowing the churches the extraordinary
> freedom to exist independently exempt from taxation??? Especially when the
> exempted religions pursue as their objective, the influence of legislation favorable
>to
> their continued material advancement. The survival of organized revealed religion is
> dependent on not only the generosity of its members, but also from a government
> that is sympathetic to the continued domination of mystical authority in the affairs
>of
> state and society. Witness George Bush receiving the blessing from his religious
> minister for the carpet bombing and resulting mass murder of Iraqi civilians during
> the Desert Storm exercise in ignorance.
>
> The established religions have prospered in an environment that is maintained
> through the taxation of others for such simple things as street upkeep, courts of
>law,
> police and fire protection, or any of the many other services that the public pays
>for. It
> is we the people, who are assuring that religious associations can perform their
> functions, while they are exempted from the same obligation. They have been
> granted an exclusion, that is based on the erroneous concept, that religion is a non-
> profit enterprise. Anyone who believes religion is not profitable and exists solely
>as a
> distributor of myth and magic, has not looked recently at the vast resources and
> property that churches have acquired as non-profit organizations.
>
> The religions of this nation do not contribute, in any way, to my freedom, your
>Liberty,
> or the future of civilization. Freed of taxation, indebted to the worship of an
>abstract
> biblical god, they exist exclusively as a hierarchy whose interest is the
>exploitation
> and propaganda of supernatural absurdity!
>
> IS IT NOT TIME THAT WE THE PUBLIC DEMAND THAT THE RELIGIONS OF
> THIS NATION PAY FOR THEIR PARTICIPATION IN SOCIETY??? Is it not the
> proper time to cease characterizing religious institutions as a privileged ideology
>that
> is more important than other philosophies and concepts?
>
> Why should the labor of a person working eight hours a day be taxed, while a
> preacher who labors in mystical fantasy be excluded from the same? Why should
> there be a tax for the general public, but not for those engaged in the production
>(or
> fabrication) of a religious ideology? Is the enterprise of corporate religion any
>better
> or more useful to society than an individual who thinks about existence from a
> philosophical and rational perspective? I think not. There is no such thing as an
> aristocracy of thought or complete agreement on any conception. Religion in all its
> many forms, does not have the exclusive answers to the complexity of existence. Its
> reliance on mystical incomprehension, the miraculous, the impossible, is based on a
> fictionalized perspective, rooted in the dreams and desires of primitive man.
>
> Taxation of religion is based on fairness and justice. It is a notification to those
>who
> represent corporate religion that they are not a special institution or a favored
> aristocracy that can benefit from all the liberties of a democracy, but have no
> obligation to support that democratic society in the form of taxation. Particularly
> when, as the Christian Coalition is doing, they use the millions of dollars saved
>from
> taxes to pump into the campaigns of politicians who agreed to spread their brand of
> bigotry and superstition.
>
> VISIT OUR NEWSGROUP AT: alt.religion.deism
>
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