As far as I'm concerned, we already support religious organizations with tax
money by virtue of the fact, as you pointed out, they are exempt from taxes. I
personally find this very expensive and offensive since these exemptions
support a lot of causes with which I disagree. Then again, so do the budget
items that go to support that war...
> From: [email protected]> To: [email protected];
> [email protected]> Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 12:39:48 -0500> Subject: RE:
> [ot_caving] Senator Obama and politics> > I have a real problem giving tax
> money to religious organizations. There is> a constitutional boundary that
> gets crossed when the government and> religious groups get tied up together.
> I don't even believe in giving tax> advantage to churches etc. since doing so
> allows a government agency (IRS)> to determine what is a legitimate religion
> and what isn't ("Congress shall> make no law respecting an establishment of
> religion...) Non-profits set up> by religious organizations is a half-step
> away, so I don't have as much of a> problem as long as no faith-based
> discrimination is involved (ie Boy Scouts> and atheist kids) and all
> otherwise appropriate accounting and auditing> requirements are complied
> with. Organizations like Catholic Charities have> an amazing track record of
> success, with surprisingly low admin costs: more> money goes to fix the
> problem. > > As far as how to determine which organization is best suited, I
> would> advocate for an RFP process following a stringent analysis of the
> problem> and acceptable solutions that could be implemented to mitigate it.>
> Interested organizations include their proposal as part of the grant>
> application.> > -----Original Message-----> From: David
> [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 12:02 PM> To:
> [email protected]> Subject: [ot_caving] Senator Obama and politics> > I
> would like to talk about Obama's proposal to> use religious groups to receive
> federal grants to> do community projects.> > Let's suppose there is a
> neighborhood street covered> in grafitti and trash and it will cost a
> volunteer organization> $ 100,000 to clean it and maintain it clean for a
> year or> so.> > Let's say 10 different organizations bid for the grant.> > 1.
> Nation of Islam ( Farrakan )> 2. The Quantell X Club.> 3. The Mormons> 4. The
> Baptist> 5. The Methodist> 6. The Atheist> 7. The Catholics> 8. The Hell's
> Angels> 9. The Rainbow nudist hippies> 10. The Boy Scouts> > etc.> > How much
> money and time is the government going to waste> to determine who is best
> suited for receiving the grant. What> kind of corruption will take place. Who
> is going to check to make> sure everything was cleaned up and accounting was
> done properly.> > Meanwhile the street just gets more filthy.> > I don't
> think his idea is any good.> > Can somebody out there convince me otherwise?>
> > David> >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------> Give
> this to a friend: [email protected]> To unsubscribe, e-mail:
> [email protected]> For additional commands, e-mail:
> [email protected]> > >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------> Give
> this to a friend: [email protected]> To unsubscribe, e-mail:
> [email protected]> For additional commands, e-mail:
> [email protected]>
