(April 15, 2019 at 9:52 am)Gae Bolga Wrote: The loopholes comes with strings attached, american churches commonly break their end of that bargain.  Its fraud.

(April 15, 2019 at 9:48 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(April 15, 2019 at 9:12 am)Lemon Curry Wrote: Religtardology is a business and it's fuckin' BIG business.

Those at the top of the respective religtard food chains sell salvation for which the recipient pays.

The cat licker crutch, er church, is the richest entity on the planet.  The church of England isn't far behind.  The dumb twat, justin welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, once castigated pay day lenders in the UK for charging such excessive fees and for causing borrowers to end up in spiralling debt.  It transpired, a few days later, that the church of England was a major shareholder in the holding company of a major UK pay day lender (Wonga).  

peter popoff, the televangalist, was collecting almost $4 million per year in the late 1980s, according to James Randi.  In 2003, his ministry received over $9.6 million, and in 2005, over $23 million. In that year, he and his wife were paid a combined salary of nearly $1 million, while two of his children received over $180,000 each. Financial data is not available for Popoff's ministry after 2005 because Peter Popoff Ministries changed from a for-profit business to a religious organization, making it tax-exempt. Popoff purchased a home in Bradbury, California, for $4.5 million in 2007. He drives a Porsche and a .[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Popoff#cite_note-44][/url]

Tax the churches,  They are businesses regardless of their claims otherwise.

Not really the point.  The argument isn't about whether churches should be taxed (and I agree that they should) but whether not paying tax limits their access to the justice system.

Boru

(April 14, 2019 at 4:43 pm)onlinebiker Wrote: There' s a church up the road. Two months ago it was Methodist. Now it' s "Congregational" (wtf is that?) (rumor is they didn' t like the UM accepting gay people) The United Methodist Church owns title to the land and building.  

Odds are it will end up in court - deciding which group of fanatics is fellating the invisible man properly - or whatever they're doing over there.

Should Courts be allowed to take these cases? Why are we allowing them to force the courts to recognize their " legitimate claims"?


Fuck 'em I say... Let them battle it out with swords and shields like " good christian soldiers"....Winner takes all.

(April 15, 2019 at 9:58 am)Gae Bolga Wrote: Not to whether they should have access to the courts, even if it would be a bad idea to use it, no.  What is, is whether or not a sectarian dispute over property can be resolved in favor of the splinter group, which is clearly what the seperatists in question hope for.

(April 15, 2019 at 2:59 pm)Gae Bolga Wrote: Or, they should go get their own building.

(April 15, 2019 at 3:08 pm)Gae Bolga Wrote: The same rights as any other renter.
(which aint much, here in the states)

(April 15, 2019 at 6:52 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(April 14, 2019 at 8:29 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: Seems to me that if they want the benefit of the courts they should have to pay their fair share of taxes to help support the justice system.

Just a thought.

In a sense, by not paying taxes, churches are indeed paying their 'fair share' - they are paying what the law requires.  Atheists may not like it (I certainly don't), but they aren't doing anything illegal or unfair: they are paying what the law requires.  That it happens to be nothing (in most cases) doesn't make it unfair.

Would you extend that restriction to people who don't make enough money to pay taxes in the first place?  If you get a tax refund, should that curtail your legal rights?

Boru