Should Churches Remain Tax-Exempt?

[Esquilax]

do you think God would give anyone enough power to stop Christianity.

To hear your fellow christians tell it, god and your faith are constantly threatened by a great many things. Science, gay people existing, a correct implementation of the separation of church and state, anti-discrimination laws, evolution... all sorts of innocuous things are apparently sufficient to drive god away from whatever country they're practiced in, and destroy the very fabric of the christian religion in those countries. The picture one gets, if one listens to any given conservative christian with a platform, is of a faith with the resilience of tissue paper, fit to blow away entirely the moment its members are not completely accommodated on every issue, immediately. And that's not even mentioning iron chariots!

Besides, a quick look through history shows dead religions, faded religions, infant religions snuffed out before they gained any traction... humanity's past is a veritable graveyard of religions, of which only a few survive today. The odds are simply not in christianity's favor; don't pretend you've got something special there that they didn't have, though no doubt you're already lining up to baselessly assert that you have god on your side.

Funny thing: they all thought they did too, right up until the moment they didn't.

[robvalue]

Brilliant! A thorough decapitation of the hypocritical confidence of Christianity.

It's a bit like being some petulant child's favourite toy. You think you're all important, divinely inspired, eternally justified and correct... Until they get bored of you and pick up another religion to play with. Then that becomes the "true one".

[Spooky]

I'll say no. And agree with the above.

[robvalue]

I don't care that my religion is just a load of dead ones stitched together, this one is real!

OK very good, we never heard that one before.

I got talking donkeys!

Really? Sign me up.

[IATIA]

I got talking cats except that they won't talk when others are around. I can prove it too. Just swing by sometime and watch. They will stop talking and look at you when you walk up to them.

[The Valkyrie]

I got talking cats except that they won't talk when others are around. I can prove it too. Just swing by sometime and watch. They will stop talking and look at you when you walk up to them.

I have a chubby little fluffy ginger and white boy who really talks to you when you're petting him.

He goes nuts from full meows to weird little squeaks.

[dyresand]

I got talking cats except that they won't talk when others are around. I can prove it too. Just swing by sometime and watch. They will stop talking and look at you when you walk up to them.

I have a chubby little fluffy ginger and white boy who really talks to you when you're petting him.

He goes nuts from full meows to weird little squeaks.

[The Valkyrie]

[Smaug]

I think churches should have no special tax exempts. Churches are businesses. Period.

P.S. The clergy often try to validate the tax-exempt status citing that churches spend all their tithe money for charity. In reality they are in no way better than common secular businesses in that respect. Major businesses are also known for regularely donating money for charity.

[robvalue]

Seeing as it's christmas, and I'm in a festive mood, I'll make sure the churches I blow up today are evacuated first.