(April 16, 2016 at 4:15 pm)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote:(April 16, 2016 at 4:37 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Of course, there's an option to taxing churches. Allow them to keep their tax-exempt status, in return for which no churches or church members may access publicly-funded utilities or services. This means that no one may drive to church on a road built with tax monies, may connect to an electrical grid built with tax money, or may send their children to publically-funded schools. Further, no church or church member may call on the services of the police or the fire brigade, or utilize publically financed medical services. They may not ride a train (surface or underground) or a bus operated or subsidized by any level of government. They may not take part in government insurance or pension schemes, and may not seek help from government authorities in times of disaster.You forgot the big one: no church member can be a politician or public official of any kind.
I cannot enter my local cinema without buying a ticket, so I fail to see why accepting a delusional fairy tale should allow religionists to make me buy their ticket for them (this bit is a metaphor - it isn't really about cinema tickets).
Boru
Would you extend that to others who don't pay taxes -- say, the poor?