I dunno. I'm one of those who says it's ok for churches to stay tax-free provided they stay out of politics.
Unfortunately, that isn't happenig AT ALL! Every president we've had has been Christian and there's no way they could get elected if they were anything else (except maybe Jewish, but even that's a maybe). Nearly everyone in congress is Christian. Not only are they Christian, but they use their religion like a club in their elections. Churches directly tell their parishioners who to vote for to the point that they have several political action committees for Christians (and other religious groups, but they aren't as big).
So, yeah, if a church can't stay out of government, the government should stay out of church and tax the fuck out of them. Start with the Mormons and Catholics who have spent a small fortune fighting against the legalization of same sex marriage.
Unfortunately, that isn't happenig AT ALL! Every president we've had has been Christian and there's no way they could get elected if they were anything else (except maybe Jewish, but even that's a maybe). Nearly everyone in congress is Christian. Not only are they Christian, but they use their religion like a club in their elections. Churches directly tell their parishioners who to vote for to the point that they have several political action committees for Christians (and other religious groups, but they aren't as big).
So, yeah, if a church can't stay out of government, the government should stay out of church and tax the fuck out of them. Start with the Mormons and Catholics who have spent a small fortune fighting against the legalization of same sex marriage.
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"If you cling to something as the absolute truth and you are caught in it, when the truth comes in person to knock on your door you will refuse to let it in." ~ Siddhartha Gautama
"If you cling to something as the absolute truth and you are caught in it, when the truth comes in person to knock on your door you will refuse to let it in." ~ Siddhartha Gautama