Now what?

[Dystopia]

I don't think taxing churches is a church/state issue. Churches are not required in order to practice religion, which is what the separation guarantees. If that were the case, then I'd have to be given a church to practice my new religion I just came up with or else the government is interfering with my right to practice my religion. Churches are an unnecessary luxury, and unless they properly apply for charitable status they should be taxed on any income they make. Similarly, their books should be as open as other businesses. Secular law still applies to the way you practice your religion. People are still arrested for killing people in a church, so people should be taxed for making money in a church. Also, a church would expect the emergency services to help them, wouldn't they?

Also, to get this status from the government, I believe they have to declare you a "valid religion" or some such nonsense. That is prejudice against smaller religions that I just made up, isn't it? How is mine any less valid just because I have less members and history?

They get away with this shit for many reasons I think:

1- The state is concerned about the shitstorm that would follow if they started collecting taxes, including even more meddling in politics than they already do.

2- The very name of "seperation of church and state" is a bait and switch. It should be "separation of the right to practice religion and state". "The church" does not mean "churches". But when has semantic games ever got in the way of religion being dishonest?

3- Since 70% or so of Americans are Christian, as a nation they seem to struggle to appreciate the difference between "religious freedom" and "Christian rights". Since Christianity would be obviously affected the most, this could cause a lot of unrest.

Maybe once religion gets properly under control and becomes much more diverse, the taxes could be put in place.

I don't support taxing churches as a general rule for one main reason - IMO, only organizations and corporations whose primary goal is profit should be income taxed. Obviously the church's primary goal is to spread the Christian faith and convert everyone to Christianity, and profit comes as a nice addition or a basic necessity to fund and keep the church running. From my experience, most Catholic churches live on donations from believers, but it may be different in America since it seems to run like a business.

I think you're misunderstanding separation of Church and State a bit - It means, essentially, that while the State can't interfere with religious matters, religion can't interfere with the State as well - Religions are allowed to exist and practise cult and prayer as they please, and for that purpose they can create institutions to guide believers. I think you can have a church for your religion, but the issue is that in a democracy you need a minimum of people for anything, that's how it work unfortunately - If you could gather, say, 10000 people for the church of some god the government should allow you, but you must fund your own church.

Freedom of religion is a complicated issue in Law - It means 3 essential things (as I learned it) - Freedom to pick a religion, freedom to change your religion, and freedom to not have a religion/not believe. Obviously, any contract or act from any entity that deprives you of your right to have religious freedom is actionable and invalid. The biggest problem with freedom of religion is that it is not only the right to worship and believe but also to live your life your way according to what you believe, and this creates problems like (1) What objections are allowed? (2) Are you allowed to break the law? What about just minor laws? (3) When freedom of religion collides with another right, which prevails?