Does Faith = Hate?
The above is from The American Conservative Sept/Oct issue. Why do they even need to ask this question? How obvious does obvious need to be before it becomes to be taken as a given? Chick-Fil-A, anybody? The Roman church having fits over possibly having to provide birth-control to employees?
From the article: “Interviews with legal scholars, activists, and other social and religious conservatives involved in the fight against same-sex marriage confirm this grim outlook. In the courts, and in the court of public opinion, the momentum towards same-sex marriage has been clear. A consensus is emerging on the right that the most important goal at this stage is not to stop gay marriage entirely but to secure as much liberty as possible for dissenting religious and social conservatives while there is still time.”
In other words, they insist on the right to hate. Since when did the right to hate become something “good, Christian people” feel they should fight for? Of course, they would never word it that way.
They know what is right because The Lord said so. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.
From the article: “Religious schools and charities could suffer penalties such as the loss of government funding or state credentials necessary to operate. They could also have their tax-exempt status taken from them.”
Hey! I finally found something worth praying for! I know it won't work, but still.... 'Tis a consumation devoutly to be wished!
Once more: “The latter actually happened to a group of New Jersey Methodists in the 2007 Ocean Grove case. That state court decision held that the New Jersey government was permitted to withdraw a special tax exemption, tied to public access, from a church-owned pavilion that declined to host two gay commitment ceremonies. What happened next, says Wilson, set an ominous precedent.”
“The local taxing authority then removed the local exemption for ad valorem taxes for the pavilion, and then billed them for back taxes,” she says. “That tax benefit is one of the most substantial benefits religious groups receive from the government. Although the group had elected a local tax status tied to public access, if state and local governments use this as a guide for how to deal with religious organizations that don’t accept same-sex marriage, that could be a big deal.”
Do I dare hope? I have a real problem with religious groups getting away with tax breaks as it is. Why can't the Catholic church pay taxes on all that prime real-estate they own? Religion is racket, plain and simple. If they had to pay what they owe, and that got spent on social service programs, that would be such a help. As it is, the taxpayers have to subsidize these houses of superstition and prejudice.
Russel Moore, the new head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is trying to finesse the issue in Washington. “The problem is that Evangelicals have taken a God-and-country, Moral Majority stance for so long, one that assumes the rest of the culture shares our values, and that it’s only small groups of elites out there who are out of step,” Moore says.
“I tell them you have to understand the mindset of the other side,” he contiues. “They see this as the equivalent of the civil rights movement. If the Christian definition of marriage becomes the equivalent of KKK ideology, then religious liberty will be very hard to defend.”
Twice in the last decade, the Supreme Court found that laws restricting gay rights were based entirely on animus and served no rational purpose. If the justices apply this reasoning to the core of marriage law, religious conservatives may well find little asylum outside the walls of their churches.
Let it be so. I always enjoy a little schadenfreude.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/a...aith-hate/
The above is from The American Conservative Sept/Oct issue. Why do they even need to ask this question? How obvious does obvious need to be before it becomes to be taken as a given? Chick-Fil-A, anybody? The Roman church having fits over possibly having to provide birth-control to employees?
From the article: “Interviews with legal scholars, activists, and other social and religious conservatives involved in the fight against same-sex marriage confirm this grim outlook. In the courts, and in the court of public opinion, the momentum towards same-sex marriage has been clear. A consensus is emerging on the right that the most important goal at this stage is not to stop gay marriage entirely but to secure as much liberty as possible for dissenting religious and social conservatives while there is still time.”
In other words, they insist on the right to hate. Since when did the right to hate become something “good, Christian people” feel they should fight for? Of course, they would never word it that way.
They know what is right because The Lord said so. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.
From the article: “Religious schools and charities could suffer penalties such as the loss of government funding or state credentials necessary to operate. They could also have their tax-exempt status taken from them.”
Hey! I finally found something worth praying for! I know it won't work, but still.... 'Tis a consumation devoutly to be wished!
Once more: “The latter actually happened to a group of New Jersey Methodists in the 2007 Ocean Grove case. That state court decision held that the New Jersey government was permitted to withdraw a special tax exemption, tied to public access, from a church-owned pavilion that declined to host two gay commitment ceremonies. What happened next, says Wilson, set an ominous precedent.”
“The local taxing authority then removed the local exemption for ad valorem taxes for the pavilion, and then billed them for back taxes,” she says. “That tax benefit is one of the most substantial benefits religious groups receive from the government. Although the group had elected a local tax status tied to public access, if state and local governments use this as a guide for how to deal with religious organizations that don’t accept same-sex marriage, that could be a big deal.”
Do I dare hope? I have a real problem with religious groups getting away with tax breaks as it is. Why can't the Catholic church pay taxes on all that prime real-estate they own? Religion is racket, plain and simple. If they had to pay what they owe, and that got spent on social service programs, that would be such a help. As it is, the taxpayers have to subsidize these houses of superstition and prejudice.
Russel Moore, the new head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is trying to finesse the issue in Washington. “The problem is that Evangelicals have taken a God-and-country, Moral Majority stance for so long, one that assumes the rest of the culture shares our values, and that it’s only small groups of elites out there who are out of step,” Moore says.
“I tell them you have to understand the mindset of the other side,” he contiues. “They see this as the equivalent of the civil rights movement. If the Christian definition of marriage becomes the equivalent of KKK ideology, then religious liberty will be very hard to defend.”
Twice in the last decade, the Supreme Court found that laws restricting gay rights were based entirely on animus and served no rational purpose. If the justices apply this reasoning to the core of marriage law, religious conservatives may well find little asylum outside the walls of their churches.
Let it be so. I always enjoy a little schadenfreude.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/a...aith-hate/
“To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation—is that good for the world?”
― Christopher Hitchens
"That fear first created the gods is perhaps as true as anything so brief could be on so great a subject". - George Santayana
"If this is the best God can do, I'm not impressed". - George Carlin
― Christopher Hitchens
"That fear first created the gods is perhaps as true as anything so brief could be on so great a subject". - George Santayana
"If this is the best God can do, I'm not impressed". - George Carlin
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