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I might have problems with Jackson or Sharpton, or maybe i don't. Maybe i love them. Maybe i hate them. But you'll never know either way.
Now if you can prove that they've committed a crime against anyone, i'll be more forthcoming.
Why won't you say? If you think Christianity has been a negative force on the black community and that pastors and leaders of churches have been nothing but hucksters, what do you think of the people I listed?
Are they hucksters too? Two out of three are pretty well off. What is your take? Why are you avoiding the question?
I am not talking about any church that preaches against homosexuality. We have freedom of religion in this country and people should have the right to believe that its a sin. What I am talking about are the churches that are legitimate hate groups. Churches like Westboro or Steven Anderson's church in Arizona. I am thinking of churches like Kevin Swanson's church in Colorado. The kind of churches that call for homosexuals to be executed. The kind that run conversion therapy camps that abuse children. These churches are very dangerous and they are getting by tax free. At what point does a church become a malignant cult and is no longer a protected religion? I think this is a discussion that needs to be had.
I am not for ending tax exempt status for all religion but I think hate groups should lose tax exempt status. I would also apply this to the large megachurches where the pastor lives in a mansion and drives a Mercedes. Those churches should be taxed.
Thoughts?
Personally I have never seen in person churches like like Westboro or Steven Anderson's church. Most every Church I have been to these days are very accepting of gays. The first Wedding I went to was in the 80s in Arizona with a Lesbian pastor. Every year the list grows, but some act like its the opposite A small portion from my home and current state:
Didn't you just undermine your own point right there? Churches still felt the sting of Jim Crow.
Some did. Particularly the ones down south.
But that's got nothing to do with their ripoff of the black community. That was then....this is now. And NOW, they've become too expensive. Black folks need to chuck it. Whites have become strongly secular, but for some reason, you think blacks should remain tied to the church as if we need it more than everyone else. We don't. Black folks need less religious dogma, not more. No savior is coming back to save us...ever. If we haven't figured that out by now, we're in sad shape.
Time to put those billions to better use. Like dumping it in the ocean.
Quote:
Originally Posted by radiolibre99
But you're acting as though the Church was always this huckster force sucking the life out of the black community, contributing nothing. The Church was there during slavery, there during the Civil Rights struggle, with pastors you call hucksters risking their life as much as anyone else.
It was a huckster in large measure back then too. I used to listen to the old black folks in my family talking about how men often became preachers because they didn't want to do hard work.
The church was there during slavery? LMAO...you kidding me? What church? The main churches in the south were PRO-Slavery, and thought that slavery was a divine right. Yeah, church was there during slavery alright. That's the problem.
I am not talking about any church that preaches against homosexuality. We have freedom of religion in this country and people should have the right to believe that its a sin. What I am talking about are the churches that are legitimate hate groups. Churches like Westboro or Steven Anderson's church in Arizona. I am thinking of churches like Kevin Swanson's church in Colorado. The kind of churches that call for homosexuals to be executed. The kind that run conversion therapy camps that abuse children. These churches are very dangerous and they are getting by tax free. At what point does a church become a malignant cult and is no longer a protected religion? I think this is a discussion that needs to be had.
I am not for ending tax exempt status for all religion but I think hate groups should lose tax exempt status. I would also apply this to the large megachurches where the pastor lives in a mansion and drives a Mercedes. Those churches should be taxed.
Thoughts?
Runs head first into the Establishment clause, and then it runs head first into the Free Exercise clause.
But that's got nothing to do with their ripoff of the black community. That was then....this is now. And NOW, they've become too expensive. Black folks need to chuck it. Whites have become strongly secular, but for some reason, you think blacks should remain tied to the church as if we need it more than everyone else. We don't. Black folks need less religious dogma, not more. No savior is coming back to save us...ever. If we haven't figured that out by now, we're in sad shape.
Time to put those billions to better use. Like dumping it in the ocean.
It was a huckster in large measure back then too. I used to listen to the old black folks in my family talking about how men often became preachers because they didn't want to do hard work.
The church was there during slavery? LMAO...you kidding me? What church? The main churches in the south were PRO-Slavery, and thought that slavery was a divine right. Yeah, church was there during slavery alright. That's the problem.
Black people didn't become more secular, they're still spiritual just less religious in the sense of being tied to an institution. They know hucksters are in their midst but they can differentiate between that and what they believe to be true if they're Christian. It's that simple.
And the only churches weren't white run churches back in the days of slavery. Black people had their own congregations. Many abolitionist movements were formed in the church.
Why won't you say? If you think Christianity has been a negative force on the black community and that pastors and leaders of churches have been nothing but hucksters, what do you think of the people I listed?
Are they hucksters too? Two out of three are pretty well off. What is your take? Why are you avoiding the question?
Sorry I don't know your policy....
Because the question is designed for me to put down black people that you don't particularly care for. I don't play that game. If you don't like Sharpton or Jackson, that's your right.
Again, i said what i said about churches ripping people off to the tune of billions. This is about a systemic problem in the community. If you have evidence that Jackson or Sharpton have done something wrong relative to fiduciary matters (ripping black people off), then present it. I'll comment on those charges.
But am i gonna call them hucksters? Uhh...no. Well, not to you anyway.
The churches that would make this list are already pretty political and maybe could lose their status under the Johnson Amendment if they would actually enforce it. They obviously have never enforced it because we could never have made it here in this country if it would have been. Today, conservative Christianity and Republican politics are virtually one and the same.
What you say though is one reason I don't say remove it for all churches. Removing it from the most extreme churches is a way to put a stamp of disapproval on those churches and help combat homophobia.
Black people didn't become more secular, they're still spiritual just less religious in the sense of being tied to an institution. They know hucksters are in their midst but they can differentiate between that and what they believe to be true if they're Christian. It's that simple.
And the only churches weren't white run churches back in the days of slavery. Black people had their own congregations. Many abolitionist movements were formed in the church.
No, it's pretty apparent that they DON'T know the hucksters at all. Not when a pastor in a congregation from a lower working class community in Atlanta somehow finds a way to get people to give him a new jet.
Black folks need to become more secular just as whites have. In fact, they need to be far more secular than whites by a long shot. The church is killing the community.
Again, i know that blacks had congregations during slavery. That's the problem...taking on your oppressors faith when they only taught it to you to keep you docile. That damn docility remains a problem even until this day.
No, it's pretty apparent that they DON'T know the hucksters at all. Not when a pastor in a congregation from a lower working class community in Atlanta somehow finds a way to get people to give him a new jet.
Black folks need to become more secular just as whites have. In fact, they need to be far more secular than whites by a long shot. The church is killing the community.
Again, i know that blacks had congregations during slavery. That's the problem...taking on your oppressors faith when they only taught it to you to keep you docile. That damn docility remains a problem even until this day.
That doesn't just happen to black people though. It happens to people of all colors. This isn't a black specific issue. You know you guys accuse white people of being eurocentric in all their thinking but when it comes to issues it seems you're thinking a bit too afro-centric, no? I mean black people are experiencing no more an issue than white people and hispanic people are when it comes to hucksters in religious robes.
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A small portion from my home and current state: 
