Book threatens to expose the Religious Right as lying hypocrites

[calmdude]

Originally Posted by BigJon3475

And of course the loony left would never think of doing anything at all like that...

Of course they do things like that but they are generally far less pompous/ arrogaat/ superior about themselves ...... the holier-than-thou attitude invites others to take a harder look at the reality.

[pollyrobin]

Originally Posted by Dreamer222

There were catholic bishops involved in the writing of the senate health care bill which is why the wording on abortion funding was changed. They should lose there tax exempt status immediately.

I think all churches should loose their tax exempt status especially for property tax. They receive all of the services of a community; fire, police roads, etc.. but share none of the burden of paying for these services. They should pay their fair share, whether politically active or not.

[BigJon3475]

Originally Posted by pollyrobin

I think all churches should loose their tax exempt status especially for property tax. They receive all of the services of a community; fire, police roads, etc.. but share none of the burden of paying for these services. They should pay their fair share, whether politically active or not.

Tax Exemptions of Religious Property.—Every State and the District of Columbia provide for tax exemptions for religious institutions, and the history of such exemptions goes back to the time of our establishment as a polity. The only expression by a Supreme Court Justice prior to 1970 was by Justice Brennan, who deemed tax exemptions constitutional because the benefit conferred was incidental to the religious character of the institutions concerned. 178 Then, in 1970, a nearly unanimous Court sustained a state exemption
from real or personal property taxation of ‘‘property used exclusively for religious, educational or charitable purposes’’ owned by a corporation or association which was conducted exclusively for one or more of these purposes and did not operate for profit. 179 The first prong of a two-prong argument saw the Court adopting Justice Brennan’s rationale. Using the secular purpose and effect test, Chief Justice Burger noted that the purpose of the exemption was not to single out churches for special favor; instead, the exemption applied to a broad category of associations having many common features and all dedicated to social betterment. Thus, churches as well as museums, hospitals, libraries, charitable organizations, professional associations, and the like, all non-profit, and all having a beneficial and stabilizing influence in community life, were to be encouraged by being treated specially in the tax laws. The primary effect of the exemptions was not to aid religion; the primary effect was secular and any assistance to religion was merely incidental. 180
For the second prong, the Court created a new test, the entanglement test, 181 by which to judge the program. There was some entanglement whether there were exemptions or not, Chief Justice Burger continued, but with exemptions there was minimal involvement. But termination of exemptions would deeply involve government in the internal affairs of religious bodies, because evaluation of religious properties for tax purposes would be required and there would be tax liens and foreclosures and litigation concerning such matters. 182

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/pdf2002/019.pdf (broken link)

[pollyrobin]

If churches, museums, hospitals, libraries, charitable organizations, etc are all dedicated to the social betterment, they do so at their own free will. We either all pay property tax or we all do not pay property tax. Judge Burger was pragmatic more than legislative - and he was wrong.