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How can there be pressure towards not believing something or questioning it?
When college professors start their science class by saying "If you believe in God, you're stupid!" that is pressure to go atheist. In this day and age, atheists are viewed as the intelligent ones and theists are viewed as ignorant. If you don't want to be viewed as ignorant, there is a pressure to go atheist. The reality is there are intelligent and ignorant people in both camps.
And if the government started taxing churches, it would force most of the smaller ones to close. In many smaller churches, the money collected in the plate barely pays to keep it running. The pastor also has a full time job outside of the church. It would be disastrous for them to be taxed.
When college professors start their science class bysaying "If you believe in God, you're stupid!" that is pressure to go atheist. In this day and age, atheists are viewed as the intelligent ones and theists are viewed as ignorant. If you don't want to be viewed as ignorant, there is a pressure to go atheist. The reality is there are intelligent and ignorant people in both camps.
And if the government started taxing churches, it would force most of the smaller ones to close. In many smaller churches, the money collected in the plate barely pays to keep it running. The pastor also has a full time job outside of the church. It would be disastrous for them to be taxed.
You have heard this?...( the bolded part ) I doubt it...I say your making it up.
When college professors start their science class by saying "If you believe in God, you're stupid!" that is pressure to go atheist. In this day and age, atheists are viewed as the intelligent ones and theists are viewed as ignorant. If you don't want to be viewed as ignorant, there is a pressure to go atheist. The reality is there are intelligent and ignorant people in both camps.
And if the government started taxing churches, it would force most of the smaller ones to close. In many smaller churches, the money collected in the plate barely pays to keep it running. The pastor also has a full time job outside of the church. It would be disastrous for them to be taxed.
Prove that this happened; not some anecdotal information, something real.
By the time people are in college, they have their own mind, and I hope they are able to make decisions for themselves.
Oh, the poor religious people, they're being persecuted.
Churches should be taxed.
They are not special. If there is one word of politics uttered from the pulpit, all churches of that denomination should lose their tax-free status.
Last edited by chielgirl; 04-30-2008 at 08:58 PM..
Although I can understand the concern for some of the smaller churches that may go out of business in regards to taxation, I can only wonder at how much "book-cooking" goes on at these massive mega churches I see sprouting up all over the place.
There's a Southern Baptist church in an extremely wealthy part of town where I live that makes me wonder how much income it gets from the parishioners that needn't be taxed. You should see this place and the cars that drive in there every Sunday. I can't help but feel like these places are becoming a dime a dozen in America and it makes me wonder how much better our economy would be if we flat-taxed (even 5%) of what these churches bring in.
On top of that, the Catholic Church is by many guesstimates to be one of the most profitable organizations in the world and I wonder how much a taxation on their churches would actually hurt the church.
I think that if the churches really cared about doing something good (especially for this country) they wouldn't have a problem being taxed. I mean, when we think about it, you can write off any donations made to churches on your tax return, the churches don't have to pay a cent of taxes on their income from this, and so it seems there's this massive free trade of money going around that could do so much good in this country and other countries. It almost seems like the perfect method of money laundering to me....
There are generally some limits to which you can donate (speaking cash here). I believe you can only donate like 45-50% of your AGI and it still be tax deductible on your side..
I have no problem with charities not paying taxes. If a church has a non-profit status then I'm all for them having to list their charity "outflows" if you get my drift.
As long as they don't involve themselves with politics.
Once politics is involved, all churches from the denomination lose their taxfree status.
Another good post from chielgirl. I tried to give you a rep point but couldn't. What's really irritating is that churches have a way of supporting political causes or candidates without coming right out and announcing it. A sermon can contain subtle references to current issues and why Christians should feel one way or the other without stating that the congregation should vote for a particular candidate or for or against a particular proposition in an election. Of course there are preachers who do openly say that they support certain candidates and I don't think they lose their tax exempt status. The late Jerry Falwell comes to mind.
The fact is that the general public considers us atheists to be vermin. We were recently named as the most loathed category in America, somewhere below even terrorists, IIRC.
No politician is likely to pander to us, and for good reason: it would be poltical suicide.
I found this and it seems to counter the theory that an atheist or nonreligous person could be elected to office. Looks like a lot already have held the highest office. I think they would not pass as VERMIN.
1- Thomas Jefferson was a non religious President. He was the 3rd American President and called himself a Deist.
2- James Madison was an out spoken Deist
1751-1836] American president and political theorist
3- John Adams was the 2nd President of the United States and an outspoken anti Christian. Here is one of his statements “The Divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for Absurdity”
4- Abraham Lincoln also an American president.
From material presented by James Haughty in his book on Lincoln, it would seem that Lincoln as a young man was an avid Anti-Christian and most likely an atheist. He remained anti-religious and rejected organized religion all his life.
The following are also listed as Deist:
George Washington
Ulysses Grant,
Theodore Roosevelt
I think you are right in relation to today's political breakdown, and rightwing religious groups. The future looks much brighter. I read statistics that show a drop in religious or people who follow a god, and the rise of a population of non-believers. The numbers show an average shift in the last ten years of approximately 1% shift per year in each direction. With the non religious in that 16 to 23% range now in 20 years we will have sufficient voting power to correct a lot of problems. Barring a religious war I stand a good chance to live long enough to see that new world.
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