Posted on 09/30/2012 5:16:30 PM PDT by Renfield
You can understand the German Bishops fighting to keep the tax since some bishops live very, very comfortably from it.
Really? Would tend to think thats covered by the establishment clause as made applicable to the states under the Incorporation Doctrine. Obviously one out could be support for all religions regardless of type but then you'd have to have states directing tax revenue to radical Muslims, Jim Jones-types, etc.
Really? Would tend to think thats covered by the establishment clause as made applicable to the states under the Incorporation Doctrine. Obviously one out could be support for all religions regardless of type but then you'd have to have states directing tax revenue to radical Muslims, Jim Jones-types, etc.
On the other hand because LBJ managed as a U.S. senator to put an unconstitutional clause into the U.S. tax code churches in the U.S. would be wise to the pay tax over being silenced. The smart thing would have been for churches to have fought his amendment. Ironic that LBJ did this when FDR solicited clergy to talk to their churches about Social Security and other New Deal programs which was a political agenda.
More anti-Catholic bigotry.
BTW, spellcheck is our friend.
More ignorant Know-Nothingism.
We Catholics find your hate despicable. But we’ll pray for you in any event.
You might want to go read up on a little thing called “incorporation”, sweetcheeks. There certainly is something in the Constitution that forbids me being taxed to support your church, or anyone’s church for that matter.
You want a church? Get out your checkbook and leave me the hell alone.
Jesus and his cat o nine tails would be very busy right now.
PING!!!
You might want to see this...
Troubling, very troubling.
Let’s say you own a restaurant. By your argument, you would have no problem with customers who have money in their pockets not paying their food bills, they could come in and use the restroom for free, they could hold a wedding there and use the heat/a.c. along with lighting and water for free, make a big mess and leave it for you to clean up, and they could use your waiters without paying them (hey,kind and generous owner that you are, you would love to pay them out of your own pocket).
No thanks, hon. History is what it is. Deal with it.
Everything I read says this is an ADDED TAX, not a redirection of your tax (like the check-box for public campaign financing on a US Income Tax form is a redirection of some of your tax).
I think you are the one who is ignorant of the issue here... either that or all the Germans quoted in all the articles I have read (who live there and actually have to pay the tax) are wrong.
I’m betting that it is you who is wrong, not the German taxpayers.
The deal between me and the restaurant is between me and the restaurant. If I want to eat, I pay. Although there is (of course) an added sales tax, there is no direct intervention of the state collecting the restaurant bill. There isn’t a Menu Authority that I have to register with in order to place my order and there isn’t a State Payment Official who I pay the bill to.
Your analogy is just plain stupid. This is the church in league with the devil and shame on you for not seeing it for what it is.
Nonsense. There are armed guards at the door to your restaurant, collecting the bill before I enter.
What I have a problem with is the Govt collecting a tax from me and handing it over to the church. Then the church has the gall to complain that I neither tithe nor make extra donations.
Hello!!! I think I already have given! When my dues are forced by law, don’t expect anything more.
If I were an anti-cleric I’d devise a system where the church becomes dependent on state funds and force people to supply those funds by paying an additional tax if they declare themselves members.
You can see several benefits. First you discourage people from becoming members. Second you generate resentment among some members who would not resent freely giving on there own. Third you remove as much feeling of generosity as possible from those who give. The benefits for those who dislike religion just seem to go on and on.
I don’t know if you reduce your tax bill by renouncing church membership, but that choice seems to be the most important one for practical, social engineering consequences.
Obviously, Germany’s system is not our system and I am not endorsing it. But it’s their system, so they have to deal with it. I was addressing the ones that NEITHER pay the tax or donate. Remember, those people are paying NOTHING, but still want to take part in what the Church offers.
Reality check: churches cannot operate for free. Like every other operation they need money to survive. I see an aspect of this in my own church. Some people simply do not pay or underpay. I’m not talking about the ones that can’t afford it or the truly poor-—I’m talking about people that think nothing of spending 5 bucks on a coffee or 10 bucks for a movie and then ignore the collection plate on Sunday. They want others to foot the bill for them. If that idea is stupid or in the devil’s league, so be it.
If restaurants charged for prayer or blessings, I’d wouldn’t go there.
To compare people who claim to be men and women of God, to waiters is just plain weird.
analogy=a comparison of certain similarities between two things which are otherwise unlike.
You missed it by a mile.
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