Thought provoking. Do you think your Pastor is up to the challenge? Are you willing to tithe if there's no tax deduction to "benefit" from?
I agree with everything except #2. Why relinquish your 501(c)(3) status at this point?
It’s time for every Christian Church and every other churches to defy these people. Do not obey them. Fight them in the courts, in every way you can legally or illegally. Strangle the court system with every legal way. This cannot stand.
Here are some other very concrete things churches can do:
https://www.libertyinstitute.org/church-audits
As I read through the details of the links on the various documents, I was struck and saddened by the thought that if our pastor tried to do this, he would likely ignite a fire storm. There are a lot of ‘Casual Christians’ warming the church benches and they would have a big problem with the strict interpretation of the Bible as set forth in the documents. This is also why the homosexual/abortion ‘revolution’ has been successful.
Churches should immediately get out of the marriage license business. Church members can receive the sacrament of marrige in their church. I don’t see how the government can force a religion to bestow a sacrament of their religion on a couple that does comply with the laws of that religion.
Marriage licenses can be had for everybody at the city hall. Nobody, including churches, is preventing homo-sexuals from going to the city hall and getting a marriage license.
At the same time churches are not for rent as wedding chapels to whoever wanders in and decides to get married in one of them.
My opinion is screw the government and their “Tax Exemptions”. A church can easily become a zero profit business in a flash.
The IRS threat is an empty threat. Pastors can just tell the flock to use the ten percent they were giving for their own charity. No money, no tax.
Cease calling it marriage. Rename the ceremony God-bonding or, better yet, Levitical Union or something more eloquent but incorporating an inescapable reference to traditional marriage. Inventing a neologism allows one to define it. Define it as one man (cis-male if necessary) and one woman, (cis-female). Refuse all others.
Very good. Everything said is absolutely true and wisdom to heed.
someone should start a thread to gauge our nation's church body this first sunday of services...
Your suggestions speak to the physical aspects of the issue. It’s time for pastors to speak to the spiritual side and start teaching 1 Thess 4:1-8.