Posted on 06/29/2015 5:02:53 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross
For years conservatives and proponents of religious liberty in America have warned that if same-sex marriage became legal, the left would then pursue revoking the tax exempt status for religious institutions, particularly Christian churches, around the country.
Just days after the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that gay marriage is a constitutional right, progressive activists like Mark Oppenheimer of the New York Times are calling for tax exempt statutes to be stripped.
The Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage makes it clearer than ever that the government shouldn't be subsidizing religion and non-profits.
Rather than try to rescue tax-exempt status for organizations that dissent from settled public policy on matters of race or sexuality, we need to take a more radical step. It’s time to abolish, or greatly diminish, their tax-exempt statuses.
Defenders of tax exemptions and deductions argues that if we got rid of them charitable giving would drop. It surely would, although how much, we can’t say. But of course government revenue would go up, and that money could be used to, say, house the homeless and feed the hungry. We’d have fewer church soup kitchens — but countries that truly care about poverty don’t rely on churches to run soup kitchens.
So yes, the logic of gay-marriage rights could lead to a reexamination of conservative churches’ tax exemptions (although, as long as the IRS is afraid of challenging Scientology’s exemption, everyone else is probably safe). But when that day comes, it will be long overdue. I can see keeping some exemptions; hospitals, in particular, are an indispensable, and noncontroversial, public good. And localities could always carve out sensible property-tax exceptions for nonprofits their communities need. But it’s time for most nonprofits, like those of us who faithfully cut checks to them, to pay their fair share.
Incredible.
The left will claim they aren't singling out religious institutions through their calls for the revocation of tax exempt statuses because they include non-profits, but the fact is that a majority of non-profits in the country are religious. The Salvation Army, which truly helps the homeless and addicted clean up their lives and get off the streets, is one example.
Meanwhile, the ACLU said over the weekend it will no longer defend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in the 1990s after a unanimous vote in the Senate.
Although Justice Kennedy did carve out an exception for religious liberty in his opinion on same-sex marriage last week, it won't be enough to protect it going forward.
"Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned. The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered. The same is true of those who oppose same-sex marriage for other reasons. In turn, those who believe allowing same-sex marriage is proper or indeed essential, whether as a matter of religious conviction or secular belief, may engage those who disagree with their view in an open and searching debate. The Constitution, however, does not permit the State to bar same-sex couples from marriage on the same terms as accorded to couples of the opposite sex," Kennedy said in the opinion.
Religious liberty is under attack in America and the next five years will serve as a battleground to protect or destroy it. If religious liberty is in fact destroyed, America will no longer hold onto one of the most important principles that makes it an exceptional nation more tolerant than the rest in the world. We are at a tipping point.
Yep.
Christians could start to make it clear that there is a difference between marriage and holy matrimony. Its that simple.
Start with Islamic Mosques first.
faggot marriage has NEVER been about marriage but has always been about destroying the church
So churches will no longer be “ licensed” to perform “ marriage” which has now become a legal construct
Let the state be the issuer of “ marriage” licenses and let the churches provide religious service and religious sacraments to those who wish to consecrate their status in the eyes of God . Members of their parish in good standing who follow the doctrine of that faith
If it is a “ constitutional right” then who do people have to buy a state license to register it? Isn’t that more onerous than a voter id?
A seed has been planted. It will no doubt be watered and nurtured over the coming weeks and months until it bears fruit.
Good, then you can start with PBS/NPR and Planned Parenthood.
If you like your Christian faith you can keep your Christian faith. Oh, right…
You can’t make Christians perform holy matrimony ceremonies (unless Unitarian of course, and many will debate they are not Christians). This will stand until your denomination sells Christianity down the river, by voting in favor of homosexual marriage or allowing openly homosexual clergy in upcoming annual conferences. Liberals will intentfuly push to the to of church leadership to see it through. Congregations will run from one denomination to the next until they all are liberalized and crumbled, and then will find themselves meeting in small groups in homes just like it was back in the beginning days of the start of the church.
Meanwhile, we are being diverted from dwelling upon extremely dangerous to the US domestic and international matters by letting our illustrious best representatives that money can buy divert attention away from the disastrous trade deals, Iran negotiations and the Obamacare ruling.
Yes yes yes yes.
Good.
Let the government strip the tax provision from the churches. The churches will be freed from the onerous silencing of pastors and clergy. The pulpit is a strong voice for change and always has been, so restoring the freedom to challenge the all encompassing power of the state is the beginning of change for the better.
Calling people to a higher purpose and repentance outweighs any monetary gain from obeying a state imposed restriction for obedience to a tax statute.
Seeing that those people make up a tiny fraction of the population, and most are just in it for the sex, and not marriage, they can’t have any other reason to have ever pushed this.
“Let the state be the issuer of “ marriage” licenses and let the churches provide religious service and religious sacraments to those who wish to consecrate their status in the eyes of God.
A good idea, and one that solves the problem of devout widows and widowers who want to marry but will lose their late spouses pensions if they do.
While certainly this was true during the earlier cultural battle for marriage, that battle was lost in a slaughter. Now, the battle will be over the mere right to exist holding onto "archaic" ideas of a Creator and even the concepts of "holy" or "matrimony". The new forms of bias and discrimination will come like a tidal wave upon Christians to make the current bias' that have existed for years look like child's play ...
Wanna bet on that?
“Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!” Isaiah 5:8
First they came for your tax exemption. That is only the start.
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