Posted on 06/29/2015 8:21:39 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom
Lost in the celebrations over universal gay marriage, like abortion, being deemed a right found in the penumbras and emanations of the Constitution is the chilling effect the ruling has on religious liberty. In a telling exchange between the Obama administrations Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. and Justice Samuel Alito, detailed by Tom Blumer at Newsbusters.com, in which Verrilli admitted that churches could lose their tax exemptions if they refuse to perform gay weddings:
Justice Alito: Well, in the Bob Jones case, the Court held that a college was not entitled to taxexempt status if it opposed interracial marriage or interracial dating. So would the same apply to a university or a college if it opposed same-sex marriage?
General Verrilli: You know, I dont think I can answer that question without knowing more specifics, but its certainly going to be an issue. I dont deny that. I dont deny that, Justice Alito. It is it is going to be an issue.
So the administration admits that the tax exemption of institutions could be at risk if they refuse to acquiesce in the acceptance of gay marriages. There is no reason to assume that this mandate would not apply to institutions such as the Catholic Church. Those who think this is a red herring forget that this is the administration dragging the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of elderly nuns devoted to helping the aged poor, through the courts, because they wont comply with Obamacares contraception coverage mandate [...]
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
[[General Verrilli: You know, I dont think I can answer that question without knowing more specifics, but its certainly going to be an issue. I dont deny that. I dont deny that, Justice Alito. It is it is going to be an issue.]]
KNOWING that this ruling IS going to be an assault on religion- the MSM is silent- (actually they are quietly cheering those who are doing the assaulting) because it was initiated by their beloved dear leader-
Now compare that with how the left would be screaming bloody hell if a republican had tried the same crap- all of a sudden the left would be loudly proclaiming religious liberties are being assaulted-
EVIL has it’;s foot In the door folks- Nay- the door has been blown clean off it’s hinges, and the wolves that are the msm are salivating at the prospect of having lamb for dinner- The question is how many months will it take before Christian churches are fiend out of existence or the members jailed for violating the ILLEGALLY rewritten law-
Not only tax exemption is at stake but what is preached from the pulpit. The Court has now said that gay marriage is a civil right and to say otherwise from the pulpit is a punishable civil rights violation. Look at Canada where preaching against homosexuality is a prosecutable hate crime. Congress with the help of the Court has now passed laws that establish religious teaching totally trashing the First Amendment.
That’s a beautiful small church building. Will the congregation that meets there be able to pay the property taxes on the bulding and the land it rests on?
If not, that lovely biuilding will belong to the state or to another buyer to use for whatever purpose the new owner sees fit (except not as a place of worship for churches who disagree with same sex marriage).
Christians will survive. Giant churches might have a problem.
They do not care about gays. They are just using this issue so they can tax churches. It is all about the money. Just sit back and watch. Every issue is about getting more money from the serfs.
I want to hear the sermon at the Charleston Emanuel AME Church when they learn that they must have gay marriages.
Ansel12, I totally agree that God’s church will survive. Where did I say that it wouldn’t?
I am saying that removing the tax exempt status will hurt some churches, especially small churches with small congregations. Does that stop God’s work? No, but it may create financial hardships on some small churches to where they could lose their property if they cannot afford the property taxes.
It will also hurt smaller churches from being able to adequately support the pastor and his family because the cost of paying taxes will increase the expenses the church pays for everything - from paper, to Sunday School literature, to utilities, to any and everything the church does.
60 percent of American evangelical churches of all denominations consist of memberships of 100 or less. 35 percent have congregations of 500 to 100 people. So, that means that 94 to 95 percent of all evangelical churches have less that 500 members. My own church has about 50 in membership.
As I said, God’s work goes on and He can meet all our needs and more without money, I am just saying this will make things harder on smaller congregations financially.
The chance to show God whose side we're on? I know that's not much, but it's all I can come up with.
It looks like we have a SC making IMPORTANT decisions outside the realm of existing law and the Constitution.
America's SC is creating "America - the banana republic."
I don’t want the status to change, but I don’t see it as the problem that I thought it would be, when I was 20 or 30 years younger.
Christians are going to have their hands full in the future, and finding buildings and homes to meet in, will be one of the less important problems.
Remember this also affects Christian schools, orphanages,and hospitals, too. I agree as the scriptures say, “Where two or three are gathered in my Name. . .” and therefore having a place to worship isn’t the biggest problem, but there are far-reaching damages that will occur with removing the tax exempt status that churches have enjoyed since the founding of the nation.
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