Posted on 06/29/2015 3:49:49 PM PDT by Laissez-faire capitalist
While the Supreme Court of the United States ruled Friday that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states, several religious leaders in Corsicana said Monday they will not hold a same-sex wedding service in their churches. ...
Pastors of several churches cited Biblical teachings for their stance. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at corsicanadailysun.com ...
If a for-profit corporation can claim religious exemption on grounds of closely held religious beliefs, then I imagine that non-profits (churches) should be able to cite the Hobby Lobby ruling to state that gay people can get married at churches that are already performing same-sex weddings or they can go to a justice of the peace and get married --- and so on.
I imagine that the Hobby Lobby ruling will mean that no churches which have a closely held religious belief against same-sex weddings will be forced to perform them.
Can they survive without tax-exempt status?
Barack can now simply issue an Executive Order directing the IRS to revoke the exemptions of all churches that don’t endorse same-sex marriage.
These are strange days. Don’t suppose anything or take anything for granted. Nothing makes sense anymore.
Hope it holds. But it appears now that the LW agenda is to silence the Church, through elimination of tax status, and lawsuits. Even the ACLU has said it will not defend the Church on this issue. We are about to become persecuted. Hang on, it’s going to be a wild ride. The rest of the world is just now embracing Jesus Christ, and the US is about to outlaw Christianity.
It will come down to “closely held religious beliefs” and not tax status.
Would Hobby Lobby arguing that "Closely held-religious beliefs" preclude them from hiring an African American? No, it would not. And the SCOTUS opinion on deviant marriage placed being homosexual on the same playing field as race. We all lose with this opinion, and we WILL soon see the loss of tax exempt status on churches.
Wrong. Again, this ruling placed being deviant on the same level as race. Hobby Lobby would NOT win in a case based on race, despite "closely held religious objections", and they won't win the same against deviants.
Churches should stop having anything to do with the government paperwork. A religious ceremony in church is obviously protected by the First Amendment. The married couple should take care of the government paperwork on their own.
A simple way around it is the "gift" exemption of $20,000 per year.
You are giving a gift to your church. IRS need not apply.
The issue of churches being tax exempt has been a war fought for quite some time and liberals have fought to eliminate churches being tax exempt for quite some time and courts have stayed away from it or outright rejected taking it on.
BTW, if churches aren’t making a profit, and aren’t supposed to be making a profit anyway, how can they be hit very hard if they end up having to pay taxes and thus become a Hobby Lobby-type business?
That (the Hobby Lobby ruling) hasn’t seemed to help other businesses like wedding planners and wedding venues. They are losing their businesses in holding onto their beliefs.
Apples and oranges. The hobby lobby was protected by an overreaching state that had other methods to accomplish.
Don’t forget that there were previous ruling that ran directly against the reasoning of Friday’s ruling, and they were tossed aside without a second thought. So “Hobby Lobby” only matters until the next case comes before the Supremes and they disregard it.
Deductible contributions.
“BTW, if churches aren’t making a profit, and aren’t supposed to be making a profit anyway, how can they be hit very hard if they end up having to pay taxes and thus become a Hobby Lobby-type business?”
Donors lose the ability to get a charitable deduction.
Someone else raised the gift tax exclusion, but that only is effective for estate and gift taxes, not income taxes.
Churches will still be hit with real property taxes even if they are losing money. As well as other taxes not based on making a profit.
The question also is what will be allowed to be deducted against revenues once they are considered a for profit business.
[Can they survive without tax-exempt status?]
Malachi 3:10
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
Two sides to nonprofit. One is income tax which is probably non issue for most churches. The second is tax deductions which is an issue for members.
“BTW, if churches aren’t making a profit, and aren’t supposed to be making a profit anyway, how can they be hit very hard if they end up having to pay taxes and thus become a Hobby Lobby-type business?”
Donations become taxable income, and are not tax-deductible for the donors (neither are gifts, like vehicles, food, etc), so obviously donations will drop. Expenses now have to be distinguished between deductible and non-deductible, and the churches will have to hire accountants to file business tax returns, calculate depreciation of assets, etc. Minimum wage laws and all the other federal employment regulations apply, so forget volunteer Sunday school teachers, etc.
Those who tithe do so on the scriptural belief that they will be blessed by God according to what the book of Malachi says concerning tithing.
I have often wondered why they would seek a blessing from the state/govt when God’s blessing should be more than enough.
How can they lose money if they put their trust in God? Whatever happened to Divine Providence?
How many times have I heard my own pastor say that God will take care of everything if you just put your trust in him? Many.
I guess he will find out if things don’t go well for him and others.
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