Posted on 09/15/2005 5:12:20 AM PDT by Santiago de la Vega
Where's the ACLU? This co-mingling of government and religious resources must stop! Church groups, asked by local and state officials to take charge of feeding programs at government shelters like the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, also held worship services and passed out Bibles. Pastors prayed with evacuees, offering spiritual as well as material help. The horror!
Where is the press vigilance? Instead of exposing this blatant attempt to destroy the separation of church and state, reporters quoted New Orleans evacuees such as Dorothy Lewis welcoming the Christian service because she (obviously with false consciousness) believed that God saved her family: "I can't go to sleep for thanking him. I wake up in the morning thanking him."
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
What evidence do we have that this argument is wrong?
The answer to both questions is contained in one simple phrase: TAX EXEMPT.
The reason religions are tax exempt is they do the work the government should be doing, but they do it better, faster, kinder, and at much less cost.
Notice the work done by religions is a a substitute for government programs and you see that the argument proposed is just confused. Religious activity in this area is a PUBLIC GOOD.
At most, we want to monitor religious activity to make sure they're not advocating criminal activity, as the Islamic madrassas do. If they do, pull their tax exemption.
But, after that, leave 'em alone, they're not just doing the Lord's work, they're doing Uncle Sam's work too.
The reason that Congress made a tax exempt status for religions is so they could control them through the veiled threat of revoking it.
If you object to their religious nature, don't accept their aid. Problem solved.
Actually, I see the satire in your statement, but to be more correct, it was conceived to encourage more private giving so those religious groups would be more capable of doing just what they do - seek to relieve suffering at a level where governments always fail.
It is the secular of society which now threaten to use the exemption as a carrot/stick to keep the religious out of government.
Government within itself is a thoughtless, mindless entity with no purpose, no objective other than that which those who are its leaders impart to it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.