[Alex Murphy]

I do not think churches should have tax exempt status. It is a way for the government to have their boots on the throats of the pastors and other church leaders.

There is a tremendous difference between religious liberty and religious toleration. Until the last century, our civil government recognized and behaved as if our churches enjoyed a co-sovereignty in the land, meaning churches were not beholden to the state for their existence. A church's tax-exemption (even without a 501(c)3 filing) was an assumed status made by both parties, because the civil government recognized that a church owed it's taxes to another Lord, and not to the civil government itself.

Today, however, the civil government decrees that it can award or withhold tax exemption to churches, based upon the terms of the 501(c)3 rules. This is not liberty - this is toleration. If a church becomes intolerable to the government, the government can tax it or even seize it's property. In practice, the civil government behaves as if it is God, demanding tithes from all in exchange for sustenance.

It is my belief that all Trinitarian churches should enjoy an automatic tax-free status with the civil government. Then again, it's also my belief that the civil government should formally declare the Lord Jesus Christ as it's sovereign head, and not tax it's citizenry any more than 10%. If the civil government insists on behaving as if it is God, then I'm in favor of churches appeasing it with tax monies in exchange for avoiding conflicts re "free speech rights".

[DaveyB]

I am part of a denomination that by our constitution forbids incorporation, because:

1. A civil magistrate has no more authority to declare by the power of law the legitimacy of a church of Christ, than the church has authority to declare the legitimacy of a civil magistrate over and against another. They are two distinct and separate governments instituted by God with different jurisdictions. While the church has a duty to declare the law of God even in the halls of the civil magistrate, it is the duty of the magistrate to protect and enact God's laws as they see most wise.
2. The message of the gospel is NEVER subject to the civil magistrates whims. It cannot be stopped, even if Nero wishes to confiscate property, torture the elect and make war on the church, the gates of hell will never prevail nor can they.
3. Corporations are an entity that is not found in the Bible, nor is there any principle that supports such a fictiious entity. The church must never become a corporation, she is the body of Christ, He is her King there is no stock holders nor any dividends, there is only those saved by grace serving their King with all their heart, all thier soul, all their strength and all their mind.

All that being said in America churches have never been subject to taxation even without a piece of paper that declares a 501c3 status. To do so is to tax a tithe that belongs to God and His church, not His magistrate. The monies offered are not a comercial exchange, but an offering to God for the advancement of His kingdom.