I think we agree for the most part but any time is the right time to push back. Second, our contract is in the First Amendment, not in the illegal one-sided contracts issued by government solely for its self-preservation. An illegal contract remains illegal no matter how you were coerced to make the agreement.
Yes, we generally agree.
“An illegal contract remains illegal no matter how you were coerced to make the agreement.”
In this case, entities have voluntarily agreed to enter into the 501c3 contract. No coercion involved.
I have helped start a number of churches and it has always amazed me when a number of the other founders would say “ok, now that we have a number of families and a structure, all we need now is to register our church via 501c3 and we will be a real church, registered and all.” Wow!! Ok, now starts the education process. Everytime though (except one) I and others have been able to convince everyone to not get the 501c3. Gods church does not need to be registered with the govt to be Gods church. The one time the church did get the 501c3, is where the pastor said, “let them (the govt) come, we will just disband the legal entity and call ourselves something else, and then drop the 501c3.”
The church college wanted to be a 501c3 entity so it’s donors could write off taxes. But the college decided it didn’t want to give the government the handle to control it so the college is not a 501c3 entity.
I believe Hillsdale College is not a 501c3 entity for exactly the same reasons.