[a fool in paradise]

And when they go “for profit” expect a gay focused ‘jiza tax’/’sin tax’ to be levied on these independent churches.

[ClearCase_guy]

About the only possible light I see migth be a strong push toward some sort of Fair Tax. No tax deductions. No exemptions. For anyone under any circumstances. Not Churches. Not marriages. Not mortgages.

Just a steady consumption tax. No real IRS. No paperwork for consumers. States collect from businesses, and states feed the US treasury.

I have long wanted the Fair Tax. If Obama wants to end tax exemptions for churches, then I say push through that and get closer to abolishing the 16th amendment and find a new way to pay for government.

[allendale]

If they overplay their hand and go after the churches, no doubt there will be another Supreme Court case and who knows what might happen with one or more new Justices if the Republicans win in 2016.

[Dusty Road]

Personally I wish the churches would just volunteer to go tax exempt. That exemption has stifled their voice in far too many way’s.

[gaijin]

The GAYstapo clearly said the gay marriage would be not the end.

they’re all going to min e into the most conservative churches coast to coast, asking to be married in the hopes that they will be declined so that they can sue.

basically the entire church system in the USA will be on trial.

It will be the ADA times 1000

[Delta 21]

Golly gee Gomer. We didnt see that one coming!

[Mouton]

Seems to me a very simple solution: Churches just bestow the sacrament of MATRIMONY upon those who qualify under church precepts for such a sacrament, or rite in churches that do not consider MATRIMONY a sacrament. Whether the state recognizes such rites as marriages is a matter between the church and that state for the state to decide.

Recalling the rending advice about Caesar and God, the Churches are NOT marrying anyone under the civil law. (In a similar fashion, the State cannot demand that churches allow women to be priests.) It has nothing to do with tax exempt status IMO and I see no potential for any church losing it as long as they do not REQUIRE their rite to be acknowleged by the state. If a state considers the church rite to be a legal marriage, as they do in common law situations with no church or civil ceremony, so be it.

[dila813]

They feel guilty and want to stamp out their sin by removing this from all religions.

They think when the power of the state forces everyone to accept them, they will finally not feel guilty anymore.

[mware]

Screw you Obama, the Catholic Church was around long before your transforming administration came into power.

We will be around long after you and minions are a footnote in history.

[onyx]

New revenue!

[Salvation]

**Tax-Exempt Status of Churches at Stake in Supremes’ Gay ‘Marriage Case**

Just as I predicted the day it passed.

[lewislynn]

Tax-Exempt Status of Churches at Stake in Supremes' Gay 'Marriage Case

At least one good thing could come from it.

[Steve_Seattle]

"The tax-exempt status of churches which stick with their traditional beliefs on marriage in the wake of such a ruling won't be an "issue" for the left. Instead, their elimination will become a goal."

You can bet on it. Punishment of the opposition is their ultimate goal. They've been lying all along - deception is what they breathe - so what fool would believe them when they say that no clergy can decline to marry gays without paying a severe penalty?

[kevao]

If the separation of Church and State is absolute, as the LibProgs claim, then on what basis can the State tax the Church?

[Steve_Seattle]

Here is the irony: for decades, liberal Christians - viewing themselves as prophets and brave iconoclasts and outsiders - have chastised conservative Christians for their overt Americanism, patriotism, and identification of the American way with Christianity. Those roles are now reversed.

It is now LIBERAL Christians who have sacrificed the integrity of their religion to accommodate secular values and mores. We should not hesitate to point that out to them because it will really nag at them and affect their pompous self-image.

And for conservative Christians, it will be a lesson learned, just as we have recently learned that corporations are NOT our friends. .

[Lazamataz]

This is right along the Soviet Union’s playbook.

Make the churches go underground, then assault them (with military force) when you discover them.

[Secret Agent Man]

Remember how gay marriage wasn’t negatively going to affect normal people? Even when we didn’t believe them? /s

[Alberta's Child]

I've thought about this a lot, and I've reached the conclusion that the only "religious organizations" who are likely to be affected by anything of this sort are those that are half-@ssed to begin with. Catholic Charities and Notre Dame University, for example, are no more religious than Habitat for Humanity ... so there's no reason for them to think they should be treated any differently.

Personally, I think what most people are going to find so disturbing about the ramifications of this "gay marriage" court decision is how quickly most religious organizations are going to capitulate in the face of no pressure at all and toe the political/cultural line on this issue.

[DFG]

A taxpayer cannot put a charitable contribution to an organization that is not tax exempt on Schedule A.

[keats5]

Romans 1
God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.