by AndersonsInfo 18 Replies latest jw friends
Thank you Barbara. The article reads more like an opinion than a news report.
Although I would like all non-profits to be treated equally, transparently, and pay for more public services, I'm too busy writing to members of Congress to promote tweaking the Tax Code to protect children from sexual abuse than to write more about my opinion.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
Forget about a religios exemption and have a merit test for specific charitable exemptions
The money donated to a church or non profit that actually feeds,clothes or shelters the needy. Actual costs of healing ill people or operating clinics. Thats it. Teaching them to read while indoctrinating them should not count. Any kind of enforcing of evangelical interest would disallow exemptions. Religion or any non profits cannot just wipe their tax slate clean by those designations. Yep its more complicated I guess they could prove their true charitableness by doing things with no benefit to them.
I could not agree more. I have long felt that giving religious organizations tax exemptions violates the Establishment Clause. No religious property of any kind should be exempt. This should alleviate the huge burden born by local communities when conglomerates, operating under the guise of "religion," gobble up sometimes huge parcels of land and take it off the tax rolls. That is simply not right. It has the effect of government "establishing" the religion by giving it special consideration and forces the local populace to underwrite its activities, even though some may vehemently object to them.
While we're at it, I believe that no charity should have a tax exemption greater than the amount they actually spend on charitable activities, plus maybe 10% for administrative costs. And non-cash gifts and services received and redistributed as charity should not count towards that amount. If charities had to prove they gave out at least 90% of what they took in, it would cut back a lot on the number of scams masquerading as charities.
God willing:) (and yes, I say that with a wink to all the unbelievers)
Now`s the Time to End Tax Exemptions for Religious Institutions ,
Jehovah`s witnesses do not provide for the general community in a disaster , what effort or aid that is given depends on the victims association with a Jehovah`s Witness , either a relative or a person who is studying with the witnesses.
They do not and will not provide aid to the general community because of their belief " The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one " and that " Every one who is not a Jehovah Witness will die at Armageddon"
Jehovah`s Witnesses do not provide for the homeless , soup kitchens ,shelters of any sort for victims of abuse ,whether sexual or violent . they do not provide for health care or hospital facilities like the Salvation Army or the Catholic organizations ,or Seventh Day Adventist organizations , in fact they do nothing at all for the community they live in unless it involves directly with their members.
And when a child sexual abuse case is leveled against the organization , do they support the victim ? or do they go into protective mode for the organization , protecting their image , taking the victim to court ,putting him/her through years of trauma .And then if a settlement is finally agreed on imposing a gag order that prevents the victim speaking out.
Can you imagine Jesus Christ doing this ?
smiddy
I have five comments on the article quoted above.
1. The U.S. Constitution bars the government from establishing a state religion or preventing the free exercise of religion.
2. Therefore, no church should be forced to perform same-sex marriages if such a marriage is against their beliefs.
3. Christians should not expect Caesar to abide by their beliefs and should refrain from attempting to deny the LGBT community their lawful civil rights. Separation of church and state is an established rule in the U.S.
4. Determining which church or church activity merits IRS tax exemption is difficult and risks the integrity of the church/state divide.
5. Whereas, taxing the real estate holdings of all churches and charitable institutions would be much simpler and would in fairness contribute to the expenses of the local community which bears the burden of providing services to all in the community including churches and charitable institutions.
SMIDDY:
I agree with you that the Witness religion offers nothing of any material or useful benefit to the community like other religions do such as what you mentioned: soup kitchens, etc.
Religions should be able to demonstrate that they benefit people in the community. "Free bible studies" (oops, I mean JW literature studies) doesn't cut it, in my opinion.
The real problem is that they turn out people who are largely uneducated (if they obey the religion's anti-college dictate) and who are more likely to be dependent and not self-supporting. There are fewer and fewer responsible working people there.
Years ago there seemed to be a better class of people in the religion.
Bottom line:...I consider them to be takers.
