If you don't go to church you should be taxed.. American Family Association,

[Ichingcarpenter]

Bryan Fischer, the public face of the American Family Association, said yesterday that the government should mandate that all Americans go to church or otherwise be taxed for “endangering their physical health.”

“People who have an active vibrant spiritual life are healthier. They live longer, they are healthier, and they are happier. Their physical health is better. What we ought to do is we ought to have an individual mandate from the government that everybody has to go to church because, after all, Obamacare is all about improving the health of the American people. We know that going to church is good for you, it’s good for your health, so we are going to mandate that you go to Church for your own health… and we are going to tax the athiests who don’t go to church. Now, we can’t make you go to church, but we are going to penalize you if you don’t. We’re gonna assess a tax on every atheist that doesn’t go to church because those atheists are endangering their physical health.

http://americount.org/2012/07/06/american-family-associations-bryan-fischer-government-mandate-americans-attend-church-taxed/


The Crazy

[HubertHeaver]

1. Its an attempt at understanding.............a failure, but still an attempt

[Warren DeMontague]

4. An attempt at understanding what?

Anyway, I disagree. If there is one thing dogmatic shitwits like the AFA are constitutionally incapable of doing, it is "attempting to understand" anything they don't already think they know.

[HubertHeaver]

6. Logic and analogy

They try so hard to be clever...to show they can form sensible thoughts.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Or alternately you can just give a 10% health insurance discount to everyone with a church bulletin.

(void where prohibited by law)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/121834218

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Oh for fuck's sake.

Or, this week's episode of "Fundies Say The Damndest Things!"

[sakabatou]

10. I have a site for you

You might like it.

http://fstdt.com/

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Nice!

...and GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

[sakabatou]

62. LMAO

[madokie]

5. Thats a crazy mo'fo' right there

he is dangerous as hell to boot. f**k him and the cross he rode in on.

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. And all those 'believers' who don't attend church...gonna tax them?

[Solly Mack]

8. lol. He's probably proud of himself for that one.

lololol

[joeybee12]

9. Atheist Katharine Hepburn made it to 96...

Blows you fucking theory Brian Asshole Fischer.

[RebelOne]

54. This atheist is 73 and still going strong.

I would like to think that I will live to be 96.

[sakabatou]

11. So... Jews and Muslims would be...?

Oh right, already in Hell because we don't accept Jesus like Christians.

[mnhtnbb]

12. Repeat after me:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Guess what, Bryan Fischer? You have a right to be an idiot and say stupid stuff and the rest of us have a right to call you a stupid idiot
and Congress has NO right to do what you are suggesting.

Got that, you dumba$$?

[Auggie]

34. +1,000,000

[Spazito]

45. LOL and +1 n/t

[bowens43]

13. Wow. What can you to this kind of stupidity?

[tclambert]

15. Would I have to physically go to church, or could I just visit the Flying Spaghetti Monster website?

Or could I just dress like a pirate once a week? (In FSM religiosity, pirates are revered.)

Freedom of religion, baby! The noodly goodness of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is just as valid under the law as whatever ridiculous crap Bryan Fischer pretends to believe.

[Volaris]

39. THIS...

Plus the fact that in short order, Jedi would become an established religion in America...

I can see it now...their conversion slogan would be something like "Come to church, get a lightsaber, and a TAX BREAK!!!"
(

)

[hootinholler]

68. Fuck that, I say we go Rasta not Pasta n/t

[quaker bill]

16. How unAmerican of him

He forgets that many of the colonists came here because governments would tax you, jail you, and sieze all your property for not going to church.

[AngryOldDem]

17. Massive analogy fail.

I have known a lot of people who have lived to ripe, old ages without ever setting foot in a church. However, I know very few who were able to make it to old age when battling pre-existing or catastrophic health conditions without access to health care.

I just wish they would cut the bullshit and say flat out why they don't like this plan: It came from Barack Obama.

[Kalidurga]

18. Actually no

it came from their side. But, that doesn't matter now. It was passed by our side and they can't have that.

[meaculpa2011]

38. My grandmother lived to be 102.

During her lifetime she gave birth to four children. The only time she ever set foot in a hospital was as a visitor.

[TBF]

19. He's got it backwards - churches have been getting a free ride

for far too long. Separation of church and state - it's time to tax them.

[JNelson6563]

20. You sure that's not a typo?

Shouldn't that read "If you don't go to church you should be axed."?

Would make more sense coming from the fundies.

Julie

[GoCubsGo]

21. Bryan Fischer's hateful spew is endangering my health.

Last edited Sat Jul 7, 2012, 12:58 PM - Edit history (1)

All the vomiting he's inducing in me can't be good for a person.

I STOPPED going to church to save my physical AND mental health. All the bullshit they were feeding me was killing me. I wasn't "happier and healthier" when I attended church. Quite the contrary. Just the thought of having to go and sit through fairy tale hour week after week after week nauseated me. Since I broke free of all the fear superstition, I haven't been happier. And, the state of my health, be it good or bad, has absolutely NOTHING to do with weather or not I worship some invisible superman in the clouds.

Sweet Jeebus, I despise these people.


On edit: It's "tale", not "tail".

[Ferretherder]

30. What you said, bro/sis,...

...what you said!

[backscatter712]

50. Preach it, brother!

[Stinky The Clown]

22. Hahahaha

Hahahahaha hahahahahaha hahahahahaaaaaaaahahahahahaha

[surrealAmerican]

23. It's just plain sad when they try to make a "scientific" argument ...

... without any scientific data.

[MooseTrax]

24. About Paying Tax

The first time a bible thumping preacher even mentions politics or anything closely associated with political subjects...that church should lose it's tax free status!!!

[sendero]

25. I have a better idea...

... let's tax all of those people who claim to be Christians and yet act as though everything Jesus actually said is anathema to them.

That should fill the treasury right quick.

[mainer]

26. "active vibrant spiritual life"

wow, is he going to freak out when he realizes that also applies to Wiccans, Gaians, Buddhists, and hippies.

[Tanuki]

27. If church-going is so healthy, why does the Stroke Belt

consist of pretty much the same geographic region as the Bible Belt?

[Pool Hall Ace]

29. Not that I'm defending this prick, but could it also be

because it is the Waffle House Belt, the Cracker Barrel Belt, and the Bob Evans Belt?

[HereSince1628]

31. What bible belt? It's more like the bible waistcoat...

Apparently people think the baptist distribution in America is the bible belt.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://kindredblood.wordpress.com/maps-for-thought/&h=643&w=886&sz=65&tbnid=0Xz7RGTd9ty5OM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=120&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbible%2Bbelt%2Bmap%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=bible+belt+map&usg=__VRoqY9TbV5jpDnkHOswIu35iMpM=&docid=ZLskW9voCO2S5M&sa=X&ei=gi_4T5T3D8i16wGhroHoBg&ved=0CFgQ9QEwAA&dur=4540


Depending on how you want to draw lines on a map, there are at least two other regions with similar rates of religious adherence.





As it turns out religious adherence to bible based religions is pretty high over much of the US.

[Occulus]

48. "As it turns out religious adherence to bible based religions is pretty high over much of the US."

You just put your finger on what's really wrong with this country.

[NRaleighLiberal]

28. we stopped going to church because we found it too taxing....

anger, cliques, being snubbed, boring sermons, fear, right wing politics.

Very taxing indeed. Church is better on a Sunday morning on our deck watching birds, viewing nature and having a nice breakfast together.

[Tsiyu]

58. Around here we call that

"The church in the piney woods"

Enjoying what nature made, not what man made.

[mainer]

32. Healthiest states in the nation are least religious

California? Hawaii? Oregon? Vermont?

The only exception may be Utah, because Mormons don't smoke.

[mattclearing]

33. Hello Establishment Clause. Clown. n/t

[B Calm]

35. Duh. . We are taxed!

[knitter4democracy]

36. He should move to a country with a national religion, then.

Iran comes to mind.

[COLGATE4]

37. So little time - so much crazy nt

[LeftishBrit]

40. Disgusting

To be fair - if one can be fair to such people, I think Fischer is not literally recommending a tax on non-church-goers, but is producing a very heavy-handed satire on the healthcare mandate.

But if we're on the subject of taxpaying - how on EARTH does a right-wing polemical organization like the American Family Association get classed as a charity (I checked and it does), which presumably gives it a favourable tax status? Is DU listed as a charity with the corresponding favourable tax status? No, didn't think so. Why does this organization get the right to charitable status?

[Courtesy Flush]

41. Or a mosque.

Here in Louisiana they're learning that these kinds of things can backfire. After passing a law that diverts taxpayer money to churches via educational vouchers, they're wigging out because they cannot exclude Muslims from the giveaway.

[goclark]

42. I go to church and I donate

to the church.

My church donations are taken off on my income tax.

For about ten years I didn't go to church regularly. Now I attend regularly and it helps me a lot ~ I enjoy listening to the Message and the Music and seeing my church friends.

Not going to church does not make a Christian an atheists IMO.

The last time I talked to God, he told me that it was OK for me to stay home if I wanted to do so. He also told me that I would still be "one of his children" if I didn't read the Bible regularly.

My friends that never go to church have about the same kinds of good health/bad health as my church members. The names on the programs and the Funeral Services listed seem to get longer and longer --- granted I belong to a large Methodist Church that has many members that are over 80 years and now hundreds of delightful young members.

Some say you have to be Baptized to be a Christian ~ I was but I was too young to remember it. : )

The last I read the Bible ~ the so called "Christians" like Bryan are not following the basis message in the Bible ~ The Ten Commandments ~ they get an " F."
Let's start with " Do Unto Others..."

Bryan needs to check his Mental health for sure and he probably needs to check his Blood Pressure for getting so angry and bossing other people.......

" Bryan Fischer, the public face of the American Family Association, said yesterday that the government should mandate that all Americans go to church or otherwise be taxed for “endangering their physical health.”

Just my thoughts

[flvegan]

43. I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

Gandhi put it in the upper decks with that one.





NOTE: Does not apply to ALL Christians, YMMV. <---- For the alerters and the jurors.

[southernyankeebelle]

44. This is the reason why people are leaving the church. Who wants to belong to a church that

wants to force people to do things they are not prepared to do.

[Iggo]

46. They should maybe do a study...

...comparing people who enjoy going to church to people who are forced to go to church.

Wonder how that one would turn out, you know, healthwise.

[4th law of robotics]

47. Interesting . . . he's right in a sense

I have seen studies that link faith to overall contentedness and longer life (although to be honest I can't say I've read them too thoroughly to see if they are scientifically rigorous).

Although I doubt you'd get this effect, if it's real, by forcing people to go to church.

[backscatter712]

49. Why does this un-American doucheclown still have a microphone?

Fuck him and his imaginary sky-daddy.

[Old Codger]

51. Only one thing to say

To this bunch of assholes

"Fuck you and the horse you and your religious asshole friends rode in on"


Another bunch going out of their way to keep me convinced that religions is a con game foisted off on us by dipwads.

[wandy]

52. This wasn't from the Onion, I checked. I have three things to say........

1. Have these people never heard of the first amendment? It also means feed om from religion.
2. How the hell are people who write satire for a living going to get jobs with this type of stuff going on.
3. These people are nuts.

[Tsiyu]

55. What he's really saying:

"When people go to church (and by church we mean a rightwing, fundamentalist cesspool of bigotry and misogyny and racism) they pay the pastors lots and lots of money. When they don't go to our wonderful hate-enabling churches, we pastors miss out on a lot of dough!

"We want that tax-free cash!!!!"

(The ruse in their health aspect is trying to compare having health insurance to going to church. Like praising Jesus is better than having regular checkups! Singing hymns is as good as a bi-annual colonoscopy! Sunday school works better than vaccinations and well-visits for kids!)

All the AFA is saying is they want more money. And if you don't give them their due as spokespeople for their evil, abusive version of Sky Daddy, they want to punish your wallet in some other way.

Snake oil salesmen is all the AFA are.

[Junkdrawer]

57. Oh, yeah, FORCE a bunch of atheists to your once peaceful church....

Good Idea...

[dmallind]

61. The wording here makes me wonder *why* you think it's a bad idea.

[Snarkoleptic]

59. Would your ancestors be entitled to a refund if you were posthumously baptized by Mormons?

Or how about a counter proposal to have attendees pony up for all the taxes ducked by church?

[MooseTrax]

67. Don't Hold Yer Breath

Churches are small businesses run by a self serving bunch of people who pour nearly every penny back into real property. As we speak churches own more real estate then anybody in the world except the government itself.

Look at the Vatican which has hoarded priceless art, silver and gold, huge edificies and then look at the nearly 1 billion people, mostly children, who are starving or suffering from malnutrition. Somebody lost whatever real moral value the church ever had.

[dionysus]

60. what a facist douche.

[Sirveri]

63. How would this be enforced?

I'm curious about this proposal now. Does this mean that you would have to have state registered churches? What if I decided my house was a church? Would I have to get a someone to sign a form? How would this work in practice? Is there an exemption for the poor, like there is in Obamacare?

[AsahinaKimi]

64. I predict that

if this law is mandated, Bryan Fischer will NOT have A LONG AND VIBRANT, Healthier life.

[Bolo Boffin]

65. LMAAO

Doesn't Jesus say that wherever there are two or three gathered together in his name, there he is in the midst of them? So all I have to do is document I'm regularly in the company of two or more Christians.

So the next time I attend a picture show or out at McDonald's or the gay bar, I'll just ask if all the Christians will raise their hands, take a picture, and then I'm good for the week. Maybe I'll see you next Saturday night, Mr. Fischer!

[marlakay]

66. F*ing BS

I quit church years ago and now am the happiest in my life. I work out, hike, lost weight am 132 now.

Work at fun job with other liberals, etc.

I think we should tax the church people who are over weight and eat pot luck after pot luck. and don't begin to tell me they are happier, my church neighbors cuss, seem very unhappy, and are self righteous and angry all the time.

Many years ago even without church I decided life was too short to hold a grudge so I try to forgive everyone, without religion.