Religion

AtheistCrusader

(33,982 posts)

69. Charitable services can and do exist without churches.

Wed Mar 5, 2014, 02:15 PM

Mar 2014

I don't see the need to link them in any way.

Supporting them explicitly makes them a fact of life, not the other way around.

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Tax Exemption for Churches may disappear in the near future. [View all] el_bryanto Feb 2014 OP

Thank "god"! Walk away Feb 2014 #1

First off, you are attributing the characteristics of a small subset of religious organizations to cbayer Feb 2014 #4

The 1.4 million dollar church down the street from me doesn't pay property taxes. AtheistCrusader Mar 2014 #65

Like I have said, there are some exemptions and I fully support better cbayer Mar 2014 #67

Charitable services can and do exist without churches. AtheistCrusader Mar 2014 #69

Of course there are and groups that provide charitable services cbayer Mar 2014 #71

Agreed. AtheistCrusader Mar 2014 #73

I believe, but am not sure, that the stadium could take a tax deduction cbayer Mar 2014 #74

Those churches just need to pull up their bootstraps and survive by themselves DontTreadOnMe Mar 2014 #76

Who might that have been? Did it help? cbayer Mar 2014 #77

There are all kinds of churchs el_bryanto Feb 2014 #5

Non Profits should end tax ememption immediately as well yeoman6987 Feb 2014 #33

My church uses it's money to feed homeless LGBT youth, feed people with HIV/AIDS, tutoring for hrmjustin Feb 2014 #49

Highly doubtful FBaggins Feb 2014 #2

Should a religion be allowed to deny marriage to same-sex couples el_bryanto Feb 2014 #6

We don't have the option of "allowing" them to practice their religion. FBaggins Feb 2014 #8

So the religion can deny the marriage service to people it feels are unworthy of it? el_bryanto Feb 2014 #9

Of course. FBaggins Feb 2014 #13

Well done! You blew up all of his "points", and ended it with the last part. cleanhippie Feb 2014 #21

The point i was trying to make was that the Tax Exempt Status of Churchs may be untenable el_bryanto Feb 2014 #24

! cleanhippie Feb 2014 #26

The rules about tax exempt status skepticscott Mar 2014 #62

As far as the state is concerned, the church ceremony is meaningless. stopbush Feb 2014 #31

'should' is different from 'is likely to' muriel_volestrangler Feb 2014 #34

It's fine and dandy for a church to refuse to marry anyone. LiberalFighter Feb 2014 #17

Well you may get your way fairly soon on the Tax Exempt front. el_bryanto Feb 2014 #18

No one, NO ONE, is advocating for or trying to force churches to marry anyone. cleanhippie Feb 2014 #22

From the post I was responding to. el_bryanto Feb 2014 #23

"... marriages that even applied outside their church." cleanhippie Feb 2014 #25

From your response above, el_bryanto Feb 2014 #28

-facepalm- cleanhippie Feb 2014 #35

You're just sad. Pathetic really. el_bryanto Feb 2014 #36

You must be looking in a mirror if you see sad and pathetic. cleanhippie Feb 2014 #37

GROW THE FUCK UP! nt el_bryanto Feb 2014 #38

Lol! Calm the fuck down and do try to act like an adult. cleanhippie Feb 2014 #39

Admit your mistake el_bryanto Feb 2014 #40

Admit your inability to comprehend larger points. cleanhippie Feb 2014 #43

OK - The larger point seems to be that Liberal Fighter feels that el_bryanto Feb 2014 #44

I would not support forcing churches to marry anyone. LiberalFighter Feb 2014 #46

Nods - I would agree with that myself - disentangle the two. el_bryanto Feb 2014 #47

As long as religious groups meet the criteria for 501(3)c corps, cbayer Feb 2014 #3

You are correct, but some are advocating for candidates and it's not enforced. longship Feb 2014 #7

There's doubt within the IRS whether the rule can survive a court challenge. FBaggins Feb 2014 #10

I'd like to see that battle happen. And it should. nt longship Feb 2014 #12

Not if we would lose FBaggins Feb 2014 #14

That is very true and I put that in the hands of the IRS. cbayer Feb 2014 #11

You have taken a more moderate position on this in the past here. longship Feb 2014 #15

As long as there are loopholes, some are going to find ways to use them. cbayer Feb 2014 #16

Churches need to lose their public charity status LiberalFighter Feb 2014 #19

Do you think the same should apply to all non-profits? cbayer Feb 2014 #30

It depends on the purpose of the non-profits. LiberalFighter Feb 2014 #45

You are treading on very thin 1st amendment ice here. cbayer Feb 2014 #50

How does it violate their freedom of worship or speech? LiberalFighter Feb 2014 #51

By not allowing them to benefit from the same rules as every other non-profit, cbayer Feb 2014 #52

They are only a non-profit because religion was included in legislation LiberalFighter Mar 2014 #53

I don't believe that is correct. cbayer Mar 2014 #54

How would it be a 1st amendment breach? LiberalFighter Mar 2014 #58

Because you would be excluding religious groups based solely on religion - cbayer Mar 2014 #59

Not every organization is tax exempt or qualifies for non-profit status. LiberalFighter Mar 2014 #60

That is correct, but they all have to meet the same criteria to achieve that status. cbayer Mar 2014 #61

No they don't LiberalFighter Mar 2014 #63

I do not believe that is the case. Can you provide any further information on that? cbayer Mar 2014 #64

Really? If you were standing on solid rock wouldn't you have LiberalFighter Mar 2014 #75

AGain, I have done some research on this and not found anything that would indicate cbayer Mar 2014 #78

It is the "exempt purposes" requirement where the issue arises. eomer Mar 2014 #79

It is obvious that you didn't even bother reviewing publication 1828. LiberalFighter Mar 2014 #80

So, I get to pay for all city services that feed into their building AND AtheistCrusader Mar 2014 #66

Well, I guess you could lobby for an increase in your taxes to cover the charitable and community cbayer Mar 2014 #68

Or, we could scale their non-profit status to just the charitable services AtheistCrusader Mar 2014 #70

They are bound by the same rules as any other non-profit or charitable organization. cbayer Mar 2014 #72

The government isn't dictating church "practices". kestrel91316 Feb 2014 #20

The tax exemption is useful in that it highlights the venality of organized religion Bluenorthwest Feb 2014 #27

So you favor preserving tax exempt status for Churches? el_bryanto Feb 2014 #29

It's useful to see that all large organized religions take 'religious exemptions' for Bluenorthwest Feb 2014 #32

It would seem to me that church rental income, completely unrelated to the 501(c)(3) purpose, struggle4progress Feb 2014 #41

As long as they keep dragging church into government libodem Feb 2014 #42

I don't the Churches will be loosing tax exempt status anytime soon goldent Feb 2014 #48

I think church tax exempt statuses should be left alone. hrmjustin Mar 2014 #55

I think stronger enforcement of established 501(c)3 regs would help a lot. (nt) pinto Mar 2014 #56

That is the bottom line. The problem is with the IRS. cbayer Mar 2014 #57