i'm watching 8: the mormon proposition

[barbtries]

and just paused it to ask DU: are there any movements going on to strip the LDS of its tax exemptions based on their political activism?

jeez.

[justiceischeap]

1. There was a petition but I don't think it ever went anywhere (eom)

[LuvNewcastle]

2. I don't see how they could, really.

The Southern Baptists, the Catholics, and plenty of other denominations are also very involved in American politics and I don't think that there's any way in hell that the government will go after them.

[barbtries]

5. at the end of the film

there was mention of it. shots of rallys and so on. a suit was brought. it didn't get too far. i would support such a movement, against all churches that try to impose their religion on the body politic.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. I would support it, too.

I was raised Southern Baptist and I remember going to church and hearing preachers talk about how America was going to hell and the only way to save it was to vote Republican. Religion has always played a role in American politics, but it really made its mark when Reagan came on the scene and he courted the radical religious right. Both religion and politics haven't been the same since. I think what we've gone through is another Temperance Movement, and I'm hoping that we'll be coming out of it soon.

[CanonRay]

3. I couldn't watch the whole thing

drove my blood pressure up ten points in the first ten minutes. Figured I'd be dead by the end. Plus the bad guys win.

[barbtries]

4. just finished.

i cried a lot but think it was a very worthwhile film. it galls me to know that the LDS church owns the building in which i work. and that they are tax exempt. really a despicable institution.

[justiceischeap]

6. It strikes me as very immature -- if we can't have polygamy, no gay marriage for you

Is what I really think their mindset is, not that they'll lose celestial sister wives.

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. No. What they did was perfectly legal

As long as they don't endorse or use church resources to elect specific candidates, they are well within their legal rights.

If you were change the law to go after the Mormons, the government would then crack down on Unitarians who support gay rights, the Quakers who oppose war, and Catholics who advocate for social justice.

[justiceischeap]

9. And here's why

Generally speaking, churches, schools, and nonprofits that are 501c(3) organizations are prohibited from spending more than 20 percent of their budgets on political activities, Lynn said, noting that his organization is held to the same standard.

The 20 percent threshold means that the Catholic or Mormon churches, whose organizations span the globe, would have had to spend hundreds of millions of dollars - if not billions - to violate their tax-exempt status.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-11-28/bay-area/17127704_1_tax-exempt-church-and-state-tax-code

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Yep

Thank you