tax exempt status for churches

[defoliate_bush]

Recently, the Bush campaigne asked some conservative churches to hand over their directories. Do you think that if this continues, churches will lose their tax exempt status and if they do lose it, what will be the effects? Mass hysteria?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Bush lackeys have a bill

that will allow the churches to keep their tax exempt status while engaging in politics. It is HB 235. Please write your congressperson and tell them to vote against this bill. I can't-my idiot right winger (John Boozman) is the one sponsoring it!

[CaTeacher]

2. Why do churches have tax-exempt status in the

first place? We are not a theocracy.

[Big_AJ]

3. Someone said --

The power to tax is the power to destroy. Such power was specifically forbidden to Congress in the First amendment. If you yank religious exemptions what others will have to go?

A personal aside, my favorite clause in the Constitution; Congress shall make no law .... What crimp that ought to put in Congress's sails.

AJ

[Trillo]

4. I had to reread that slowly--I thought you wrote "chimp" not "crimp"

Presumably the power lies with those who define "religion."

If someone is meditating, are they partaking in religion or religious activity?

[Cheswick2.0]

6. because we have separtation of church and state

it works both ways.

[footinmouth]

5. Those directories are great ...

if you want to use them to identify more possible campaign donors. That's probably the only reason they would want them. A nice little mailing list of donors.