TerryP
Staff
My man has vocab.
| CURRENT EVENTS Trump elected as the 47th President: The transition ...
- Thread starter Brandon Van de Graaff
- Start date
TerryP
Staff
Sounds like a quaalude commercial.
musso
Member
You good? I suggest you confer with the Prince of Peace for a few before you keep calling me “full of shit” and “stupid.” You’re way too easily triggered. Take a deep breath …
X
XXL TideFan
Not hardly but I have noticed quite a few Jews and now atheists giving Christian advice. Nothing wrong with telling some they are full of shit or saying stupid things.
OldPlayer
Member
She obviously doesn’t understand how our three branches of government work. Anyone in the military can disobey an illegal or unconstitutional order. ie, Trump cannot fire missiles at Russia because Putin said bad things about him. He cannot, by himself, launch nuclear missiles at anyone. There is a process and procedure involving multiple people.
Not sure about drug industry, the true church was born out of the death burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are historical documents written by eye witnesses during the lifetime of other eye witnesses. They report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophesies.
You are most likely referring to the church universal. It may have been used as an opiate for the masses, as long as you brought your sacrament at the prescribed time. There is nothing that God can create that man ( under Sstanic influence) cannot corrupt
You are most likely referring to the church universal. It may have been used as an opiate for the masses, as long as you brought your sacrament at the prescribed time. There is nothing that God can create that man ( under Sstanic influence) cannot corrupt
musso
Member
All the goods and services funded by tax revenue (eg roads, police, fire, national defense, public parks, schools, on and on) can still be enjoyed by churches and clergy despite them being exempt from taxes. The point is churches benefit from innumerable public goods while not paying for them. This state-granted privilege creates docility among the clergy who focus their energies on abstractions like spiritual salvation rather than political liberation, life after death rather than life before death. Ruling classes love this. Whatever the Jesus movement was when the Flavian dynasty imported it into the Roman Imperial Cult, it was vastly different from that which Rome instituted and offered for ordinary subjects.
musso
Member
Because not very many people understand economics. In my county alone, the sum total of acreage owned by churches and nonprofits is sizable, which adds to our housing costs as well as disproportionately burdening the rest of us who pay property taxes. You won’t find anyone who hates taxes more than me, but until and unless we disband governments, unequal treatment under the law shouldn’t be glorified and worshiped. See what I did there? He he.
As for NC, I now understand what you meant. Well look, monopolies are inherently inefficient. This applies to welfare and aid delivery too. I believe there’s another agenda in play there too (another topic for another thread). But how convenient is it for the State to fail in disaster relief and it’s tax-free subsidiary called the Church fill in for it? The church gets its headlines while the State continues to underperform and abuse of citizens with no pushback from clergy who value their tax exempt status too much. How’s this for an idea: clergy could all unite and fight for tax exemption for everyone equally while rebuking the authority of the State by their actions, not just in their creeds. Nah, it’s too easy to preach another sermon on “heavenly” treasures and wait another 2,000 years for a superman to save us rather than take responsibility for ourselves.
X
XXL TideFan
Tell me you don’t know anything about Christianity without ……well you know. I do admire the way you double down though.
Who do you think should have tax exempt status? Should police and fire departments pay taxes? Clergy pays taxes if they make more than the poverty level. Why do you believe the church as an organization should be taxed?
musso
Member
Trigger happy, aren’t you? Respectfully engaging is preferable to drive by insults. Try being more Christian.
musso
Member
Everyone. But if everyone can’t, then no one should because I believe in equality before the law. Exemptions = inequality. I used to swim in anarchist waters, but I’ve since come to the position that polities can be justified under particular conditions (eg scarce natural resources, constrained geography, technology, etc.). In this case I’d obviously prefer taxation in the form of a sales tax rather than any tax on property or income. But in any case, equality is not only good for the citizen, but it also keeps the State in check by encouraging solidarity among the people. Exemptions is a kind of divide-and-conquer tactic employed domestically.
I’ve already explained why in my recent posts. Accepting gifts from the mafia gives them power over you. Likewise accepting exemptions from the State that doesn’t apply equally to everyone else corrupts the Church and makes church members supplicants to the State rather than to god. I may be an atheist, but I do see lots of potential for good in churches if they would actually serve their professed Master in deed rather than in creed. Subsidies, tax exemptions, and other privileges have always been a ploy by rulers to neuter and domesticate revolutionary leaders and their movements. It’s a bribe intended to dissuade ideologues and their followers from challenging government authority and the social order.
I do agree with you on the sales tax.i would like to see income tax go away and the irs with it. Sales tax gives people choices on paying it if they choose to make a purchase while taxing foreign visitors, illegals and drug dealers who shop but don't pay income tax.
I don't get how a church being tax exempt equates to getting gifts from the mafia or gives me or any other church goer any benefits that would give anyone power over me. I pay taxes on my income, can claim a deduction for tithes if I choose to but receive no personal benefits from the church's status. It allows an organization that should be doing beneficial acts for the community to not pay taxes on its property or purchases so while I've read your previous posts I'm still not seeing how this somehow makes the church or it's members beholden to the state or mafia or anyone else. Honestly how much do you think the average rural church, use them because that's what I normally attend, saves in tax exemption? I'd wager it isn't enough of a benefit to cause anyone to feel like they have to have it to keep the church running. The people who attend and pay taxes make the church not the building or any association they belong to.
musso
Member
To answer this another way, let me say that I will change my mind and support tax exemption for the Church … when it decides to mobilize its vast resources and lobby governments to grant the rest of us the same privilege they enjoy. After all, aren’t we all equal in the eyes of God? Sounds fair to me.
But we aren't a charitable organization which is why only the church gets the benefit not the church members so it's apples and oranges.
God says to follow laws of the country's leaders and as far as I know the law doesn't allow for any person to be tax exempt unless their income is below the poverty level. But yes we are equal.
musso
Member
Good point. Obviously the more rural, the less corruption overall, as a general principle. But if you were to research the amount of money (including property value) that the major denominations hold in the US alone, you’d be shocked. And while you probably don’t see this in your rural town, the exploitation of tax exemption is a major issue. When you look at it globally, it’s even worse. Just the wealth of the Catholic Church alone is mind boggling.
The clergy are not exempt from paying taxes.. they pay taxes just like you and me.
Now the church itself is tax exempt just any other non profit….
X
XXL TideFan
X
XXL TideFan
X
