Saturday, August 27, 2011

WE SHOULD REMOVE TAX-EXEMPT STATUS FROM RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

UPDATE, September 1, 2011. "A Los Angeles, California Pastor Wednesday night evicted gays and lesbians from a meeting his church was having about SB 48, the FAIR Education Act, that ensures the correct teaching of the history of the LGBT community, along with that of the disabled and of minorities...."

UPDATE, August 31, 2011. And there are some who wonder why so many LGBT people hate what is falsely called "Christianity." Christianity is about love of God and of others, and to live simply, caring for others, and not judging others. It is not about hate and exclusion of others! If most decent people really knew what Christianity is, they'd become Christians! Those who call Gay people sinners, in the name of God no less, are committing a most grievous sin in that they are denying the validity and sanctity of what God has made! God made Gay people in God's very own image, and the haters will never understand that fact!

UPDATE, August 30, 2011: By his "church," and religious institutions like this, being tax-exempt, we are helping to financially support this bile!

Glenn Beck announced that to follow up his rally in Jerusalem, he will be appearing at High Point Church in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday. That church is notable for a particularly horrific example of anti-gay bigotry: its decision to cancel a memorial service for a Gulf War veteran because the deceased man was gay.

In 2007, the church volunteered to host a memorial service for Cecil Sinclair, a Navy veteran who served in the Gulf War. However, the day before the memorial service was to be held, the church withdrew its invitation. The Associated Press reported at the time that family members said that the church knew Sinclair was gay, but canceled the service "after his obituary listed his life partner as one of his survivors."


[For the full article, see here.]

This is a very good reason why churches should be made to pay their fair share of taxes, and no longer be tax-exempt. High Point church, as any religious institution, as a private organization, has every right to decide who it will accept as a member and to whom it will minister.

However, as an institution that is indirectly supported by tax payers, it has no right to discriminate against anyone. It seems to me that it would be money well spent to take this issue to court and agitate for the removal of tax-exempt status for all religious institutions in the U.S.

Tax payers should not in any way be subsidizing private organizations, particularly those who discriminate against others based upon affectional-sexual orientation, any more than we should subsidize any private organization that discriminates against African Americans or Jewish people. Moreover, why should taxpayers subsidize any private organization in the first place?
Share |

1 comment:

DC HAMPTON JACOBS said...

The dumbass "let's make Gay activism fun" knuckleheads are busy targeting Marcus Bachmann with glitter bombs when they ought to be concentrating on how to correct this outrage. It infuriates me that vicious homophobes are legally guzzling from the public trough with the Obama administration's full cooperation! Across the board, Progressives are nowhere near as concerned about what's done with their tax money as they should be.