New List of Religious Faiths Being Unrecognized By the Pentagon

[Gadianton]

...

[Gunnar]

How much did Elon pay to have the Iran strike called off and a pretend deal referenced in order for his SpaceX IPO to go good tomorrow?

What does that have to do with the OP of this thread?

[Philo Sofee]

Did the church ever talk Hegseth into putting Mormonism back on the good list? I just am too busy living life to worry about their tastes, so I genuinely don't know.

[Some Schmo]

Obviously, I normally agree with what Gunnar has to say. But in this one instance, I have to say, who gives a damn what religions are recognized by the government or not? In my opinion, no religions should be recognized and all these damned grifters should be maximally taxed. I damned hate that religions are tax exempt. “F” them and their obvious grift. They're no better than Trump himself for their lying, BS, thieving ways.

[Chap]

Obviously, I normally agree with what Gunnar has to say. But in this one instance, I have to say, who gives a damn what religions are recognized by the government or not? In my opinion, no religions should be recognized and all these damned grifters should be maximally taxed. I damned hate that religions are tax exempt. “F” them and their obvious grift. They're no better than Trump himself for their lying, BS, thieving ways.

Can I just ask - what is there to stop me coming to America and starting a new religion with myself as the deity? What legal hoops would I have to jump through to get my new religion registered, so that the money I spent on the cult of myself would be tax free?

Or maybe ... I could follow the lead of the Athenians that Paul encountered on his missionary journey, and start a religion dedicated to the Unknown God. The principal tenet of which would be that until the deity in question chooses to reveal himself, herself, itself or themselves it would be highly disrespectful for us to assume that we know anything about the said deity's wishes, and the only thing we can properly do is to behave as if there was no deity at all. In other words, to act on the basis of atheism. I would have hoped that the fact that the said deity is In The Bible would be a strong point in favour of the legitimacy of my cult.

[Gunnar]

Obviously, I normally agree with what Gunnar has to say. But in this one instance, I have to say, who gives a damn what religions are recognized by the government or not? In my opinion, no religions should be recognized and all these damned grifters should be maximally taxed. I damned hate that religions are tax exempt. “F” them and their obvious grift. They're no better than Trump himself for their lying, BS, thieving ways.

I have been thinking a lot about your post and how or whether to respond to it. I'm a bit ambivalent myself on whether or not Churches and other religious organizations ought to be exempt from taxation simply because they claim to be religiously based or sponsored.

But I wholeheartedly endorse the Constitutional guarantee of freedom to choose one's own religious beliefs, or non-belief. I have no objection to reducing or exempting law-abiding, non-profit organizations from taxation, especially those with purely charitable, educational or cultural motives. One cannot deny that there are admirable and benevolent, non-profit organizations that accomplish a lot of good that are indeed sincerely motivated, sponsored and administered by religious organizations, including even by the LDS Church. Should they not be considered for exemption from taxes, merely because of their religious affiliation?

I guess my main objection to that new list was the idea that any legitimately established, law-abiding religion should be either more or less entitled to being recognized by the Pentagon than any other.

Still, I recognize that religion is rife with scams and that some "churches", including even some so-called mainstream churches, are little, if any, better than criminal enterprises, whose leaders are far more deserving of prison time than of tax exemptions. One of the worst examples of this is Ken Copeland.

[Some Schmo]

But I wholeheartedly endorse the Constitutional guarantee of freedom to choose one's own religious beliefs, or non-belief. I have no objection to reducing or exempting law-abiding, non-profit organizations from taxation, especially those with purely charitable, educational or cultural motives. One cannot deny that there are admirable and benevolent, non-profit organizations that accomplish a lot of good that are indeed sincerely motivated, sponsored and administered by religious organizations, including even by the LDS Church. Should they not be considered for exemption from taxes, merely because of their religious affiliation?

I agree with the Constitution that people should be able to believe whatever they want. That's a separate topic from the government recognizing certain organizations as tax-free havens.

Churches should be taxed just like everyone else, and get tax write-offs for the actual charitable work they do... like everyone else. If a church spends most of its money on charitable work, it won't make much difference to them, and the hoarders are taxed.

[Jersey Girl]

But I wholeheartedly endorse the Constitutional guarantee of freedom to choose one's own religious beliefs, or non-belief. I have no objection to reducing or exempting law-abiding, non-profit organizations from taxation, especially those with purely charitable, educational or cultural motives. One cannot deny that there are admirable and benevolent, non-profit organizations that accomplish a lot of good that are indeed sincerely motivated, sponsored and administered by religious organizations, including even by the LDS Church. Should they not be considered for exemption from taxes, merely because of their religious affiliation?

I agree with the Constitution that people should be able to believe whatever they want. That's a separate topic from the government recognizing certain organizations as tax-free havens.

Churches should be taxed just like everyone else, and get tax write-offs for the actual charitable work they do... like everyone else. If a church spends most of its money on charitable work, it won't make much difference to them, and the hoarders are taxed.

I think Schmo has a good idea here. I can't think of a way to separate out the prosperity gospel type folks from the church on the corner type folks so tax them all...or tax none of them. Otherwise you've got persecution and discrimination lawsuits coming out your eyeballs.

[Gunnar]

But I wholeheartedly endorse the Constitutional guarantee of freedom to choose one's own religious beliefs, or non-belief. I have no objection to reducing or exempting law-abiding, non-profit organizations from taxation, especially those with purely charitable, educational or cultural motives. One cannot deny that there are admirable and benevolent, non-profit organizations that accomplish a lot of good that are indeed sincerely motivated, sponsored and administered by religious organizations, including even by the LDS Church. Should they not be considered for exemption from taxes, merely because of their religious affiliation?

I agree with the Constitution that people should be able to believe whatever they want. That's a separate topic from the government recognizing certain organizations as tax-free havens.

Churches should be taxed just like everyone else, and get tax write-offs for the actual charitable work they do... like everyone else. If a church spends most of its money on charitable work, it won't make much difference to them, and the hoarders are taxed.

Excellent answer, Schmo! I should have thought of that myself!

By the way, Happy Father's Day!

[Gunnar]

I agree with the Constitution that people should be able to believe whatever they want. That's a separate topic from the government recognizing certain organizations as tax-free havens.

Churches should be taxed just like everyone else, and get tax write-offs for the actual charitable work they do... like everyone else. If a church spends most of its money on charitable work, it won't make much difference to them, and the hoarders are taxed.

I think Schmo has a good idea here. I can't think of a way to separate out the prosperity gospel type folks from the church on the corner type folks so tax them all...or tax none of them. Otherwise you've got persecution and discrimination lawsuits coming out your eyeballs.

I have no argument with that answer either!

And Happy Father's Day to Jersey Boy!