[89460] in Cypherpunks
Re: Taxing Churches for their views? Bad idea.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eric Cordian)
Wed Nov 5 00:30:20 1997
From: Eric Cordian <emc@wire.insync.net>
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 22:58:51 -0600 (CST)
In-Reply-To: <v03102802b085858a6a1a@[207.167.93.63]> from "Tim May" at Nov 4, 97 07:12:45 pm
Reply-To: Eric Cordian <emc@wire.insync.net>
Tim May Writes:
> Nonsense. And a dangerous course.
> One can decide to "tax churches" or to "not tax churches." I have no
> particularly strong opinion on either option.
> But one must definitely _not_ base the decision to tax or not to tax on
> the opinions expressed by a church!
> One cannot decide to tax the Catholic Church "into penury" because its
> anti-abortion views have become politically incorrect in the last 30
> years. Nor can one decide to tax the tempes and synagogues of Judaism
> "into penury" because they are centers of support for the Zionist
> Entity.
> Think about it.
I have no objection to churches holding opinions. However, when they
become a tax-exempt mechanism for the illegal injection of money into
political campaigns, taxing is the minimally appropriate response.
There is a big difference between saying "Our religion disapproves of
abortion", and saying "Vote for candidate Y and attend the big rally we
are paying for out of last week's poorbox donations."
The Christian right wing has made a mockery of the separation of church
and state in its conspicuous and direct support of particular political
candidates.
--
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
