Trump wants "churches to have more of a voice."

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According to Veuer, President Trump wants to "totally" destroy the "Johnson Amendment," which denies tax-exempt status to churches which pursue religious activity within secular contexts.

I find this to be at least somewhat troubling. He seems to be trying to lessen the "separation of church and state," which is one of the main backbones of our Constitution, and one of the main justification for our separation from Great Britain starting in 1776.

I sense that he wants to legislate morality---which I find very troubling.

Everyone who legislates, legislates morality.

That's true.

But "Separation of Church and State" was one of the main reason why we separated from Great Britain in the first place. If somebody attempts to exert paramount religious influence into our laws, there is danger, proven by history, that things could potentially get very hairy.

I happen to like Christian morals and ethics. The very fact that Christianity has lasted 2,000 years speaks much for its viability, and its moral values. The values they replaced in Ancient Rome were decadent in the extreme. Christianity also caused Europe to emerge out of the Dark Ages, and is a main component of "Western culture" today.

But it becomes dangerous when religion is inserted into secular law. Think Sharia Law and Muslim nations.

Hopefully people in congress block his attempt at this nonsense. But unfortunately a good percent of people in congress are either chickens or just greedy rich elite that have little to no morals.

One scenario I see why this is being done- people can write off political "donations" on their taxes. Then churches don't have to report these non-exempt donations- so people can easily donate in private. Also churches can run ads for candidates they support- also tax-exempt! With the money-trail hidden.. more corruption pops up and it becomes a bigger mess than DC already is.

Trump never wanted to drain the swamp- he simply wanted to add more monsters to it.

How odd that President Trump would say this. The trending opinions among politically minded churches is to eschew their 501(c)(3) nonprofit statuses for simpler for-profit statuses. In this way, they can say and do pretty much what they choose and, if they adjust and plan their congregational budgets correctly, would pay little or no taxes. Maybe he doesn't know about this idea despite it being around for years.

There's disagreement about the economic justification for tax exemptions for churches. It's one thing to give donations a tax exemption, but churches have some of the most valuable property in the world and pay no taxes on the US proceeds from it. Not just massive downtown buildings, but also intellectual property, homes for employees, etc. They pay no property taxes, and avoid some sales taxes.

The Church of Scientology has refined the abuse of this system into an art, but there are dozens of TV preachers to point to for other examples, and I'd be surprised if there weren't examples from every religion, no matter how obscure.

Just end all the tax exemptions and let them compete with everyone else.

Remember when Kasich was offered the chance to be "the most powerful vice president in history"

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/maga ... -mate.html

This seems like further evidence that Pence and Bannon are the ones running things.

A Legislator is nothing more than a Modern-Day Scribe.
All Religions need to Crumble since they are all contaminated with falsities.
Even The Messiah has written about how The State is nothing more than a Cult-Religion.

Oh great. Just what we need. Our private sins monitored and punishable by law while their private sins go on unchecked. If Jesus would return, would they fess up and admit their wrongdoings or would they try to stop him from coming so they can keep the party going?

Trump is throwing a "thank-you" crumb to the right wing evangelicals who voted for him.

I consider it deeply unfair that anyone with an immanent god can't get a tax exemption. It's probably better for society than a total free-for-all, but the way we pick and choose winners in the realm of spirituality favors traditional religious expression. You have to have the standard set of rituals that christianity has, so everyone has to fit their spirituality into that mold.

I don't expect the defrauder in chief to go after abuses of the system, either. Enforcement stinks already, and this administration seems unlikely to focus on boring enforcement.

This is just more evidence that Trump will continue his refusal of understanding the concept of "checks and balances."

Even though I am Catholic, I {like many Catholics alike} believe that church and state should always stay separate.

Will churches be the only organizations who can both advocate for a specific candidate and take tax-deductible donations?

Hope we keep separation of church and state.