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NAKnight
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02 Jan 2013, 9:44 pm

Vexcalibur wrote:
Because they are churches.


Because they are...XXX is not a valid argument.
I cannot justify the statement "Gods could not exist, because they cannot exist." The logic is circular and no conclusion follows.

Vexcalibur wrote:


Huffington Post is a pre-dominately biased leftist organization, of course they are not going to call out their own kind. Why should they?


Best Regards,

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02 Jan 2013, 11:26 pm

People of different political views (and lack thereof) could and in reality do fit into the same official church. You could find anybody from monarchists to liberals to democrats to anywhere in-between to some extreme varieties. Some instances of religious figures having huge impact on politics are sufficiently available in modernity, e.g. Pope John Paul II and the downfall of communism in Poland and Eastern Europe. However, being a part of a religious community does not usually force any particular views on its followers.

I'd rather say the correlation here has the opposite cause and effect relationships with politics. Religion may cause political activists (not necessary religious people since ideas go around and affect people for different reasons and it's hard not to find the influence of Christianity on the most militant of atheists) to maintain a certain policy on human rights, economics, etc. The two should definitely be separated but it's impossible to tear them apart.



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03 Jan 2013, 12:19 am

Vexcalibur wrote:
There are various churches out there and some are composed of just the guy and his books.

If that's the case, then that is already taxable. Selling books or collecting royalties for profit is taxable. Charging just enough to cover your costs or giving them away is not a taxable business.


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AgentPalpatine
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03 Jan 2013, 12:30 am

John_Browning wrote:
If that's the case, then that is already taxable. Selling books or collecting royalties for profit is taxable.


Publication 598 indicates otherwise. Royalties are not subject to tax on Unrelated Business Income (UBIT).


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03 Jan 2013, 2:38 pm

NAKnight wrote:
Huffington Post is a pre-dominately biased leftist organization, of course they are not going to call out their own kind.


You know. This discussion is very unfair, because I have such mileage. I was completely sure you would say this. In fact, I chose a Huff link precisely to make you say this, so that when I post the following Fox News link, I look very cool:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/23/pa ... -election/


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NAKnight
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03 Jan 2013, 5:04 pm

Vexcalibur wrote:

You know. This discussion is very unfair, because I have such mileage. I was completely sure you would say this. In fact, I chose a Huff link precisely to make you say this, so that when I post the following Fox News link, I look very cool:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/23/pa ... -election/



No. You look like an Ass. Pardon my French. Fox news is just as bad as the rest of them. I don't buy into the Mass Media anymore.
They are all equally sold-out, it just depends on what/who bought them.



Best Regards,

Jake


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03 Jan 2013, 5:31 pm

The Fox News article poses a good enough question. Vexcalibur, according to you, how can a religious figure address the public without being political and thereby violating such a law? Essentially any statement concerning morals could be interpreted as being of political nature nowadays. I figure you might as well ask them to keep their mouths shut, but no serious human will view this request as deserving of being honoured.



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03 Jan 2013, 5:32 pm

I think there a misunderstanding what charitable status means. In is not the same a not for profit status, not for profits still have to fill in their taxes the conventional way, they don't get the perks of charitable status.

Churches are one culprit, but no the only. There are many exclusive fee paying schools and a whole host of other business that are legally able to get charitable status in the UK. These loopholes should be stopped.



Appleisbetter
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06 Jan 2013, 4:56 am

John_Browning wrote:
Tequila wrote:
Religious establishments should get no more special treatment than any other company.

It's not a company, it's a non-profit.

If they are non profit how are they so wealthy ?



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06 Jan 2013, 5:13 am

TheValk wrote:
Religion may cause political activists (not necessary religious people since ideas go around and affect people for different reasons and it's hard not to find the influence of Christianity on the most militant of atheists)


Not all atheists are former Christians. Not by a long chalk. Most atheists may live in Christian countries and be of Christian heritage (because these are the countries that are the most secular) but there are atheists from Muslim (there's one on this site!), Jewish and other backgrounds too.



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06 Jan 2013, 5:58 am

Why shouldn't a megachurch that operates a coffee shop, a gym, and a daycare - and which discriminates on whom it employs and on who can use its services - be taxed just like any other coffee shop, gym, or daycare?

Why should everyone else pay more taxes so that church pastors can be paid to preach politics tax-free?



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06 Jan 2013, 1:44 pm

There are Jesuit priests living a more lavish lifestyle than most Americans. I have no problem taxing these people.

Jokes About Jesuits

The teachers and leaders at the Jesuit high school I went to were telling these jokes, this is completely true.



TheValk
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06 Jan 2013, 2:03 pm

Tequila wrote:
TheValk wrote:
Religion may cause political activists (not necessary religious people since ideas go around and affect people for different reasons and it's hard not to find the influence of Christianity on the most militant of atheists)


Not all atheists are former Christians. Not by a long chalk. Most atheists may live in Christian countries and be of Christian heritage (because these are the countries that are the most secular) but there are atheists from Muslim (there's one on this site!), Jewish and other backgrounds too.


I'm saying Christianity (a certain kind of it) is rooted deeply in modern Western culture, which may bring up civilians of various religious backgrounds (including ones distinct from Western Christianity) and feed Christian or Christianlike values to them with mother's milk. 1789 was not a breakthrough or a change in people's thinking, it was a natural progression of the Western man, a continuation of old trends and affinities dating to the Roman Empire, perhaps even earlier.

iBlockhead wrote:
There are Jesuit priests living a more lavish lifestyle than most Americans. I have no problem taxing these people.
The teachers and leaders at the Jesuit high school I went to were telling these jokes, this is completely true.


I'm sure you're not the only one who'd like to tax his or her school teachers, and yeah, religious academies and even monks seem to have a brutal kind of humour that's terrifying from the outside. I believe many of the zany ideas like "Can God lift a stone he created?" that appear secular actually come from such students and educators (who were either too bored or feeling too creative).



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06 Jan 2013, 2:40 pm

This thread is drifting from a discussion of the US Federal income tax laws on non-profit organizations and the deductability of donations to qualified donees, into a discussion of what appears to be state and local treatment of affilated businesses. In all fairness to those asking the questions, I'm not sure if we can realistically discuss 52 state-level governments' treatment of religious-affilated organizations. Just the differences between Cali and Illinois would be enough to confuse me.


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