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Texas official says Unitarian church not a tax-exempt religion
Kansas City Star ^ | 5/17/04 | R. A. Dyer

Posted on 05/19/2004 8:58:20 AM PDT by Egregious Philbin

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1 posted on 05/19/2004 8:58:20 AM PDT by Egregious Philbin
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To: Egregious Philbin

Tax everything, nothing and no one exempt.


2 posted on 05/19/2004 9:02:15 AM PDT by jpsb (Nominated 1994 "Worst writer on the net")
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To: Egregious Philbin

I'm no big fan of the ultra left-wing Unitarians, but in my opinion there's no way this decision is going to legally stand in court.


3 posted on 05/19/2004 9:02:19 AM PDT by jpl ("You can go to a restaurant in New York City and meet a foreign leader."- John Kerry)
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To: Egregious Philbin
The organization "does not have one system of belief."

Let's stretch a very tiny bit: The Pope says one thing, Mel Gibson's father says another -- Hey! The Roman Catholic Church does not have one system of belief! Let the tax revenue flow, Baby!

4 posted on 05/19/2004 9:04:35 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (You can see it coming like a train on a track.)
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To: jpl

A church without a creed is just a hallmark card. And those are taxed. Probably not even the funny shoebox variety. Just schmaltz.


5 posted on 05/19/2004 9:04:48 AM PDT by clarissaexplainsitall
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To: Egregious Philbin

I suppose getting an exemption for my Church of Monday Night Football is out of the question.


6 posted on 05/19/2004 9:06:12 AM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: Egregious Philbin
presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams were both Unitarians.

They would roll over in their graves if they saw what it has become.

7 posted on 05/19/2004 9:08:46 AM PDT by Protagoras (Control is the objective , freedom is the obstacle.)
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To: Egregious Philbin
Why do you get when you cross a Unitarian with a Jehovah's Witness?

Someone who knocks on your door and has nothing to say!
8 posted on 05/19/2004 9:08:51 AM PDT by 2banana (They want to die for Islam and we want to kill them)
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To: jpl

The first question that came to my mind was - "do the Scientologists have tax-exempt status?"


9 posted on 05/19/2004 9:10:20 AM PDT by Egregious Philbin
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To: jpsb
Tax everything, nothing and no one exempt.

OR

Tax nothing and everything and everybody is exempt.

10 posted on 05/19/2004 9:10:30 AM PDT by Protagoras (Control is the objective , freedom is the obstacle.)
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To: Egregious Philbin
The first question that came to my mind was - "do the Scientologists have tax-exempt status?"

Yes, they do.

11 posted on 05/19/2004 9:14:28 AM PDT by gdani (letting the marketplace decide = conservatism)
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To: Dog Gone
"It seems to me that any (group) that is specifically organized to address and explore the issues of what constitutes the good life, both here and perhaps in the afterworld, would qualify" as a religion, Althoff said.

I suppose getting an exemption for my Church of Monday Night Football is out of the question.

Looks like you should be ok by that guys standard.
12 posted on 05/19/2004 9:15:09 AM PDT by TalonDJ
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To: 2banana

I always heard it as "someone who knocks on your door for no reason".


13 posted on 05/19/2004 9:15:46 AM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: Egregious Philbin

This decision is totally out of line.


14 posted on 05/19/2004 9:16:31 AM PDT by HostileTerritory
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To: Dog Gone

Not if you worship Howard Kossell...;)


15 posted on 05/19/2004 9:16:51 AM PDT by WinOne4TheGipper (I cannot believe I just said that!)
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To: Egregious Philbin
But the denials of the Red River Unitarian Universalist Church in Denison, the North Texas Church of Freethought in Carrollton, and an earlier denial by Sharp for the Ethical Culture Fellowship of Austin, were ordered because the organizations did not mandate belief in a supreme being.

This is not going to stand. Buddhists don't have to believe in a supreme being either. The government has a pretty big burden to overcome to say, "This isn't a religion", and this guy hasn't met it.

16 posted on 05/19/2004 9:19:02 AM PDT by RonF
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To: Egregious Philbin
The organization "does not have one system of belief."

By this logic, the Democrat party does not qualify as a political organization.

17 posted on 05/19/2004 9:21:24 AM PDT by VisualizeSmallerGovernment (Question Liberal Authority)
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To: WinOne4TheGipper

The High Priest

18 posted on 05/19/2004 9:21:41 AM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: Protagoras

If I recall correctly, Unitarians were once a Christian denomination that believed in God and Jesus but believed them to be simply different aspects of a single Godhead, instead of a Triune God. How they got hooked up with the Universalists is unknown to me.


19 posted on 05/19/2004 9:22:19 AM PDT by RonF
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To: VisualizeSmallerGovernment
By this logic, the Democrat party does not qualify as a political organization.

Wasn't it Will Rogers who said, "I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat."?

20 posted on 05/19/2004 9:23:16 AM PDT by RonF
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