Posted on 07/29/2011 7:13:27 AM PDT by flowerplough
Pastors from mainline denominations and other religious leaders knelt on the floor of the Capitol Rotunda Thursday, praying and singing until police arrested them for the protest. Their message to a Congress attempting to raise the debt ceiling? Raise taxes instead of cutting programs.
“Today, we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to say to Congress, ‘Raise revenue, protect the vulnerable and those living in poverty,” said the Rev. Michael Livingston, the former president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ (USA), in a statement. Joining him were representatives from the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, and groups like Faith in Public Life.
But neither chamber is considering a bill to raise the debt ceiling that contains tax increases. The two bills on the table, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s measure and House Speaker John Boehner’s measure, both rely exclusively on cuts to reduce the deficit. The only political leader in Washington still talking about tax increases was President Barack Obama in his primetime address Monday night.
“There may be noble reasons for religious officials getting arrested, but defending big government and advocating higher taxes don’t qualify,” said Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religious and Democracy (IRD), in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldmag.com ...
they are the ones that were given one drachma by Yeshua and
returned one drachma.
anti-capitalists all.
YES - CALL GENERAL ELECTRIC RIGHT NOW AND ASK THEM ABOUT IT.
And then do this: try not giving companies with earnings in China a free-pass on repatriating those profits and paying no Federal income tax.
Because the second the CASH gets back to their U.S. bank accounts - IT’S GOING RIGHT BACK TO CHINA TO BE REINVESTED.
Why not a free-pass on Federal income taxes for every corporation with less than 50 employees ? Less than 100 ? Less than 10 ? (crickets).
Oh, free-passes on taxes are only for large multi-national corporations, I see.
Religious leaders in favor of coveting others peoples’ wealth.
“Religious leaders”. ROTFL!!! I think they mean commie libs POSING as “religious leaders”.
” National Council of the Churches of Christ (USA), “
Espousing communism for over 50 years.
Nothing is keeping those leftist scumbags from donating their inflated salaries to the govt.
Easy for them to say since churches don’t pay taxes.
There is still a diffeence between reaching into you own pocket, and reaching into your neighbor's.
And "God is Watching"? I believe He addressed that when he praised the poor widow who contributed "all that she had to live on." That gets His notice.
(But why should I preach to Jim Wallis? I should preach also to myself, ungenerous person that I am.)
...said the Rev. Michael Livingston, the former president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ (USA), in a statement. Joining him were representatives from the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, and groups like Faith in Public Life.All these grou s are engaging in political activity, and should have their tax-exempt status revoked.
I guess when you are tax-exempt, higher taxes are not such a big deal.
If these “religious leaders” want to help the poor, woudln’t the biblical thing be to encourage their flocks to give more to charity, rather than petition the government to seize more money from those who earned it? Wasn’t “tax collector” considered one of the most vile occupations in the Gospels?
They could voluntarily give up their exempt status.
If these denominations believe tax increases are the way to go, then why don’t they give up the tax exemptions their church’s enjoy?
As a member of a Presbyterian (USA) church...I don’t mind paying increased taxes to help the poor. But...
I’ll have to stop dropping monthly contibution checks in the offering plate.
Oh yes...and that big check that I write to the Capital/Building Fund at the end of each year (kind of a Christmas present to our church).
There...budget is balanced...problem solved.
These so-called religious leaders have got it completely backward - it is the role of the Church, not the government, to care for the poor and needy.
Nowhere in scripture does it advocate the king/government to confiscate private property to take care of the poor. There were laws against taking advantage of them, but the family and the church were to meet that obligation - even then, the Apostle Paul said that “those who won’t work won’t eat.”
It works every time it's tried, and their failure to embrace it proves that they worship statism and government control more they worship God.
This is GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED RELIGION, “folks”.
My redneck preacher is mobilizing food drives and getting us out to help the poor. We have an event scheduled tomorrow.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.