Posted on 02/28/2014 6:54:46 AM PST by C19fan
Back in 2012, a full two years before conservatives insisted that religious freedom entailed the right to discriminate against gay people or gay spouses in both private and public workplaces, Republicans in Washington trotted out the same religious liberty line for the arguably narrower purpose of defending religious employers who wanted to be exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate.
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It would be an infringement upon religious liberty to shutter a church that refused to marry interracial couples. But how many conservatives would go to bat for that church if the government rescinded its tax exemption? Would they argue that religious freedom entails the freedom to discriminate in otherwise unlawful ways and pay no taxes? I kind of doubt it. The same logic obviously extends to same-sex couples. And yet, if the past week proved anything it’s that many, many conservatives believe that not only is it morally acceptable for a church to refuse to marry same-sex couples, but that the only way to uphold that church’s religious freedom is to make sure it keeps its privileged tax status as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
It was too easy for the left to defeat this law. Their “victory” is as meaningless as stonewall.
Speaking of homosexuals:
Rink Employee May Have Fondled Feet Of More Than 200 Underage Boys
February 27, 2014 12:55 PM
Anybody who does not realize that church’s will lose tax exempt status very soon are either asleep or in the ostrich with head in sand mode.
IT’s coming....we have political precedent being established and we have the Word of God.
Pay attention people the early church was persecuted by the mighty Roman Empire....none other than Nero himself was behind the beheading of Paul by linking the fire in Rome to the Chrsitians
The Obama administration is persecuting believers and it will continue to get worsse.
Freegards
LEX
I’m curious - in what other countries do churches and religious groups have tax exempt status?
As a deacon, I do numerous weddings for the Church. But we are also agents of the state. If I am forced to marry same sex (or plural partners)...sorry...I will NOT marry on behalf of the state and will only do the church wedding. I’ll give up my legal status as a state agent and only do the sacrament. The church has been looking at this already and will not be forced into marrying gay couples.
I think in France the folks get married in the church then go and get a civil marriage in front of a state agent.
And prepare now for giving up the preferred tax status.
I notice the satanic left never finds time to complain about GE, NFL, FB, and a host of other WEALTHY corporations that pay zilch in taxes. Could that be because they do satan's’ bidding?
Actually the church should willingly throw off the exemption chains and speak loud and proud. The tax exemption was nothing more than bait to keep them quiet.
Most go the route of Europe and have state-sanctioned, civil-tax-funded churches.
The left do not fear libertarians, speechifying politicians, academic free marketers or moderate conservatives. The brutal Evil Empire in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe had won every confrontation with the west since 1917. What brought them down was an unemployed high school dropout named Lech Walensa and the support of Pope John Paul II.
The left hates and fears sincere religious families. These are the people who will never tolerate a Soviet style police state. These are the people who will fight fearlessly and tirelessly for their beliefs.
Our Constitution guarantees freedom of religion to Americans. I am convinced that more than anything else it is this that has made our great country strong. The goal of the left is to undermine and destroy the strong religious faith that so many Americans hold dear.
Joseph Stalin said,“America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.” That is the goal of the left. It is that simple. Homosexuality is one weapon they are using to reach their evil goal.
“Actually the church should willingly throw off the exemption chains and speak loud and proud. The tax exemption was nothing more than bait to keep them quiet.”
I couldn’t agree with you more! The ability to speak was bargained away for a few dollars.
The Black Robe regiment encourages ditching the tax exemption and speaking openly about politics from a religious standpoint.
The seeds of the American revolution were sewn in the colonial churches and this is what liberals fear today.
Some people believe the leftists will stop once “gay marriage” is the law across the entire United States. Those people would be wrong, and the civil rights hammer will be used to crush anyone who dissents.
“The seeds of the American revolution were sewn in the colonial churches and this is what liberals fear today.”
It’s unfortunate that so many of today’s churches are spouting the liberal line on social issues such as divorce, same-sex marriage, social justice, etc.. There are still a few Bible-believing/teaching churches out there, but they continue to be fewer and fewer. The church of my youth is not somewhere I would feel comfortable in today (ELCA Lutheran).
The best thing, I think, is for the Church to stop performing marriages all together.”
The minister where I attend church has never married anyone and says he never will. A month or so ago he also said, during his teaching period, that he believes Christians and particularly ministers will be jailed for preaching the gospel before his own time on earth is finished. Looks like we are moving in that direction.
Governor Jan Brewer was BLACKMAILED into vetoing that law, by the sports leagues and the press!!!! PHOOEY!!!!
“Gays” are QUEERS!!!! Same sex “marriage” is NOT marriage!!!! It is a sad society in which states and localities, small businesses, and even churches can be BULLIED into supporting the poisonous, hateful, and sick “gay” agenda—by big business (including sports leagues and large convention companies), by social media, and by the government.
Way back in Arizona, businesses used to have signs that read “we reserve the right to refuse to serve anyone”. The civil rights movement killed that—fine. But “gays”, feminazis, and muslims use that opening to smash and squash our society and the Christian faith.
It is a good idea for churches to get out of the civil marriage business. First you go and get “married” before a justice of the peace. Then you have a sacramental wedding in the Church. And—by the way—especially if you’re Orthodox—you’re NOT really married until you have that sacramental wedding!!!!
The we go independent and underground and meet in secret like they do in iran... because we are becoming iran.
Because the Left has learned that deeply cherished Conservative values held in good stead for millennia can be quickly overturned with a threat to yank the Super Bowl.
This might help you:
RI Constitution
Art I, Section 3. Freedom of religion.
Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; and all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness; and whereas a principal object of our venerable ancestors, in their migration to this country and their settlement of this state, was, as they expressed it, to hold forth a lively experiment that a flourishing civil state may stand and be best maintained with full liberty in religious concernments; we, therefore, declare that no person shall be compelled to frequent or to support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever, except in fulfillment of such person's voluntary contract; nor enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in body or goods; nor disqualified from holding any office; nor otherwise suffer on account of such person's religious belief; and that every person shall be free to worship God according to the dictates of such person's conscience, and to profess and by argument to maintain such person's opinion in matters of religion; and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect the civil capacity of any person.
* Worship may come in to play as the following is common in the Anglican wedding vows: With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Spew-inducing, constitutionally ignorant, Salon Nazi garbage. Call in the E-Hazmat team to clean it up.
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