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voty2000 on 28 September 2010
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mrstickball said:
voty2000 said:

That's cool.  Next we'll tax the red cross, then the salvation army, after that we can tax Toys for Tots.  These non-profit organizations are killing us.  The boys and girls club also takes donations so we'll tax them as well and all the folks helping animals at the ASPCA.  Like it or not, many churches give back to the community, especially after natural disasters.  After Katrina, the Southern Baptist Committee gave out 200 sets of washers and dryers, free dry wall and insulation, and workers and that's just in my city.  If you actually believe that non-profit organizations should be taxed then you have more problems than just hating religion.

Your bull headed just like religious nuts, no different.  Intolerant of people of different beliefs.

You fleshed out my argument a bit more. May I add a few thoughts?

Churches and religious organizations can provide vital philantrophic aid to those in need. That is one of their main goals, and many, and I mean MANY non-profits have sprung from churches and their laypeople. To attack churches would deprive them of critical monies that would benefit the poor and needy. Furthermore, to balance the argument (from a logical standpoint), governments would also have to go after every non-profit for tax monies. This would collapse charitable organizations, as they operate on not having a profit (like churches do).

In such a scenario, there would be little, if any charity, which would force the government to grow in size and scale. Churches, and non-profits provide a very vital stopgap for aid to the poor and needy. Furthermore, due to less overhead costs on church-based charities (they get usage of buildings for free, which allows more funds to go directly to those in need), large amounts of monies are saved which can be given to further the plight of the poor and needy.

For example, I help out at a homeless shelter that is attached to a church. They also have a clothing center and food pantry. The church does all of this due to monies given to the church by both the attendees as well as the community. If the church was taxed, then the money would be taken away from the shelter, clothing center, and food pantry. Why? Because all the current monies either go to these things, or it goes into overhead such as rent, heat, and water. They would fold, and our city would be without its largest homeless shelter.

Is that what you want, Numonex? To destroy homeless shelters? To kill food pantries? To end clothing drop-offs for the needy? Because that is what your advocating. And as person that has spent years helping the needy, I am apalled at your lack of compassion for the people that churches and non-profits help. You can cite a few bad apples in religion, but don't you dare lump them all together. Did you know that one of the largest aid groups in the world, the Salvation Army isn't a non-profit? Did you know its an actual church denomination? I doubt you did.

And the work churches do go well beyond just charitable organizations.  The youth group at my church do all sorts of work for the poor and needy and most of the people aren't church members.  I can't remember how many houses I've put new roofs on, how many yards I've mowed and cleaned up, and how many houses I've painted free of charge.  We didn't even try to push religion down the people throats we were helping, all we did was say God bless when we left.  We also visited old folks homes and just talked and listened to the elderly that never gets visitors.