| mrstickball said: 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. |
Speaking on stopgap, my local church gave me money very recently, to help get my license renewed and cover other expenses. The funds also help keep the car on the road. The government welfare way? Lose the car and everything and end up destitute.
