There's a lot of panic going around, over how the SCOTUS's recent legislation will affect churches who do not want to officiate over gay wedding ceremonies. Churches are terrified that refusing will lose them their tax exempt status.
I say: so what? That tax exempt status is preventing the churches from doing a lot of good--it's a chain, a muzzle, a gag. Any pastor that says anything outright political that TPTB don't like gets threatened with the church's tax exempt status getting yanked. That includes castigating parishioners that follow the feelz and have an abortion/fuck around outside of marriage/act on their urges to fuck around despite being married, or any other things that are frowned upon by the whole bible, not just the laws that were fulfilled by the coming of Christ.
Instead, what we have is this watered-down, passive version of Christianity. No Jonathan Edwards for us, no sir. Why, that man was a fire-breathing, politically active pastor that said we were all going to hell!
Well, looking around at the things going on--God being forced out of public schools, while pornography is brought in; girls being snuck out by their school counselors for abortions, without even bothering to tell their parents they were even pregnant; children being stolen from their families by the state teaching them that anything goes, and their parents are wackos for believing in an Imaginary Friend in the Sky--maybe we, as a nation, are headed in that very direction.
The results--the mass shootings, the kids looking for direction joining radical Islam because they're not getting it at home or in church, the rising number of unwed mothers and/or abortions in certain demographics, the violence in the streets, the sheer, selfish, thoughtless lack of consideration for one's neighbor--sort of speak for themselves.
So, yes. Let that tax exempt status fall by the wayside. Let the pastors actually start guiding their flocks again. I will bet you anything that the true Christians will stand up and make damn sure their church is blessed by the removal of the chains and gag.
3 hours ago
Amen.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteI will note that a lot of small churches, mine included I am sure, would go under as a result of having to scrape together funds to cover taxes. (We may not last much longer as it is: aging congregation, big old building needing repair on a regular basis....)
ReplyDeleteI fully suspect, though, that 30 years or so hence, Christianity will have retreated to "house churches" once again. Like 1st century Roman occupied Judea, or like the China of more recently. Not sure that's a bad thing in the long run but it will be quite painful getting there.
I don't know. I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn some in favor of this ruling are in favor of it because they think it's a step to amending the 1st amendment to take out religion....
The world is changing too damn fast for me.
Yep, and in entirely the wrong direction with the change.
DeleteThing is, there are arguments for downsizing the buildings for many churches. Sad, but true.
And there's also the thing that if the churches get the muzzle taken off, they may start growing again. Lotsa people between college age and my age (mid thirties) don't care for churches because they won't tackle the tough subject, and get mealy-mouthed on lots of others because they're afraid of offending. And were I to find a church worthy of supporting...yeah, I'd be helping support it financially, not just with numbers. Even with how little we have to spare.