At the same time, religious people see the Democratic candidates (and the activist party base) as not being very friendly to religious doctrines (e.g. Beto said he’d take away tax exemption from churches that don’t go along with the politically correct opinion of gay marriage , to great audience applause www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/o-rourke-says-churches-against-gay-marriage-should-lose-tax-n1065186 ; future candidates & campaigns are only going to swing more extreme from this starting opinion). So as hypocritical as you’ll think this is, Trump is less threatening to religious freedom as folks on the extreme left. Hence the photo op.
I absolutely agree with you that churches should stay out of politics, but churches tend to do a lot of charitable things in addition to trying to “save souls” — feeding and clothing the poor, for example; so should the tithes / contributions that people provide to their churches be taxed like regular corporate income?
actually, I tried (and failed) to edit my comment to say:
I agree that churches should stay out of politics in general, but when politics mandate something that goes against religious beliefs (e.g. what happens when the government forces church affiliated hospitals to provide abortions or birth control, or the government insists that people should be called by their preferred pronouns, etc.), should politicians be superior to God?
Also, churches do tend to do a lot of charitable things in addition to trying to “save souls” — feeding and clothing the poor, for example; so should the tithes / contributions that people provide to their churches be taxed like regular corporate income?
“If Christ were here there is one thing he would not be–a Christian.”
– Mark Twain’s Notebook
Could not agree more with the attached article.
I get it, but I hate that saying. why would he follow himself?
would Buddha not be a Buddhist? not a matter of following the person as much as following the rules or teachings as it were
I believe Buddha explicitly said to not follow him and he’s not a deity
I , the agnostic atheist , agree with you
WTF is going on in this picture?
No, what you see there is just a photo op.
At the same time, religious people see the Democratic candidates (and the activist party base) as not being very friendly to religious doctrines (e.g. Beto said he’d take away tax exemption from churches that don’t go along with the politically correct opinion of gay marriage , to great audience applause www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/o-rourke-says-churches-against-gay-marriage-should-lose-tax-n1065186 ; future candidates & campaigns are only going to swing more extreme from this starting opinion). So as hypocritical as you’ll think this is, Trump is less threatening to religious freedom as folks on the extreme left. Hence the photo op.
I’m a firm believer that churches should never have had tax exemption, particularly the churches that want to get political.
I absolutely agree with you that churches should stay out of politics, but churches tend to do a lot of charitable things in addition to trying to “save souls” — feeding and clothing the poor, for example; so should the tithes / contributions that people provide to their churches be taxed like regular corporate income?
actually, I tried (and failed) to edit my comment to say:
I agree that churches should stay out of politics in general, but when politics mandate something that goes against religious beliefs (e.g. what happens when the government forces church affiliated hospitals to provide abortions or birth control, or the government insists that people should be called by their preferred pronouns, etc.), should politicians be superior to God?
Also, churches do tend to do a lot of charitable things in addition to trying to “save souls” — feeding and clothing the poor, for example; so should the tithes / contributions that people provide to their churches be taxed like regular corporate income?