It's no secret that churches are the main opponents of attempts to offer state-recognition of gay unions. These are proposals that only affect what the state does and has no impact on religious organizations, who remain free to be as bigoted as they want.
Something's occurred to me recently. Organized churches benefit great from one enormous special right: the tax-exempt status that society (via governments) chooses to accord them. They are not allowed to explicitly endorse or oppose candidates for political office. But obviously, there are no restrictions to what they can do related to other political issues.
Given this special right that society gives them, you'd think they'd be a little bit less in your face in lobbying about public policy issues that don't affect them.
There's a huge difference between a church saying "We won't recognize gay marriages" and it saying "The state should ban anyone from recognizing gay marriages."
The state doesn't dictate how churches regulate themselves. Churches should return the favor.
After all, churches risk a backlash. Revulsion against creeping theocracy may create a movement to revoke this special right.
If they want to be political, so be it. They just shouldn't be subsidized by the rest of us.
2 comments:
Most would agree that churches should qualify for tax breaks for community or charity work, and all receipts/expense reports should be kept and checked to ensure the proper distribution of these funds for these activities. Anything beyond that indeed merely becomes a subsidy from the public coffers.
*sigh* Tell me about it.
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