Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage Nationwide

[Proteus_MST]

No.

The law was that the Emperor must be worshipped however Christ recognised only one god.

Christianity does not allow the worship of an Emperor as a deity. So much for following the law.

Christ did say "render unto Caesar that which is Caesars" in reference to taxation. That is all, so far as I know.

Witzh other words ... pay your taxes ... which therefore christian churches should do, like secular organizations .... instead of desiring to be exempted from those taxes

[Gertrude]

Witzh other words ... pay your taxes ... which therefore christian churches should do, like secular organizations .... instead of desiring to be exempted from those taxes

That is a very good point. And one I had not thought of.

That would open a can of worms.

[Dauphin]

Are churches exmpt because they are religious, because they are not-for-profit, or because they are charities? And what range of taxes are they exempt from?

[Proteus_MST]

Are churches exmpt because they are religious, because they are not-for-profit, or because they are charities? And what range of taxes are they exempt from?

Sounds to me like they are exempt because of an assumed positive effect on society:

http://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-01/05-tax-exemptions-of-religious-property.html

Perhaps the US lawmakers should rethink this reasoning ... after all (I guess) the tax exemption also is granted for the Westboro Baptist Church ... and I doubt that anyone (except for members of the WBC) would agree that the WBC has any positive effect on society ... to the contrary

[grumbler]

Are churches exmpt because they are religious, because they are not-for-profit, or because they are charities? And what range of taxes are they exempt from?

The law lumps all of those (and educational, public safety, and non-profit scientific institutions) together. If the religious exemption were removed from that equation, churches would still be largely exempt because of their charitable and educational missions. The law does state that tax-exempt organizations must be run SOLELY for tax-exempt missions, so there might be some church functions that would have to be peeled off into taxable organizations, but I don't know enough about what churches actually do with their money to say which functions those might be.

[Feckan Eejit]

I shall marry my longterm lady friend

[I AM MOBIUS]

EDIT: wrong image

Quoted just because it's ****ing awesome!

[Sava]

No.

The law was that the Emperor must be worshipped however Christ recognised only one god.

Christianity does not allow the worship of an Emperor as a deity. So much for following the law.

Christ did say "render unto Caesar that which is Caesars" in reference to taxation. That is all, so far as I know.

Stellar endorsement of your factually wrong post

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
1 Peter 2:13-17

(Best formatting I can do on mobile now)

[Gertrude]

Corinthians 8:6New International Version (NIV)

6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

[Sava]

Black text can't be seen on dark theme.

Not that it matters. You are wrong. There's no denying it.

[I AM MOBIUS]

This was pretty hilarious

John Oliver mocks CNN's 'idiocy' after network mistakes black flag covered in sex toys for Isis flag

[I AM MOBIUS]

"And yet, for more than seven spectacular minutes, CNN had it onscreen - even calling one of their ‘terrorism experts’ to try and figure out why Isis might be marching with the gay community through London, which did seem surprising.”

I can't figure out who's worse, CNN or Fox News

[Sava]

CNN

FOX doesn't pretend to not suck

[Alexander's Horse]

even my kids picked up on that flag nonsense - the worst part was when she tells a policeman - sooo American

[Imran Siddiqui]

The law lumps all of those (and educational, public safety, and non-profit scientific institutions) together. If the religious exemption were removed from that equation, churches would still be largely exempt because of their charitable and educational missions. The law does state that tax-exempt organizations must be run SOLELY for tax-exempt missions, so there might be some church functions that would have to be peeled off into taxable organizations, but I don't know enough about what churches actually do with their money to say which functions those might be.

Indeed (people tend to just not get why religious organizations are tax exempt - usually it is due to their non-profit status; we are tax exempt as the ACLU is tax exempt, albeit the ACLU has a separate taxable organization dedicated to lobbying). As someone on my church's Finance Committee, I can tell you that the vast majority of the money the church receives is for running the church, aside from about close to 10% for charitable mission outside the walls (so to speak). Church functions, aside from Sunday morning worship and paying the staff, involve the budgets of various committees dedicated to furthering the charitable or educational mission of the Church. Just about everything would fit into that category.