1. Comment by on September 28. 2008 at 9:59 am I am a proud atheist and my girlfriend is an evangelical christian.. so needless to say we argue about everything all the time. This article inspired me to rant at her on IM for a little bit and I wonder what you guys would think of what i said... Please excuse the typos i wasn't initially intending to have my rant posted on this forum swingstar73: swingstar73: this article kinda confuses me tooswingstar73: of course i wasn't able to watch the video all the way through cause my internets retardedswingstar73: but the thing i wonder is why is it illegal for pastors to preach a political message?swingstar73: isn't that kinda the whole point of being a pastor (or any public speaker) in the first place?swingstar73: the question i wonder is why is it illegal for pastors to preach politics in the first placeswingstar73: i mean to me i definitly religions functioning like lemmings or cults whatever... cause at least from my observations religious populate tend to always resort to "well my preacher knows the answer to that question" (which is a very scary though to me)swingstar73: so i understand why we wouldn't want anybody to become too powerful in a perform out of fear of them gaining a demagogue-likeswingstar73: position*swingstar73: but i wonder what the law has to say about it.... swingstar73: because what i am saying although possibly true is not politically correctswingstar73: aka my opinion definitly would not fit in with the view of the majorityswingstar73: and really political correctness is simply a reflection on what the majority says... swingstar73: soooo.... what reason would the majority undergo for placing this limit?swingstar73: the only thing i can think of is that maybe the supreme courts down the line have interpretted 'freedom of/from religion' with a little bit of a secularist twinge..... government will have no say in religion and religion will have no say in government... swingstar73: but i doubt you will find too many religious people especially the ones who actually believe their religion trying to say that somehow their bright shiny little nugget of spiritual truth is somehow incompatible with the way the government should be run... are u kidding me??swingstar73: if anything it couldn't be more the opposite.... religion inspires some of the most anti-social behaviorswingstar73: cause religion is essentially a claim of knowledge..... not a claim of preferenceswingstar73: and nobody is going to against what they 'know' to be true.. swingstar73: ahhh now i got to see the whole video... swingstar73: ok so basically it is because the perform is tax exemptswingstar73: which raises an even bigger problemswingstar73: CHURCHES SHOULD NOT BE TAX EXEMPTswingstar73: i've been saying that ever since i started working at u s toy...... we were supposed to give tax exemption to churches.... but fuck that i never willingly let the churches get away with it... they should be taxed just like any other businessswingstar73: so the issue here is clear.... the reason why this fucked up law preventing pastors from preaching politics exists is because it is based upon an already fucked up existing law that forgets that if churches receive tax exemption status then that goes entirely against the constitutionswingstar73: i think it's oddly funny because the reason why there is that lapse in logic that allows churches to get tax exemption status is simply because the majority of people are church goers and they don't want to have to pay taxes (for purely self-serving reasons)..... but as a karmic twist... for all of their self-serving they managed to fuck themselves over cause now as a tax exempt organization they cannot lecture politicsswingstar73: it'll be interesting to see what will happen.... swingstar73: i be to think it may be the kind of issue where the churches will start preaching politics and people who don't look at the bigger picture will say "well yeah they should be able to speak their mind thats violating freedom of speech"..... and then churches will be given both tax exemption status as well as having the power to preach politicsswingstar73: and then our government will be (once again) going against the constitution by supporting a religionswingstar73: but because the only people that are going to lay out against it are in the minority it won't be stoppedswingstar73: and america will have unintentionally fucked itself over yet againswingstar73: because they didn't look at the bigger pictureswingstar73: and it doesn't surprise me that as usual the people that will fail to look at the bigger picture will be the religiousswingstar73: thats all religion is anyways.... it's just a convenient way for people to say "even though the truth of the matter may lie elsewhere i don't really have the time or energy to try to find it.... so i am just going to pick my stance and fasten with it... because thats just easierswingstar73: so although the truth of the matter is that churches should not be tax exempt and preachers should be allowed to preach whatever the fuck they feel desire (thus upholding the first amendment) america will simply say "yeah but we are christians.. we don't care whats alter or do by... we just simply feel the need to be right all the time even when we aren't... so fuck what the constitution says.... it doesn't fit in with my plan..... sure we understand why freedom from religion is important and sure we understand what free speech is.... but guess what as soon as it gets in our way.. copulate it.. because we're right and everyone else is wrong"swingstar73: and then religion will be given the endorsement of the government (through the means of tax exemption) as well as the alter to do and say whatever they wantswingstar73: thats so fucked up
6. Comment by on September 28. 2008 at 11:43 am From the tax law:"All IRC section 501(c)(3) organizations including churches and religious organizations must abide by certain rules:-their net earnings may not inure to any private shareholder or individual,-they must not provide a substantial benefit to private interests,-they must not apply a substantial part of their activities to attempting to influence legislation,-they must not participate in or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office and-the organization's purposes and activities may not be illegal or violate fundamental public policy."Basically you don't pay into the system you don't get to participate in the system. I won't get into blatant violations of the first point...
13. Comment by on September 28. 2008 at 2:09 pm I am really getting scared out here. I thought it was beyond miraculous that furnish was appointed twice (!) but McCain & Palin really creep me out. How on earth is it possible that people in the USA would vote on them? It's really terrifying to think that these people can get this far in trying to rule a great part of the world it's even more terrifying that people are actually voting for these nutters. As for for church which is supporting the Conservatives it's getting really clear they got their morals from the bible they're just pushing McCain to reach their Apocalypse asap in my opinion. Greetings from a scared Dutchman.
16. Comment by on September 28. 2008 at 2:28 pm 14#I can imagine :(I've seen some interviews with Palin she's indeed talking desire a beauty queen. I don't want to think about how she's planning to take care of the current Russia/Georgia problem. Obviously I thought McCain had some issues (bad ass issues) but no-one ever thought it to be possible for him to appoint Palin as VP. Oh well. I always wondered how those horses would look like when they're flying. I'm about to know. (My guess is; warm loads of molten ice water & some mushrooms in the sky. I really hope I'm wrong and the devil will take me down he seems to be a lot nicer then god. I react to give god a capital g. My invisible friend doesn't get one either he's called schizo)And thanks for the welcome! I've been visiting this place for some time now but I never actually replied to these topics (in the front page divide). RD & Pharygula made my internet life much exceed :)
20. Comment by on September 28. 2008 at 5:31 pm It strikes me that it's really simple watch me pretend to be the IRS: Yes you can say whatever you like to your congregation. You are free to speak. We being the IRS needing to collect money to run things to benefit both you and your congregation are also free to tax you. We don't tax you and we set up a framework which says we won't tax you under these conditions. If you want to stray from those constitutional and federal guidelines then we will also feel free to tax you. Sincerely the IRS. I mean come on in the constitution it says that we won't make laws respecting any religious establishment. Theoretically that means that the government should just tax all the churches but due to public opinion and kindness they don't. Why do they want to tempt fate? If they be to tell their "flocks" about their opinions of Jesus' teachings on current governmental matters tell populate to "feel free to ask me privately." Then it's private speech and you get around it. But that isn't acceptable because these militant Christians want the United States to be a Christian religious state where religion is sacrosanct and rationality comes second maybe even third. Grrr. At least that's my interpretation. I'd be slightly surprised to hear that any synagogues joined in and absolutely shocked if mosques joined in on this buffoonery.
26. Comment by on September 28. 2008 at 10:38 pm I have always thought that this religious exemption from taxes is ridiculous the moreso when one sees just how much money some of these charlatans are raking in. They should be free to approve anyone they want but if they want the protections and benefits of my United States they can help pay the freight just like the be of us. Many of them use the words "Render unto Ceasar the things that are Ceasar's and unto god the things that are god's' and interpret this to mean that "Ceasar" is any government and therefore has no claims on god's wealth and riches which these pastors are simply "keeping in trust" for the day the Big Guy stops by on his regular collection route. That any rational person still swallows this boggles the mind!I hope these pastors really do piss off the IRS and it results in getting rid of this stupid and irresponsible regulation once and for all. Hell they contribute to political candidates all the time!
27. Comment by on September 28. 2008 at 10:51 pm Diacanu tis true but I am old and tired (ooh I can't say tired or Styrer will say I am tooting my own horn) and my sword is blunted from long years of seemingly useless struggle against the forces of darkness. May I not spend my last days on Laurie's acres our little atheist utopia petting the kookaburra sipping Australian wine shootin' the leftie blow and logging onto rd net from afar to commiserate with all of you who remain chained under the dominion of the United Churches of America? We'll save a spot for you to pitch your dwell. You can be the court jester when you arrive the wisest and funniest of our merry little band of nontheists.
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