Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site spp2.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!decvax!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwspp!spp2!urban From: urban@spp2.UUCP (Mike Urban) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: 2 Samuel 7:14 Message-ID: <458@spp2.UUCP> Date: Mon, 4-Mar-85 13:05:02 EST Article-I.D.: spp2.458 Posted: Mon Mar 4 13:05:02 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Mar-85 07:07:34 EST References: <806@decwrl.UUCP> Reply-To: urban@spp2.UUCP (Mike Urban) Organization: TRW, Redondo Beach CA Lines: 42 Summary: In article <806@decwrl.UUCP> black@nisysg.DEC writes: > ... You cannot convince me that AIDS > and herpes are not God's warnings to certain people to "cease and > desist." To ask me to believe otherwise is to ask me to cease > believing in Scripture. What's the passage in scripture that refers to cold sores? What is the behavior of the hundreds of heterosexual victims of AIDS in Africa that they must "cease and desist"? Kindly clarify. > The Constitution clearly states that Congress shall pass no > law recognizing the establishment of a religion, nor prohibiting the > free exercise thereof. (My, how we tend to ignore the second half of > that sentence!) But yet, who determines what constitutes a "religion" > in this nation? Why, none other than that bastion of freedom, the > Internal Revenue Service! If you want to open a church, which is > your right, you must apply to the IRS to be certified as a religion > in order to gain tax-exempt status. You don't believe me? Write to > them and ask. They'll close you down and seize your assets if you > try to claim income tax deductions unless they give you permission > to be a church. This could also be construed as a powerful argument that churches and religious organizations should be subject to taxation exactly the same as any other profit-making organization, or should be subject to exactly the same "educational/non-profit" criteria for tax exemption as secular organizations. In other words, we agree that the State SHOULD NOT be in the business of determining what constitutes a *bona fide* religion. Of course, nobody is stopping you from starting a church *without* tax-exempt status. Mike Urban {ucbvax|decvax}!trwrb!trwspp!spp2!urban "You're in a maze of twisty UUCP connections, all alike" -- Mike Urban {ucbvax|decvax}!trwrb!trwspp!spp2!urban "You're in a maze of twisty UUCP connections, all alike"