Like charities, churches should be expecteed to “give away”, or put to good use, a large percentage of their revenues over and above expenses. If not, why not tax them? Perhaps this would encourage more “good works” than we sometimes see.

Although there are churches that appear questionable or even illegitimate, only God is qualified to sort out the “good ones”. So I will have to take a pass on validating “good”.

However, there are non-profit charities that do need to be taxed because their contributions to society are dwarfed by their accumulated wealth.

One of my favorite non-profit charities with religous values is Boy Scouts. Basically, scouting teaches boys how to be good men. No problem with Scouts at the troop level where volunteers do the work with money they raise. This is where the “good things” happen.

But, although extremely wealthy, the BSA National Council, which espouses scouting values others are to follow, does not seem to see a need to share its money with those who operate the program at troop level.

At the end of 2007, it had $678 million invested in stocks and bonds. And would you believe the Head Scout makes $4 million in salary and benefits? The accumulation of wealth at the expense of the boys and the unpaid leaders and volunteers is absolutely sickening!

Want another great not-for-profit with a charity offshoot to look at? Try AARP for starters. A real puker.

Although the above examples are not churches, most folks do not know charities with seemingly valid missions accumulate and retain great wealth

And although churches,including the national components, complete non-profit paperwork, they don’t report on money. So, do we really know whether unnecessary wealth is being accumulated and not used for its intended purpose? Nope. If we did, we might support taxation.

One is no more righteous than the the other. Many churches of all sizes are on mission, with dedicated staff and members. Many churches do benevolent things with their money that you will never know about. God’s guiding hand has been instrumental in forming and shaping this nation. Many of the problems we suffer today are the result of our nation turning its back on him. Why would we hobble, one of the mechanisms which has established and still contributes to this nation’s stability, reverence, benevolence, and tradition.

Not all churches, as organizations, desire a voice in politics. But what document declares that someone who believes in God, is not entitled to an opinion on the direction of their country? If the majority of the membership harbors political leanings, should they be prohibited from talking among themselves until they leave the premises?

One of the main reasons: I am against any new taxes. After 233 years of America, why do we need to get creative and tax churches all of a sudden? The government’s involvement in religion should be minimal. Taxation has morphed into a tool of control. It does not need to be applied to churches. We do not need politics and politicians controlling religion.

Instead, we should be encouraging our country to embrace God. Teachers and children should not be forced to hide their beliefs when on school grounds. We should not be thinking of ways to dissuade churches. Heck, we ought to consider providing free utilities to attract churches, like we do to attract manufacturers. What community was ever worse off because it had too many churches?

Taxing churches? What’s next? Taxing the Salvation Army, American Cancer Society, or the Lord’s Pantry out of existence?

Otherwise, the church and the donor both gain advantage of representation without taxation. The donor gets the advantage of a tax deduction, and the church pays no tax on their “income.”

And with the various PACS representing religious causes, who again don’t pay any taxes, it goes on and on.