But not political action. He didn’t vote; said Christians shouldn’t vote and so on. He gave speeches and wrote articles about the evil of slavery.
What about after slavery was abolished?
If that was true there’d be no atheists. It falls flat like every other attempt to claim religion is necessary.
As for what happens if it can’t be or isn’t fixed; I expect that humanity will destroy itself or worse then. As humanity grows in power its insanity becomes ever more dangerous to itself.
Didn’t vote because women couldn’t, I think.
Wait just a minute: What’s wrong with taxing churches?
Humanity is growing more secularist so your fears are unfounded.
Suppose there’s a poor man who’s doing preaching on the side and he largely uses his house as a church. Would he have to pay taxes?
To get back to the OP, organized Christian political participation waxes and wanes. For much of the 20th century, evangelicals avoided politics. I don’t know that they refrained from voting, though.
Constitutionally, I suppose you might have to tax all non-profits. Singling out churches might arguably be a first amendment violation.
He’d have to pay the normal property taxes on his house, yes.
That doesn’t jive with the several hundred years after the birth of Christianity, when the religion grew and flourished despite the opposition of the state to become adopted as the official state religion.
All without the use of force.
There was plenty of force, the Christians of the time hated each other. And it ignores the fact that becoming the state religion meant that force was used to make it so. And it ignores the fact that Christianity didn’t spread farther than Rome by being nice. And it ignores the fact that the version of Christianity that exists now is the end product of the religion that spread itself by fire and sword for centuries.
Christianity got to where it is today via conquest, the destruction of cultures and by genocide, and it is not well equipped to spread itself any other way. It is a thing of malice and tyranny.
What constitutes an acceptable minimal church, and thus tax exemption? One person? Ten?
This is true only if you have something less vile to replace it with. Little or no Christian influence existed in the government of, say, Taliban-era Afghanistan, but I wouldn’t point to that regime as any better than Christian ones.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call them “lunatics”, though they certainly have an irrational delusion, the severity and adverse affects of which vary from individual to individual.
Religious people do not agree with my political views. The political party to which I belong is openly and unabashedly materialist (or “atheist”, if you prefer), and does not accept members who hold irrational superstitions, religious or otherwise. We actively tell the electorate not to vote for us unless they understand and agree with our case.
I’m going out on a limb and guessing your party doesn’t have a lot of incumbents.
Way Back When, D.L. Moody, the founder of the Moody Bible Institute was walking to the polls. His neighbors seeing this asked him why he was going to vote. Reverend Moody considered the question and replied along the lines of “I am not of this earth, for heaven is my true home, but seeing as I pay taxes in Cook County, I see no reason not to vote here!”
Is the curling club tax exempt? The rugby club? As far as I’m concerned, churchs are social clubs.
On a related note, when I was in grad school, it cost $50 to get married by a judge in chambers, similar for a minster. I got ordained by the Universal Life Church (you may know them from the back pages of Rolling Stone) and married people for a six-pack or a bottle of wine. So, in my opinion, if you want to do the church thing, it’s a hobby, and a professional minister is no different from a professional junior hockey coach.
For the record, I’m buddhist, not atheist, if that makes a difference.
Ever hear of the concept “separation of sport and state” ?
If you tax the churches, then they have a right to representation. Is that what you want ?
What do you mean? Their members already vote.
In the same way as the curling club has representation? By voting as individuals?
I don’t mind them having the same right to representation as any other corporation, so long as we don’t favor one church over another, and don’t favor any of 'em more or less than a barber shop or a movie studio – or a car dealership or a law firm or a psychologist’s office or whatever.