Quote of the Day - Calling Out Christofascist Misogyny

My blogger friend Bob Felton - a straight man living in North Carolina who is an engineer by training - and I have never met.  We have read each other's blogs for years now and occasionally exchange e-mails or Facebook communications.  Like me, Bob holds a very dim view of religion, especially fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity.   He credits me with changing his thinking on gays and gay rights.  He often comes up with very apt summations of the evils of religion and the foulness of the "godly folk."  He hit a bulls-eye with this quote responding to one of my posts:

WE DO KNOW now that there is a lot more to sexuality than plumbing, that sexual orientation is a biological switch that is set before birth; virtually every biologist and medical researcher on earth will tell you that. The refusal to accept that, and instead constrict the lives of others in deference to the things written by some Bronze Age anonymity, goes to character.

Let me elaborate so that there is no confusion about what I’m saying: When Pastor Bubba or your Auntie Grizelda howls and bellows that it doesn’t matter what scientists say because Leviticus says everything anybody needs to know about the subject, he or she is exhibiting bad character and decent, educated adults should avoid them.

In addition to taxing churches, one of the main ways the evils of fundamentalist Christianity is to make its adherents social and political outcasts.  Truly decent people should avoid them and give them no deference whatsoever.  

The Case for Taxing Churches

Joel Osteen's taxpayer subsidized mansion

The myth behind the tax-exempt status of churches is that in theory they perform charitable works. The sad reality is that many do not or certainly not to those outside their home parishes/congregations.  Instead far to many, especially those espousing the prosperity gospel, provide obscenely plush lifestyles for their con-artist leaders pastors .  Worse yet, many engage in political action directly in opposition to applicable IRS rules.  Through out it all, every single American by default is forced to indirectly subsidized such hypocrisy filled churches and their operations - even as many of these churches work directly against the interest of taxpayers forced to subsidize their activities.  I have long advocated that churches should lose their tax-exempt status across the board except in specific instances where they provide a 100% charitable service open to ALL citizens.  Blogger friend Bob Felton shares this belief even more strongly.  He has put together  an indictment of tax-exempt statues for churches that can be found here.  The following are some brief excerpts please read the entire piece):

When Dylann Roof massacred 9-worshippers at a South Carolina church in the summer of 2015, the subsequently-discovered images of him draped in a confederate flag irrevocably linked the flag to the racism that drove him; one could no longer plausibly claim that display of the flag is an expression of respect for southern chivalry; magnolia and honeysuckle; velvet, genteel dusks and mint juleps.

Even so, when at its 2016 annual meeting the Southern Baptists considered a resolution discouraging display of the flag, the flag’s supporters were incensed. In short order the discussion digressed into a discussion of loyalties, and on that subject Southern Baptists on both sides of the discussion were agreed.

Here is the text of some typical tweets:
  “I am a Christian first and an American second.”
  “Following Christ will always trump being an American.”
  “If I ever have to choose between the cross and the American flag, I will choose the cross every time.”

Well … that’s their right. But what right have they to expect their fellow Americans to subsidize their America Second loyalties?

So, too, the Followers of Christ, a small Christian denomination headquartered in Oregon. They rely on verses such as James 5:15 to justify denying medical care to their children – and they have a cemetery with lots of little coffins to demonstrate their sincerity.

Similarly, following the massacre of 49-patrons of a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, there was no shortage of preachers eager to condemn the dead — to complain, even, that some of the victims survived.

We subsidize all of them, too.

Religious institutions have for so long enjoyed freedom from taxes that the privileged status of churches and clergy is part of our civic scenery: of course that megachurch can’t be expected to pay for its police and fire protection, for the construction and wear of the roads which service it, or taxes on the desirable property it occupies.

Why not?

And who knows that this presumption upon the public purse – now conservatively estimated at more than $70-billion a year, or $220 per year for every man, woman, and child in the United States — was debated even before the adoption of the Constitution, or that Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were all firmly opposed to it?

The tax privileges enjoyed by churches – and synagogues, mosques, temples, seminaries, on and on – are incontestably contrary to the Founders’ intent.

Set aside for a moment the Constitutional intent, and ask yourself a simple, straightforward question: Why should any American citizen be obliged, against his will, to subsidize beliefs which he considers untrue and an engine of human misery, and which are clearly unrelated to any public purpose?

I should add, too, that I reject without qualification the claim that churches (et cetera) provide a community benefit whose value exceeds their cost to the community. If that were so, churches would not so strenuously resist completing and making available for public inspection the IRS-990 form, as all other non-profits are obliged to do.

They resist because the public accounting expected of Goodwill or The American Red Cross, say, would reveal that the claim is a lie. They resist because it would be difficult to explain why Pastor Steven Furtick lives in the largest privately-owned home in North Carolina. They resist because it would be difficult to explain how the expenditure by Mark Driscoll’s church to purchase enough copies of his book to make him a New York Timesbest-selling author serves the public interest.
  When the First Amendment is used to argue that churches cannot be expected to pay taxes, it is dispositive evidence that the speaker has given the matter no serious thought whatever.

It is time then, once for all, to end the tax privileges enjoyed by religion and to stop imposing upon American citizens a compulsory duty to support institutions innately opposed to reason, hostile to American ideals, morally responsible for Niagaras of bloodshed, and destructive of national unity.

Hamar House Center for Diversity and Inclusion

Blogger friend Bob Felton of Civil Commotion is vacationing in Michigan and came across this sign that he thought I would find of interest.  It turns out the project is at Michigan Technological University.  Here's how "Hamar House" describes its mission:

The Center for Diversity and Inclusion at Michigan Technological University is a resource for preparing and empowering socially conscious leaders who will create the future. The staff actively encourages the intellectual, social, and professional growth of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (GLBTQ) students; students of color; and women. Our programs focus on cultural awareness, community building, and student retention.

 I've been unable to find out how the  facility got its name, but if any readers know, please drop me a message.  I am not aware of any relatives in Michigan, but one never knows.  With many of the records destroyed during World War II at the German port that my father's ancestors from Austria sailed from as they headed to America, I could well have unknown relatives in Michigan (I have a likely distant cousin in South Carolina that I met on Facebook of all places.  Oh, and did I mention that he's gay too?)