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By Punkerslut
When an association works for a private cause, it can reasonably be called a private organization. If a private organization receives funding from the government, or exclusive tax exemptions, it is no longer a private organization, but a public organization and must adhere to the principles of government. Consider the Boyscouts of America, for instance. Atheists and Homosexuals are disallowed from joining. This would be an entirely legal and acceptable practice, only if the Boyscouts of America were privately owned. An analogy can be compared between a person and their own home. Since they own their own home, they can decide to let anyone in they want, with or without reason, with or without prejudice, with or without discrimination. However, even so, this does not disallow citizens from criticizing such methods of particular individuals, which has led to the Boyscouts of American being called a hate group by many liberals. As I said previously, it would be acceptable for the Boyscouts of America to disallow Atheists and Homosexuals if it were a private organization. However, the Boyscouts of America receive funding from the federal government and the president of the United States is the figurehead of their organization. Therefore, the Boyscouts of America are a purely public organization, as they receive tax money, and therefore they must abide by every principle in the Constitution, including the First Amendment which grants liberty of conscience and religion. I, as well as other Atheists and Homosexuals, must therefore be allowed to join such an association. To put it in simple terms: when I pay tax money, either income tax or sales tax or any type of tax, the tax money will go to the government, and in the end, it will go to supporting the Boyscouts of America -- an organization which I pay to keep supported yet I am disallowed from participating in. Now, let's switch the scenario around from the Boyscouts of America (a publicly funded institution of hate) to the churches. It can be said, although with not much evidence, that churches do not seek profit, and therefore should not be taxed. However, what makes a church a business is that it has a private motive. The Episcopalian Church wishes to convert individuals to Episcopalians and the Baptist Church wishes to convert individuals to Baptists. These are all private motives, as they do not embrace a conformity of thought in citizens. Not everyone is Baptist, and not everyone is Episcopalian. Even beyond simple denominations, not everyone is Christian, and not everyone is religious. So, for an individual to use property to advance their own religious sentiments, it is a purely private matter, and therefore is deserving of being taxed. Some may say that churches are attempting to do good, and this is not something I criticize outrightly. Indeed, many churches may attempt to do good (boycotting the funerals of homosexuals, bombing abortion clinics, hiding Nazis, lynching African humans, etc., etc.), and many churches may simply be greedy (everything previously mentioned, plus income). These are purely private matters and therefore must not evade taxation. I pay taxes, and my tax rate is higher because the church is negligent to this matter. I'm not going to have my money support Reverend Fred Phelps in his war against Homosexuality and I'm not going to have my money support the Priests of "Life" whom believe that an animal deserves no right to life, liberty, or compassion. I could only wish, however, that this was not the case, but it is. The church has been stealing money from the public for centuries now. During the Middle Ages, church would take crops from farmers and roughly one third of all the land in Europe was owned by the church. It stole and murdered for gold. Even today, the prominence of the church and its significance is high, as George Bush gives money to support faith-based programs and as churches avoid taxation. This is not the land of the free or the brave. It is the land of those too cowardly and too stupid to think for themselves. It is the home of dogmatists and fanatics who are incapable of understanding that which their parents had not taught them. It is the American people who often believe with righteousness that the churches have a right to avoid taxation, even though every educated person can admit that the church has always enslaved mankind. Every happiness, every joy, and every pleasure, said John Calvin, is evil and must not be trusted. Heretics ought to be burned, believed Saint Thomas Aquinas. But what can be said of a Saint, when his church has done nothing but exploited people and land, destroying culture and happiness? Nothing can be said to excuse the church which now exists in a vindictive form that takes my tax money and avoids paying taxes. It is an abomination. It is not freedom. It is not liberty. And this country is surely not home to anyone other than the oppressors and the oppressed. Punkerslut,
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