Churches provide a lot of very valuable services for society.
They spread important information, such as that you can go to hell
for being attracted to the wrong gender, or, even worse, eating the
wrong kind of meat on the wrong day.
Because of this kind of public service, the government decided
it would do the churches a favor and make them tax-exempt, but on
one condition: they cannot endorse political candidates.
Easy cheesy, right? Practically no one in the U.S. (except for a
very tiny movement known as "The Religious Right") believes in
actually mixing politics and religion.
However, rector emeritus George Regas of the All Saints Church
of Pasadena defied convention and sparked controversy with a
radical sermon that dared to suggest Christ would not support the
Iraq war.
To heighten the scandal, the sermon was given just before the
2004 presidential election. The IRS has recently launched an
investigation and raised the possibility of revoking All Saints
Church’s tax-exempt status.
The IRS further suggested that the church read the Gospel, a
famous set of four books in which Jesus clearly states he is a huge
fan of pre-emptive warfare and Cheese Doodles.
As silly as this investigation may seem, it calls attention to
the even more ridiculous fact that the government subsidizes
religion through tax exemptions by allowing them to have more funds
available for use.
The IRS, by declaring that churches may not endorse political
candidates, acknowledges it would be wrong for the government to
support a biased political organization.
But pretending that churches &ndash organizations that
specialize in the marketing of ideas and beliefs &ndash refrain
from holding a political bias is preposterous.
Anyone who has ever parked near a Catholic church during
November of an election year knows, after reading the fliers
plastered to their windshield, just how a "good Catholic" should
vote on different propositions.
Before the 2004 presidential election, you could even read about
what kind of candidate you should vote for: an anti-stem cell
research, pro-life fellow whose name just might rhyme with
"push."
Very politically objective.
Those in favor of granting tax breaks to churches argue that if
the government is allowed to tax religion, it will be able to
interfere with or limit church beliefs and activities.
Yet the government taxes newspapers and magazines without
telling them what they may or may not print. Freedom of religion
will not be lessened by taxation.
The government should not be providing religious organizations
with economic relief. This goes against the spirit of the
Constitution, as it is a government endorsement of religion.
Furthermore, atheistic organizations do not receive tax
exemptions for promoting their system of beliefs. This is a form of
favoritism and discrimination.
When churches don’t pay these taxes, taxpayers are forced to
compensate for the lost revenue. This compensation supports the
existence of churches.
What does this mean? Our taxes are being used to support
organizations such as the Catholic Church, which taught
AIDS-afflicted villagers in Africa that condoms are permeable to
the virus, or the Mormon Church, whose religious documents identify
dark skin color as a sign of spiritual inadequacy.
Forced public support of religion, through government tax
exemptions, is wrong.
Many churches do run charities that are great assets to our
society, but it is the charities, not the churches, that deserve
tax exemptions.
As students watching our fees being increased with every passing
second, we should all be rallying to revoke the exemption from
churches.
With all the extra funding available to the state, perhaps some
of it could be directed to keeping our education affordable.
Education is a much bigger and clearer benefit to society, and
something nearly everyone can agree to support.
Then, perhaps, I might be able to fulfill my dream of graduating
in normal debt, not the unmanageable, crippling, life-ruining
kind.
If, like Jesus, you love cheesy snack foods, e-mail
Strickland at kstrickland@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.