Tax church property? Gay marriage court to decide.

DavidAReed said:

Every Christian should be aware that the same state high court that first imposed gay marriage a decade ago heard arguments yesterday ....

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Imposed gay marriage? Have you or anyone you know been forced into a gay marriage? Neither have I. So what are you talking about?

DavidAReed said:

Every Christian should be aware that the same state high court that first imposed gay marriage a decade ago heard arguments yesterday on a case that could result in shutting down churches across Massachusetts, by taxing their land and buildings--a move that could be followed by other states, just as in the case of gay marriage:

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Is it the same court that imposed interracial marriage?

The case this zombie thread discusses was back in 2016 and the decision came down in 2017 in the religious organization's favor.

Mass. High Court Rules In Tax Dispute Involving Catholic Shrine

RedPonyDriver said:

We've got hard times now and I have yet to see the churches stepping up.

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What can anyone say in the face of willful blindness? When you turn a blind eye to those who have an open door to those in need, and who will council with those seeking comfort, et al, there's not much else to say. Additionally, there are some "pastors" out there who have a heart for people, and who will make themselves available, especially in hard times.

So, are you now saying that YOU are going through hard times? If so, where have YOU reached out? No doubt hard times hit many families, but the magnitude of what I was talking about is yet to come. Therefore, convolution of what I was saying with case by case needs today, that's not an honest handling of my words.

People here are sleeping in parking lots while churches and hotels are empty. The secular non-profits are stepping up...are the churches stepping up to help with bills, food, etc right now.

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Dude, there are many churches out there with soup kitchens and flop houses where the people sleeping on the streets can get shelter. The YMCA's used to also provide for such, but that secular non-profit is now making all kinds of profits and building new facilities all across America, and doing NOTHING for people. So rather than misrepresent the realities that I can go and visit locally for myself in just about any sizeable city, therefore I and many people knowing better than to believe your rhetoric, how about scaling the scope of my comments in your rebuttals to my actual meaning? We are headed toward a collision with hardship we've never seen before. The enconomic crash we're headed for will be FAR worse than in 1929.

Where I live has been hit HARD by this pandemic thing...I have yet to see a church do anything other than close their doors and do nothing more than "pray"...prayer won't fill hungry stomachs, prayer won't put a roof over people's heads, put clothing on them.

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First of all, what religion do you follow that prayer is so ineffective? What religion are those others that you claim their prayers are so ineffective? What have YOU done to help others out there? If you're going to point at people like Copeland and Hinn, that's not fair play. Those clowns do nothing for anyone but themselves. So, yes, if the scope of your tirade is aimed at people and organizations like theirs, that's a no-brainer. Some of the smallest church organizations in my city are doing the most for those in need. The mega-church organizations are those who do the least, if anything at all. So, come up with something remarkable for us to talk about.

There's a large secular non-profit here locally that is stepping up in a huge way. Churches? Nope...yet they can take tracts of prime real-estate and not contribute to things like roads, police and fire protection, schools or other things that are traditionally handled by cities and counties.

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You must be mathematically challenged, as well as blind to local governments and their tax-n-spend routines throughout the decades. Inadequate roads and policing, lack of sufficient paint on the roadways so that we can see when it's dark and raining, et al, those are examples of mismanagement witin local governments directing the massive wealth they take from us over into useless expenditures demanded by special interest groups. You're trying to preach a false sermon to the choir here. We all can see how our tax dollars are mis-spent on crud that is not so value added, such as arenas that sit unused most of the time, and ice rinks that remain closed most of the time because of operating costs they failed to foresee before building those things, and upgrades to river walks that constantly flood out each year, never fixing them right so that flooding can't wipe them out so easily, only to have to be reconstructed....on and on the lists go. The parks for children are severely lacking because the city councils would rather have improvements aimed mostly in their personal neighborhoods rather than spreading it out so that we all benefit. Using tax dollars to bolster private businesses in the Old Town district for all the booze drinking and partying crowd, never getting any of that money back from those businesses.

So, when we look at what you claim gauged against the reality, I'm going to have to go along with what I can see with my own eyes. Maybe you live in an extreme liberal place like Massachusetts, where liberals clearly don't give as much as conservatives in the Bible beltway, etc. Don't know and don't really care. I know what I can see around my city and many others I travel to throughout every year, and your words ring hollow to my experience.

Jr