Tax the Religious Impostors
by Jim Baumer
Two Sundays ago an event occurred that illustrates for me what a
sham organized religion has become in America. This recent political
rally, dressed up as a church service, clearly and succinctly
reveals that what
passes for Xianity-here in the land of the free and the home of the
knave-is nothing more than an arm of the party in power.
Justice Sunday-Stopping the Filibuster Against the People of Faith,
was hosted by the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family
Action.
The event, conducted in churches across the nation via live
simulcast, was held to rally the right-wing base of the Republican
Party and put an end to the filibuster that is preventing the
nomination of President Bush's judicial nominees.
If ever an event stoked the fire for the end of the tax exemption
extended to religious organizations in the U.S., then this would be
it. This right-wing Sanhedrin whipped its mob of followers into an
orgasmic frenzy on Sunday. With statements like the following by
Focus on the Family's James Dobson, it is crystal clear where this
religious huckster's political loyalties lie:
"What we have witnessed these last three years is an unprecedented manhandling of Senate tradition," said Dr. James C. Dobson, chairman of Focus Action. "Never before in 216 years has the Senate employed a filibuster against judicial nominees who clearly have enough support to be confirmed. Senate Democrats are not just filibustering these nominees-they are filibustering democracy itself."
Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist had his visage beamed via satellite into the church sanctuaries across this land, using his influence to sway his religious constituency on this issue. In auditorium after auditorium across the fruited plain-financed by-the-way from tax-free dollars-Frist was given a pulpit to speak to these right-wing lynch mobs, clearly violating Thomas Jefferson's edict against the Federal Government falling under the sway of a religious majority.
Once more, these religious groups are using their tax-exempt powers-of-the-pulpit to lobby members of their congregations in clear violation of the church/state separation intended by the Constitution.
This political pandering conducted with the sanction of the U.S.
government's gift of tax-free status, rubs salt in the wounds of all
Americans who don't subscribe to this Elmer Gantry-like portrayal of
Jesus Christ.
With groups like Focus on the Family targeting 20 Senators with
their campaign of intimidation and the use of political
strong-arming, so-called Xian groups like these have long ago tipped
their hand as to what their agenda and ideology is about.
Beginning Sunday, twenty senators (including my own state senator, Olympia Snowe, R-Maine) are being targeted in newspaper and radio ads that will begin running in 15 states-the message being that the American people have had enough of qualified judges being denied even an up-or-down vote on their nominations.
Using donations from church members and other religious devotees that have been funneled through the tax-free maze of these pseudo-religious political action committees, these groups continue to flaunt clear boundaries of the U.S. Constitution. With a clear pass given to them by their political acolytes in Washington, these groups are allowed to continue their religious jihad against Americans who don't subscribe to their agenda of hate, dressed in the garb of religious piety.
With the an ever-increasing burden being born by the middle class
to fund an unjust war, tax breaks being written to absolve corporate
entities like Haliburton and a government moving towards its
theocratic intentions in steady increments, I say the time has come
for those who want their democracy back to call upon their
representatives to enact new tax legislation. These new laws would
be designed to tax groups like Focus on the Family, the Southern
Baptist Convention, as well as
organizations run by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
Since these groups clearly flaunt their political advocacy without
any concern about their tax-exempt status, the time has come to
remove this free pass and shift some of the burden from those of us
who are no longer able, or want to fund our government of religious
conservatives.
If we begin taxing these groups the same way we do any other
profit-making business, just think of the revenue-generating
capacity that we'd have at our disposal. This could bankroll the
military, schools, social security and any other program that has
found it increasingly difficult to obtain the necessary funding.
Rarely does a problem in Washington have such an easy solution as
this one. After a brief period of paying taxes through the nose (or
through some other orifice), then maybe these religious imposters
might understand why many Americans have come to resent them so
much. Whether they wakeup to reality or not, we'd certainly have
enough revenue for the president to give some tax breaks to the
people who deserve them-the
middle class-who bear the lion's share of tax burden in this
country.
Jim Baumer is a freelance writer and journalist living in New
England. His Op-Eds have been published locally in the Lewiston Sun
Journal, Maine Sunday Telegram, Brunswick Times Record, as well as
online sites such as Common Dreams and InfoShop.
http://www.jimbaumeriswriteforyou.com
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