Huffington Post’s Mario Ruiz is not pleased with the Mormon Church’s leading role in passing Proposition 8. So, like others, he’s urging you – yes, you! – to sign a petition revoking the church’s tax-exempt status. [HuffPo]
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27 Comments
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snoremonster
That is such bullshit! Every Christian church on earth is against homosexuality (every creditable, traditional Christian church anyway), so are we going to start revoking every church’s tax-exempt status? People are getting onto a slippery sloap here. What’s next, forcing the worlds belief’s on religion? Where will it stop? People are entitled to their own opinions. It’s not like the Mormon church forced it patrons to vote a certain way. Look at Steve Young’s wife; she donated $50,000 to the cause against Prop 8! I think people are just being bitter and looking for a scape-goat. They are looking at someone to blame and have found that in the Mormon church…
Paul M
a. it’s time to start demonstrating blowback – and if we need to make an example of the Mormon Church, so be it. Mormons more than most shouldn’t forget their history of being subjected to hatred
b. The law is the law. What’s amazing is that the LDS church seems to have forgotten that it applies to them as well …
snoremonster
The law? What law are you talking about? And as far as hatred goes, the reason the Mormon church is so against gay marriage (gay life-style, etc.) is because of general Christian theology, not bigotry. The Mormon church is against murder, rape, incest, etc too. They weren’t making a political stand; they were making a moral one.
Paul M
um, this law: According to IRS law, “no organization, including a church, may qualify for IRC section 501(c)(3) status if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation (commonly known as lobbying).
Jeff
You might think I’m joking but I’m not. Make sure everyone boycotts Donnie & Marie Osmond. They have a show in Vegas now. They give huge sums of money to the mormon church.
ChristopherM
The IRS has made it pretty clear that issue advocacy is fine under the law. I loathe what the LDS did, but they behaved properly. Without the right to issue advocacy under the IRS code, you wouldn’t have had the civil rights movement of the 60s.
That said, there are a lot of fundamentalist churches crossing that line, particularly with voter guides and such. And for that matter, I am not sure why any church gets to be tax exempt.
steve follansbee
I think it is time to revoke tax-exempt status for all churches. I object to paying my own post-tax dollars to fight hate and bigotry when the churches are able to use untaxed dollars for hate and bigotry.
marco hussein channing
“The Mormon church is against MURDER, rape, incest, etc too. They weren’t making a political stand; they were making a moral one.”
Then why does convicted serial killer Richard Rameriz have the right to marry? Why does Charles Manson have the right to marry? Why isn’t the Morman church spending millions to take away their right to marry?
Moral stand my ass.
Are you going to excuse the those who attacked us on 9/11 because they had “moral” convictions?
Are you going to excuse the Christian Nazis for killing the Jews (and homosexuals) because of “moral” convictions?
Just because Paris Hilton has stared in a couple of movies, that doesn’t mean she has any talent. And just because actions are explained away as religious morality, it does not remove the fact that they are also bigoted actions.
MWH
Christian churches have every right to believe what they believe. That’s not what this is about. This is about SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. And if a church is going to CROSS THE LINE and fund (in the millions!!) legislation that reflects their moral views, then their tax-exempt status needs to be revoked. Because then they are MORE than a church … they’re lobbyists. I am gay and OUTRAGED at the Mormons. I’m outraged at the Mormons who contributed, and I’m outraged at the Mormons who whine that they don’t approve of what their church is doing. And I’m outraged at Catholics who disagree with the Church’s teachings and yet stand by and let them contribute millions to the Prop 8 cause, too. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, Christians. Back the &*ck off!!!
Dave
Why are churches tax exempt? They’re the biggest corporations around. The religion doesn’t matter. A lot are used as tax shelters. Just tax all of them and then they can freely hate in the name of their “Myth Leader”.
marco hussein channing
“Just tax all of them and then they can freely hate in the name of their ‘Myth Leader’.”
Agreed.
fredo777
MWH, why would you be outraged at those who opposed what their churches did? That doesn’t make any sense…
theo
Wow, there’s a lot of heated discussion going on here.
I have a very strong dislike of the Mormon Church, but they did not do anything illegal in their advocacy. Nor did they (to my knowledge) break any of the regulations regarding their church tax-exempt status. Donating money to educate the populous about issues is well within their charter.
What is prohibited is a) actually endorsing a public candidate and b) giving money to specific politicians or lobbying the legislation to influence the law.
I feel their attack on gay rights to be despicable and deplorable, and I detest their religions views on the matter, but our recourse should not be one that attempts to flog them by misusing our government. The solution is to educate their members, encourage gay men and women to be out of the closet and public about their lives, choices, and sexuality, and work to remove their influence in our culture.
JJ
Isn’t there something about Mormons believing in eternal marriage (no, “death do us part” etc.,) and there’s no place for gay marriage in heaven?
Personally, I intend to boycott all Mormon-owned businesses. I wish someone would come up with a list of goods and services that are offered by Mormon-owned and/or operated businesses. Maybe the Mormons themselves have such a list. This would make my intended boycott so much easier to implement. I want to make the Mormons pay for their intolerance.
Darth Paul
I’m totally with steve follansbee. Dogma is a menace!
Rob Moore
@snoremonster: What would be wrong with that? It has never made sense for the taxpayer to subsidize church’s by not requiring them to pay tax on the vast amount of property owned by church’s, the income of church’s from a variety of enterprises, or providing their religious leaders with special tax credits for encouraging people to believe in myths and supersitions.
Rob Moore
@snoremonster: Be careful of categorizing Mormons as Christians. Most traditional Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox practitioners are not comfortable with categorizing Mormons as Christians. Many think of it as a cult. Personally, I think there is little or no difference between any religion and a cult. It is simply a matter of scale.
CondeNasty
Personally Mormons should have no moral authority over marriage since their past was defined by their polygamy. They can distance themselves all they want from the FLDS, but they will never escape their sordid past. Righteous indeed!
Jim
People, please take a minute to read this post:
http://libertyhill.typepad.com/main/2008/11/mormon-temple-violence-gets-personal.html#more
oldgayvermonter
Yes, yes – someone with knowledge of Mormon-owned businesses please post one. I believe they are “encouraged” to give 10% of their income to the church. And any other businesses that Prop-8-ed us. Central valley produce (the whole area was a “yes” zone?? And, lest we forget, it is the Mormons and the Catholics that INSIST ON the anti-gay policies of the Scouts. Corrupt, bigoted, but so “christian”?
Ghandi was right on…”I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Charles J. Mueller
I am a strong supporter of separation of Church and State. The Mormon Church has clearly overstepped it bounds with it’s crass flaunting of respect for that premise. I signed the petition to revoke the Mormon Church’s tax-exempt status. I strongly urge my fellow LGBT brothers and sisters to do the same. It’s time to stop being respectful and nice to those who are NOT being respectful and nice to us. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth, should be our new motto and mantra. Hey, if the religious right can use the bible to take our rights away, then we should use that same bible to fight back.
tommy
simple separation of church and state, if they chose to jump into politics,,,then no more tax exempt,,, for all church’s,,, not just morons…I mean mormon
tallskin
What the fuck are you people doing??? I read that you are having demos OUTSIDE of these churches! What use is that? Get inside and cause disruption by shouting, letting off stink bombs, blowing gas compress fog horns, blowing whistles.
Get 20 or 30 of you dressed up in suits like the rest of the congregation and go inside and sit separately from one another, then one after the other stand up and do your disruption activities. Cos when they have evicted 5 of you, another 5 are poised to go off and disrupt.
Keep up the pressure on the bastards.
chuck
Tallskin, I love the idea. The same thought has often occurred to me. And, just think how much fun it would be?
Unfortunately, I believe that the church would have the right to arrest persons disrupting their services and could press “inciting violence” charges against those who are “acting-up” in their midst.
An arrest record and finger printing is not something everyone would want or can afford to experience, especially if one’s job and affiliations are sensitive to that sort of thing.
Even demonstrating in the streets has it’s limitations before one can find one’s self in a holding cell, awaiting the bail-bondsman, his lawyer or an immediate member of the family to come get him out.
We should definitely keep the pressure on the bastards, but one needs to be mindful of what is legal and what is not.
If you think discrimination can make it difficult to get a job in this homophobic land of ours, think about what an arrest rap sheet will do to your chances of landing one?
fredo777
FOUR LESSONS GAY MARRIAGE ACTIVISTS MUST LEARN FROM OBAMA ::
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-stranahan/four-lessons-gay-marriage_b_142469.html
A must-read article. Makes a hell of a lot of sense.
Jamie
@theo:
Theo, well said – thank you.
Mark
The Mormon church has historically asked its members to become involved in (against) LGBT issues, and they have. They funded the Yes on 8 campaign to the tune of 20 million dollars. The protests here in CA have put a human face on the people the church has hurt and have damaged the Mormon “brand.” I don’t advocate vandalism, violence, or disrupting church services, but we must never let these people do this again. Keep protesting, keep challenging their tax-exempt status, and keep publicizing the businesses they own and calling for a boycott. The “No on 8” campaign has proven that being polite ain’t gonna’ get it done.