Should God Pay Taxes?
By Ana Braga
Should God pay taxes? Churches don’t think so. According to the IRS, the organization must be organized and operated exclusively for religious, educational, scientific, or other charitable purposes to be tax exempt. As long as you keep putting money in the collection trays, the churches can keep living it up. Pastors and priests often mention that in the Bible, Leviticus 27:30 states, “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord”. This verse establishes the custom of tithing, which is the practice of giving 10% of one’s income to the church. But if you are a farmer, you better not bring any fruit or vegetables, the church wants cheese!
As a former Catholic, the fear of God and punishment is engraved in your brain, you better give 10% or you’ll probably go to hell or get bad luck and lose your income. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church is one of the richest religious organizations in the world. How can a religion profit so much in the name of God? Jesus walked around looking like a bum, I don’t mean any disrespect. He wanted to be with people and enjoy the simple things.
There is no way Jesus would be ok with these rich pastors and religious organizations with lavish buildings. I’m not saying being rich is a sin but when the congregation struggles while the church and their preachers thrives?
It’s just not adding up for me. Religion became a very profitable business and the Bible became a powerful weapon. In my humble opinion, God isn’t in fancy churches and God doesn’t use the Bible to guilt trip people. The Bible was written by men in a very obsolete and obscure era. I feel the Bible isn’t representative of God, it’s mostly a manual to judge and control the population. You may disagree with me and that’s ok. To me, God is about love and forgiveness. Be a good person, be kind, feed the hungry and don’t mistreat animals. I say churches should pay taxes while God remains exempt.
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