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Church transforms vacant land into massive urban garden, donates 65K pounds of food to people in need
(www.goodgoodgood.co)
this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2025
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I know. They are also functioning as a food bank. They are a non-profit acting in a charitable manner.
Do ypu think they should engage in less charity so they can pay taxes?
If they operated full time as a food bank and didn't proselytize to the people they are helping, then they shouldn't pay taxes. If they preach and try to convert people to their religion during their service, then I'm going to bet they try to do that to the people they feed. Preying upon people in their weakest moments is not a good thing to do, but it's all I've ever seen Christians do
Edit: "Marianists emphasized the power of small communities to “renew Christianity” following the French Revolution." If this is their emphasis, then they should definitely be paying taxes.
ok so the issue is your disdain for religion. You would be fine with a different food bank not paying taxes but only because they share your lack of faith.
Yes. I'm not sure why you seem confused. The premise is churches should pay taxes. I'm not sure what you don't understand about that. They should pay taxes. They are influencing people's opinions on our politics and policies. They should pay taxes. They are influencing people in their weakest moments. They should pay taxes. Do you understand that I believe any religious institution should pay taxes? I hope you aren't confused still.
Anarchist groups do the sane thing so Food Not Bombs should pay taxes then and do less charity.
All your leftist charities do everything you state churches are doing. Should your local mutual aide org get taxed because they influence people’s views?
The real issue here is your bigotry against churches.
And are they tax exempt no matter what activity they do?
Anarchist groups and leftist charities don't make promises on the afterlife to people in need, do you not see how that is a problem?
Anarchist groups do in fact influence people’s views. You just want a different standard because you theoretically support leftism and not religions.
If your objection is to religions having religious views then that is just bigotry.
Can you point to the parts of anarchism that say you will be tortured by a loving god for all eternity if you don't convert?
You cannot explain why one charity should pay no taxes versus the other except that one holds religious views that differ from yours. That’s why I keep saying the real issue is your bigotry.
The “crime” these churches should be punished for is not agreeing with you.
If you can't see the difference between "Hey, we know the world is shit, and we are sorry for the situation you are in, but here's what we're trying to do about and here's our philosophy on how to keep people from ending up in your situation" and "Hey, we know you're in s really shitty situation, but it could be a lot worse if you die and haven't converted to our religion," then I don't really see s point in continuing this conversation. That moral failing is beyond my ability to reason.
Yes, as I have said you agree with one of those and not the other so in your mind one is acceptable and therefore entitled to tax breaks and the one you do not agree with should not get those tax breaks. The difference is your agreement with their views.
Given the overt bigotry you have displayed I don’t think you should highlight your reasoning skills.
I think Mosques and Temples and all religious institutions should pay taxes, I'm not bigoted. I'm an equal opportunity tax enthusiast.
Hell, some aheist "religious" organizations voluntarily pay taxes, despite all the charity work they do. And the churches have dunces online begging them to be left alone.
Your exception was for the non-religious charity so you seem to have an anti-religion bias.
Again given the bigotry you have displayed here I don’t think you should attempt to debase any one else’s thinking.
...the entire premise of my argument is that religious institutions should be taxed. Why the fuck would I care about non-religious charities being taxed? You're literally crying the sky is blue.
I made a comparison between two food charities one a church and the other an anarchist one. You want the church to pay and not the anarchist org because you agree with the anarchist org and disagree with the religion. That means the only difference is that one charity is religious.
If you have a problem with religions to the point where you want them to engage in less charity because they are religious then you are bigoted against religions.
This isn’t hard to follow rather it is hard for you to accept your bigotry.
I don't need to accept anything besides you trying to equate two inequal concepts. A system of government/political philosophy doesn't equal a religion. I was very open in my initial comments on taxing religions. You're the one trying to manipulate things into a gotcha to say things I'm not.
Im not trying to manipulate anything. You want the religious charity that does the same work as the non-religious charity because they are religious.
There's no false equivalence being made here despite your desire for that to be the case.
I made it abundantly clear that I feel religious institutions should be taxed. You are the one trying to say that it makes me bigoted somehow. You are also assuming I agree with an anarchist group, when I have said no such thing. I just think they should be able to spread their views as they help people, because they aren't a religion. I think anarchism in practice is usually a stupid concept. Don't worry though, I'm not going to use your assumptions about me to presume bigotry.
If a religious group has a charity branch that doesn't proselytize or encourage people to attend services, that specific branch shouldn't be taxed.
If there is a group that feeds hungry people or builds homes, while also pushing for people to vote and participate in our electoral processes, then I don't think they should be taxed. It doesn't make me bigoted to say that trying to convince someone of something practical they can use in their life or to change their society is different than preying on people with your unverifiable beliefs. There are thousands of religions. A lot of them do a ton of charity work, but that isn't their main goal. Just as we tax businesses and allow them tax breaks for charitable work, we should do the same for religions.
Yes you think the religious org should be taxed and the non-religious org should NOT be taxed.
Do ypu need it made clearer? The only difference is religion. You want the religious org "punished" by having to pay taxes because of your bias against religion. That is called bigotry.
Your view of taxes is strange. Is it "punishment" when businesses pay taxes? What about private citizens? I think it's just the government getting it's due to serve the population. Institutions whose sole purpose to serve the population, and also want to find ways to make sure they are served better, shouldn't be taxed. Institutions that try to push their version of the afterlife, while just happening to randomly serve society, should be taxed.
If one food bank has to pay taxes because it is a religious organization and the other does not because it is not religious then the taxes are being used to punish the religious group for being a religious group. Normally taxes aren’t a punishment but in this case they would be.
If you're going to be telling the hungry people you are feeding that they are going to hell if they don't convert to your religion (or the equivalent) then you should be taxed. If you don't do that, then you have nothing to worry about! I already said I believe branches of religious institutions that don't proselytize or encourage seeing sermons shouldn't be taxed, so I'm not sure what you want me to say. I'm sorry I fit your definition of a bigot, but I don't think enough people agree with you for it to ever matter. Have a nice life.
Religious food banks tend not to evangelize while handing out bags of food.