Today, President Donald J. Trump made January 16, every year, religious freedom day. Many websites popped up instantly giving guidance and support for that this means. Apparently this declaration has been going on since 1786 when the state of Virginia lead the way with religious freedom week, leading up to January 16.
One thing that baffles me is this: The president has to declare one day for religious freedom? I thought America was all about religious freedom. The First Amendment to the constitution reads
The very first part is all about religious freedom. There are two parts to the religious freedom claims. Part one: The government cannot choose a particular religion and make it the official religion of America. Congress, for example, cannot claim that Christianity is the official religion of America. Part Two: No government, at any level, can come to a church or a religious group and tell them that they cannot practice their religion that way. For example, if our church got up real early on Easter morning and stood in the parking lot and prayed until the sun rose, the cops could not come and arrest or or tell us to stop. It is granted that people cannot claim religious protection when breaking other laws. Human sacrifice is not allowed as a religious practice.
For the most part, the federal, state, county and city governments play nice with religious groups. There has been conflict, however. Some churches put up large nativity scenes during Christmas. Anti-God groups get offended and sue and sometimes the city tells the church to take it down, sometime the city supports the church. When anti-God people sue churches for they practice, there is not always state protection.
In our case, the county is trying to shut us down with tax burdens. This is a back door approach to shutting down churches. They will not mention our religion or our practice by name, they will simply say that our practice puts us in the category of a commercial business, therefore we need to pay $8,401 for this year and for the last 8 years, as a penalty. Very few churches can some up with $64,000 instantly and those than can will rarely give it to the government. We cannot pay that, and the county knows that, so this is a way to get rid of our church without coming against the First Amendment
There are many ways to remove a church without attacking their religious practice. Sadly it seems like the larger churches with large bank accounts never get attacked by the government. Just the little ones that are easy to destroy. What the county is doing is unconstitutional and illegal based on Federal statues. However, I do not have a tax attorney, a lawyer or an accountant in my congregation and hiring these people is not cheap.
One thing that baffles me is this: The president has to declare one day for religious freedom? I thought America was all about religious freedom. The First Amendment to the constitution reads
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
The very first part is all about religious freedom. There are two parts to the religious freedom claims. Part one: The government cannot choose a particular religion and make it the official religion of America. Congress, for example, cannot claim that Christianity is the official religion of America. Part Two: No government, at any level, can come to a church or a religious group and tell them that they cannot practice their religion that way. For example, if our church got up real early on Easter morning and stood in the parking lot and prayed until the sun rose, the cops could not come and arrest or or tell us to stop. It is granted that people cannot claim religious protection when breaking other laws. Human sacrifice is not allowed as a religious practice. For the most part, the federal, state, county and city governments play nice with religious groups. There has been conflict, however. Some churches put up large nativity scenes during Christmas. Anti-God groups get offended and sue and sometimes the city tells the church to take it down, sometime the city supports the church. When anti-God people sue churches for they practice, there is not always state protection.
In our case, the county is trying to shut us down with tax burdens. This is a back door approach to shutting down churches. They will not mention our religion or our practice by name, they will simply say that our practice puts us in the category of a commercial business, therefore we need to pay $8,401 for this year and for the last 8 years, as a penalty. Very few churches can some up with $64,000 instantly and those than can will rarely give it to the government. We cannot pay that, and the county knows that, so this is a way to get rid of our church without coming against the First Amendment
There are many ways to remove a church without attacking their religious practice. Sadly it seems like the larger churches with large bank accounts never get attacked by the government. Just the little ones that are easy to destroy. What the county is doing is unconstitutional and illegal based on Federal statues. However, I do not have a tax attorney, a lawyer or an accountant in my congregation and hiring these people is not cheap.
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