Guns and Religion: Diocese Pushes for Sweeping Gun Control Measures

Guns and Religion: Diocese Pushes for Sweeping Gun Control Measures. They must be afraid fathers are going to start shooting pedophile priests.

This post was last modified on January 26, 2021

CO2Insanity: Tired of the CO2 BS and all the other BS in the US and the world.

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  • My feeling on this whole thing is, the churches should be involved in politics ONLY within their parish. Outside of that, it is incumbent on the pastors to keep quiet and let the people do the campaigning.

    • What if the Pastors have opinions about geo political issues around the world? What if he wants to speak out about the US foreign policy in dealing with ISIS or how the US government is reacting to Christian/Minority persecution around the world? Or to talk about Islamic slavery of Africans? Or to talk about Communist oppression? etc?

      Also what if a Pastor in Indiana wants to stand in support of the Pastors in Houston? :-/

      I am not saying that Pastors should campaign (although they can as individual and private citizens if they want to), just saying that if their opinions are sought and if they feel they should speak out on issues outside of their communities they should. If liberals pastors can other pastors can.

      I don't do denominations because for the most part, denominational dogma dictates that following this or that ritual is the way to get to heaven which is not true. Also many denominations change their formats to suit the culture of the time even if the culture of the time is denigrating and disgusting. Also many denominations want to hold control over people's lifestyles that is not appropriate. Like I said above, in the end, the members need to make a decision to stay and agree or to leave and do whatever they want instead. I don't agree with a lot of what the Episcopalian Church is doing, therefore I am not an Episcopalian. However, they can say their nonsense and I can criticize it. It is what it is. However, I wouldn't want (even if it is criticized) for my Pastor to not speak out when he or she feels that he should on many issues that are important from a Biblical perspective.

      • I have no problem with them speaking out. I also have no problem with them paying taxes when they're not doing charitable work.

  • Any "church" that gets involved in politics should loose it's tax exempt status, and pay back taxes all the way back to the Wilson administration.

    • NO. Could not disagree more. The problem is not churches getting involved in politics - the problem is too many churches don't get involved in politics. What we currently have is a situation where only leftist, misguided churches will get involved. If you look at our country's history, the pulpit was often the leader in political affairs. Would you really want to go back in time and tell the nation's churches not to mention that awkward slavery issue?

      • Personally as I read the tax exempt conditions (I posted an article earlier), I feel that the provisions were created ESPECIALLY to stiffle political speech but it was bad of the churches to accept it. However like you stated, liberal churches have no problems with this and liberals like the Houston Mayor do not go after them.

    • I disagree. That was the argument the alphabet guild Houston Mayor in demanding the sermons of Houston Pastors. As citizens Pastors and church members can and should express their political views. I actually don't care that much that they want to promote gun control. People who don't belong to the denomination can do whatever the hell they want and people who do belong to the denomination have a choice to make and it is their choice to make. The only thing I disagree with is the GOVERNMENT using any church/denomination as a tool to control ALL of the citizenry... that is anti-constitutional and a serious problem.

      • I agree that a pastor or priest should be able to say whatever he likes from the pulpit. I don't want nor should I have to pay for it and the tax exempt status is de facto means for me to pay for political speech. Why are churches tax exempt anyway?

        • The Churches should survive on the charity of the people that attend and also the community. However sadly many people are not donating their full tithes to the churches. Some because I believe that they don't believe that the church is using it wisely, church attendance/memberships is in great decline, or (more than likely) because of state and federal taxes overtaking people's paychecks people do not tithe (properly). If you think about it, when 30-60% of your money disappears before you even have a chance to even see it, considering how the cost of life rises, many people just don't have the money to tithe to begin with.

          I understand that because of the Church's charity work (or supposed charity work), the Government exempts Churches from paying federal/state taxes. Not sure if that is absolutely correct as JP made a note that it is more about members being able to get deductions from their charity to the Church. On paper it sounds very good, but of course as we all know that can be exploited, by some so called churches who do none to very little work in the community and it is just a honey pot , etc. So IT IS BEST if the Church paid the taxes, whatever they may be, and have the church members and the community assist in its needs to survive/thrive. However, I do agree that members should be able to deduct their donations. As I mentioned before, that doesn't seem to be something that can actually help many Churches, because it doesn't happen as much, so if they can be exempted from paying heavy taxes, they should be.

          However, I think that this should be based on some Churches that truly need the tax exemption (they don't have a lot members, they do a lot of charity work, etc) and not give it to Churches that are obviously wealthy (or do not do a lot of charity work).

          With all of that said, as Pastors they still should be able to share their opinion and point of view to the members and the members can concur OR NOT.

        • You are misunderstanding the tax-exempt issue. It's not about whether the church pays income taxes - you don't need any particular IRS-granted status to avoid paying income taxes. If you're a non-profit entity, you don't pay income taxes, simple as that. You don't even need IRS approval or permission. The issue is about which tax-exempt status they are granted. Churches enjoy 501(c)(3) status, which means parishioners get to deduct their contributions to the church on their personal tax returns. That's the issue in contention, and do we really want to tell the nation's churchgoers that their deductions to United Way are tax-deductible but not their offerings in the Sunday collection plate? I don't think so.

          http://jpattitude.com/130525.php

  • They better take a look at the results of their previous attempts to legislate responsibilty for ones actions. All it's done has turned Detorit and the surrounding areas into a shooting gallery. The thugs are armed and the people are not. All these history revisionist won't admit or face the fact that all they are doing is bringing back the Nazi and communist control.

  • Forgive them father for they know NOT what they do. Okay like criminals are gonna play by the rules. Nothing more than another feel good thing to do so they got that gay thing handled, and all the illegal aliens taken care of, and all the poverty and injustice in this country solved...

    • Here's the thing, they're totally nuts! They are Detroit based, so they have no idea what the real world is like. All they see is the gun violence perpetrated by the gang bangers, and think "If we get rid of the guns..........."

  • They obviously were not paying attention during history class when the teacher got to the part about what Hitler & Stalin did after they disarmed everyone. But then Episcopalians also have gay priests, so go figure.

    • The Anglican identity encompasses the Episcopalian one, right? Episcopalians are Anglicans? I think the entire Anglican movement is in trouble, co-opted by the forces of the political left. In the linked article, the plunging membership and attendance numbers for the Detroit Episcopal churches is shocking, yet they decide to do this? DO they really think pissing off all the gun owners will help attendance at Sunday services? It's a sign of people who have been blinded by their human prejudices.

  • The Episcopal Church starts to get twitchy and nervous if they let a month go by without screaming out, "We're leftists! We're cool!"

    Sort of like the way Gary Ridgeway got twitchy and nervous if he let too much time go by without killing a prostitute.

  • You have to remember that the Episcopalian church decided Marx and Jesus were soul brothers about the time the hippies decided old school Christianity was for squares. Subsequently a goodly portion of the church membership took off for more spiritual and biblically authentic pastures. Sorry to hear they're still dropping their net on the wrong side of the boat.

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