Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "I use faith and common sense, not instead of common sense." Please answer my question. What makes your church trump all others?
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder More and more I'm beginning to believe that no organized religion should be allowed to contribute to a political campaign, be it a national race, state or local, or initiatives. It seems to be one of the few ways to enforce the separation of church and state.
Originally Posted By gadzuux I think churches that participate in political issues should have their tax exampt status revoked. The whole reason they're not subject to taxation currently is because the founders believed churches to be "above the fray" and not concerned with the secular matters of state. Obviously that's no longer true, so the tax exemption no longer applies.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I think churches that participate in political issues should have their tax exampt status revoked. << I totally agree in principle, but I am not sure where the line on that gets drawn. In terms of a church directly donating money towards a cause, that would be pretty easy to stop. Fund any political measure or give money to a candidate and lose tax exemption. But what about if a church holds a candlelight vigil protesting a war? There's a political aspect to that as well, so it starts to get more murky and difficult. Churches have often hosted various candidates to speak to their members and in the presidential election, a large southern California evangelical church hosted "candidates forums" with McCain and Obama.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I also wonder if some larger churches might be happy to lose that tax exemption so that they could REALLY get all over the process, even more than they already do.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***a large southern California evangelical church hosted "candidates forums" with McCain and Obama*** I consider that fiasco to be a sign of how far we've plunged into a quasi-theocracy (though the Presidential speech last night urging us to "pray the crisis away" didn't do much to change my opinion of matters). Am I mistaken, or is this quite a recent phenomenon? Did Reagan and Carter ever have a debate in a church? Did other Presidents of ages past make their cases from pulpits like they do now?
Originally Posted By Mr X @K2M, the point is really moot though, since nobody is even trying to take away their status so the are pretty much "all over the process" already.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Am I mistaken, or is this quite a recent phenomenon?<< Prohibition was written into the constitution at one point, so the intermingling of religion and politics is at least that old. Reagan and the "Moral Majority" of the 80s cranked it up big time. >>K2M, the point is really moot though, since nobody is even trying to take away their status so the are pretty much "all over the process" already.<< True.
Originally Posted By Mr X While I've no doubt that religious teetotalers played a role, I've recently learned that the propaganda of the prohibitionists had to do at least in part with jingoism (get that German beer and French wine out of our country!). Who knew? But, good point anyway.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Radical Muslims believe their God is the one true God and will go to any lengths to prove it. Mormons believe their God speaks the only truth and will go to any length to impose their will on other, non-Mormons. What's the difference? None I see.
Originally Posted By Labuda Only difference for me is that my Muslim ex-boyfriend never tried to get me to convert, but my Mormon relatives have tried to get me to convert.
Originally Posted By Mr X Some Muslims (Mormons/Catholics/Shintoists/Hindus/Protestants) are more hardcore than others. It's all the same thing, really.
Originally Posted By utahjosh Of course there are similarities, they are people passionate about their religion. There are many, many more differences. It's not the same thing, really.
Originally Posted By gadzuux You're sidestepping the biggest similarity of all, josh - the entitlement mindset that results in imposing your world view on others, whether they like it or not.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>There are many, many more differences. It's not the same thing, really.<< Oh sure, there are differences. Most Mormons won't kill anybody (notice I say most - some certainly have) in the name of faith. But the mentality is absolutely the same: My faith is the right one, my truth is right, therefore it's okay for me to impose my will on everyone else because it's actually God's will.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<You're sidestepping the biggest similarity of all, josh - the entitlement mindset that results in imposing your world view on others, whether they like it or not.>> <<But the mentality is absolutely the same: My faith is the right one, my truth is right, therefore it's okay for me to impose my will on everyone else because it's actually God's will.>> Right. spot. on.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt See, and no offense to Christians or any other religious folk here, this is why I believe that people who have such strong religious convictions simply have little or no curiosity about the world around them. Everything is spoon fed and taken for granted as "truth". How simple it must be to follow some words from a prophet than to challenge the teachings you've been raised with. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that Josh was born into the LDS Church and has little or no experience as a non-member. If not, he certainly comes across as someone who is rather naive about the way the world works outside of that realm.
