Rev. Wright gives to the poor and himself

[mac2]

Apparently Faith Based Charity and having a big Afro-American church in Chicago leads to this poverty.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/27/obamas-former-pastor-builds-a-multimillion-dollar-retirement-home/

I guess clergy should all live high on the hog since Rev. Farwell, Rev. Robertson, etc. do. These aren't the same type of clergy we had years ago.

AND it's all tax exempt.

You wonder why people don't trust public tax dollars with clergy? Especially unaccountable tax money. Anyone wanting to remove tax exemption from religious organizations? It was meant for the poor.

[IowaGirl]

1. I definitely think there should be limits on tax deductible amounts for religious organizations.

[mac2]

2. Only the church worship area and maybe retirement homes.

[Warpy]

3. That's generally how I feel about it

but then I consider treating the poor parish church in the inner city and the big megachurch/concert venue in the suburbs the same. It just doesn't add up.

Bringing back the progressive taxation system will help. When we had one, it barely fell at all on the working class. A similar system would barely touch the poor inner city church. The megachurch would have to pay its way, as would the plutocrats.

[mac2]

4. Those huge box churches just pop up from no where.

Its not like they had a previous church and out grew it. We have one of the largest in the country area near us. The property alone is worth millions. I think they used Faith Based money to do it. I tried to find out but couldn't get an answer as to who funded its construction.

I call them...box churches (similar to box stores). They seem to be "Jones cult" like groups but in America. It is as much a social group as a non-denominational church group. They are more Evangelical than anything.

A single, divorced man we know goes there for dates.

http://www.willowcreek.org/ Many of these church clergy become very wealthy indeed.