Shameless Radical Religious Leaders Have Corrupted Government: It's time to cut them off...

[thomhartmann]

It’s time for average Americans to stop being forced to subsidize politically radical religious leaders.

Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and heir to the multimillion-dollar Graham fortune, just publicly said that the 10 Republicans voting to impeach Donald Trump and the US House of Representatives were like Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

“And these ten, from [Trump’s] own party, joined in the feeding frenzy,” he wrote. “It makes you wonder what the thirty pieces of silver were that Speaker Pelosi promised for this betrayal.”

Franklin Graham is a multimillionaire in large part because neither he nor his family have to pay any taxes on their family’s business’ income or even pay property taxes on the land and buildings their business owns.

Instead, you and I and the taxpayers of his town and state pay extra taxes to subsidize him and his “ministry.”

Back in the 1950s, the John Birch Society put up billboards all across America demanding that Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren be impeached because he’d signed off on the Brown v Board decision that required schools be racially integrated.

White churches across the country, along with wealthy industrialists like Fred Koch, helped fund the effort, arguing that school integration was the first step to full-blown to communism in America. ...

Entire article: https://thomhartmann.medium.com/shameless-radical-religious-leaders-have-now-corrupted-government-24949ae0bfa8

[Beachnutt]

1. Make em pay taxes just like everyone else, they are nothing more than a con business

[Crash2Parties]

5. That would be defeated immediately

They are NPO's and no NPO's have to pay those taxes.

However, they are the ONLY NPO's that do not have to file a yearly financial statement with the IRS detailing money-in and money-out. It makes them the perfect money laundering and political influence peddling mechanisms, and that is what should be stopped.

All other NPO's must file those statements. I'm guessing at this point even without nasty political contributions showing up it would be really awkward for many churches, given how easy it is to now move "church money" into "pastor personal money" via specially crafted investment vehicles.

[alwaysinasnit]

2. k&r

[Girard442]

3. Wouldn't you just love it if every one of those Elmer Gantrys went to the mailbox on 1/21/2021...

...and found a notice that they were being audited to review their tax-exempt status.

Oh yeah, and also to find out how much money they were straight-up stealing.

[Mariana]

4. I fervently hope that President Biden

will order the IRS to enforce the Johnson Amendment. This shit has to stop.

[lillypaddle]

6. K&R nt

[AllaN01Bear]

7. many of these "churches " should have been shutdown when they supported trump.

[keithbvadu2]

8. Judas was an early, modern-day, conservative disciple.

Franklin Graham and his ilk are CBR - Cash Based Religion.

Judas was an early, modern-day, conservative disciple.

Judas got 30 pieces of silver, but just once, for selling Christ.

Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham and their ilk get millions of dollars repeatedly for selling Christ.

Judas was a fool for doing a one-time sale.