The Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted my LTTE

[Ezlivin]

This gentleman wrote a large column as a guest columnist extolling the good work that churches do. This is my response which was published unedited(!).

Blynn Stewart lauds the church for meeting needs and reducing dependence upon the government yet overlooks its own dependence upon federal help. Would the church be so quick to help if it received no federal tax exemptions (which the Supreme Court has noted is a form of subsidy) and had to pay its fair share of property taxes? Government aid works so well that the church would apparently be lost without it. Many churches sit on acres of prime real estate, build multimillion dollar facilities for their members' use and give back a mere fraction of receipts in the form of charity. They utilize fire and police services, roads and public utilities without ever paying taxes for any of them.

All charitable activities done by evangelical churches are a pretext for the real goal: The conversion of those who believe differently. And once converted and brought into the fold, they are expected to conform and provide a continuous revenue stream, typically ten percent of their income.

Even if the "Government is…inefficient at allocating resources" at least it does not require recipients to change their lifestyles, beliefs or principles to receive aid. And, unlike the church, it is accountable to the people.

[Kolesar]

1. Wow

Definitely on-message :thumbsup:

[WillParkinson]

2. How I wish I could rec this...

Excellent letter.

[trotsky]

3. Great letter!

Nice work. :thumbsup:

[Soylent Brice]

4. that was absolutely awesome.

nice job!

[charlie]

5. Hear! Hear!

I should've read this days ago, it's excellent. Mondo props to you :thumbsup:

[cleanhippie]

6. You should repost in R&T!

So we can Rec it! Nice job and great letter.

[Ezlivin]

9. Thanks. I'll do that.

[lazarus]

7. nicely done

Very nice, and a point I've tried to make with my arguments on other sites for years.

[BlueJazz]

8. Nicely done!

:)

[amyrose2712]

10. NIce.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. Wow...

the Startle Gram posted that? Good job. (Note to non-DFW'ers- the OP will understand my misprint of the papers name)

[frogmarch]

12. Excellent!

Wish I could come up with something as powerful as this. So glad YOU did!

[PassingFair]

13. Beeutiful!!

Well done, Ez!

Any negative feedback from the community?

[Skeeve]

14. sorry I missed this

I've been slacking on keeping up with the DU atheists, sorry I missed rec'ing this and the repost in R/T.

Nicely done!

[DavidDvorkin]

15. Excellent letter.

Do you have a link to the column?

[Ezlivin]

16. Here's the column to which I referred:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/08/15/2404959/stewart-extending-local-helping.html

[JNelson6563]

17. Well done!

I've bookmarked this and my use it at a later date, if you're ok with that. :hi:

Julie

[adnelson60087]

18. Nice, to the point, and awesome.