Thank You Ron

It was a great article.  My concern over those fees are for the Seniors on fixed incomes and the poor who are truly struggling to survive. 

Marsha,

Thanks for the response.  He added eye opening perspective using facts & figures that I doubt many people considered.  I touched upon the Constitutional separation issues a couple of blogs back, so I need not go into that here.  But in the meantime, I considered one other thing.  One of the complaints made was that if required to pay the fee, not a tax, some churches might not be able to afford it & should therefore be exempt.  (As of now, the consideration is to give them a 50% break which I think is very unfair to the public.) 

I find this tack lacking real thought or credence.  A church, like any other entity or person, does not have any right or guarantee to succeed, only to try.  If something can't be self sustaining, it either has to change or suffer the fate of failure.  Hard attitude?  Yes.  The attitude mirrors the facts of life.  JATFUR.

RichK

RichK, Hard attitude? Yes, but right on target. I'm pretty sure that if all members were to anti up their tithe, nearly every church would have more money than they knew what to do with.

If a small church really can't afford the fee, perhaps the big ones like 1st Baptist could help them out, or they could combine with another church. Or as you said, just fail it out and close the doors. Success is not guaranteed in any endeavor in life.

If anyone is going to get a 50% discount it should be based on income not religion. The church can imply all it wants that this is a tax but the fact is that the government has chosen to call it a fee and therefore is not subject to the not taxing churches issue.

The real problem here is that too many politicians are afraid that if they irritate, or don't coddle the big churches that the church leader will tell the congregation to vote for the one that does bow down to them. 

Finder

Finder,

You're on target yourself.  The fear of the politicians is very real.  Look what James Dobson has been saying @ Fred Thompson.  It goes from bottom to top & back dwon again.  Hell of a way to run a country.  A pox on both their houses if they deserve it.  JATFUR.

RichK