If the Catholic church is going to get involved in women's health care and our sexuality

[DainBramaged]

maybe it's time to revoke their non-taxable status.

I'm just 'sayin................


Stay out of my bedroom and away from my doctor and I'll stay out of your finances.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Agree. If the RC's are going to be political, they should be taxed. nt

[phantom power]

2. If only I could recommend more than once.

[WolverineDG]

3. I almost got punched by a priest the other day

he was bragging about how the Bishops not only got the Stupak amendment in the reform bill, but also are spreading "concerns" (read: fucking lies) about how the Juvenile Diabetes Association is going to use donations for fetal stem cell research as a way to keep people from donating to them!!!

Needless to say, I went :nuke: on his ass because my brother is DYING of this disease & another cousin has already died. :wtf: is wrong with these people that they'd rather see children & adults suffer than find a damn cure????

dg

[Zoeisright]

7. I'm surprised you didn't punch him!

I'm sorry about your brother and cousin.

I have no patience at all with these jerks who think their 'morality' outweighs other's lives and health.

[WolverineDG]

9. Well, it would kinda ruin my street cred as a pacifist

if I knocked a Catholic priest on his ass (even if he did deserve it).

;)

dg

[tblue]

19. All ya gotta do is say

[ejpoeta]

10. yeah the term 'christian' should be used loosely around people like that.

WWJD.... personally i think jesus would call all these jerks out and have nothing to do with them. assuming i believed in his existence, that is.... but they put him out there as their savior and all that.... using him on a cross as an excuse for all their bs. Personally, i think the catholic church has a lot of things it needs to work on about itself before it starts pointing fingers anywhere else. those in glass houses and all that jazz.

[Warpy]

4. They definitely need to be told where the line is

Preaching about the evils of homosexuality and abortion to people who want to listen is just peachy.

Trying to push that stuff into law is forbidden.

Well, unless they want the IRS opening their books and assessing taxes.

I don't think the hierarchy would like that much. It would cut into the lavish lifestyle most of them enjoy.

[ejpoeta]

13. apparently it's not because no one has yanked their tax exempt status yet.

and they are still doing it. this is a joke. they have no business pushing their bs on the rest of us. not the catholics... not the mormons.... nor the rest of them. keep your religion to yourself i say.

[WolverineDG]

17. Someone needs to do a spreadsheet on the tax income we'd get

on all that prime real estate the church is sitting on, especially that nice, huge building over on Fifth Avenue.....

dg

[Cleita]

5. Not only the Catholics, but they should all be getting visits from the IRS anytime

they start meddling with the secular government or preaching about politics in the pulpit.

[Egnever]

6. You act like its something new

Its been going on for centuries.

[ejpoeta]

8. you know what i find interesting.....

how these people want the government to stay out of their business..... and yet, they feel it perfectly OK to get in my business as a woman and of course the business of gay people as well. that's ok for the government to infringe on.... but keep the government out of their business.....

[demigoddess]

12. I agree it is the conundrum of the century.

It may be the 'everybody has to go to heaven, or none of us will' school of thought. My children were too smart to fall for that.

[DainBramaged]

23. And that is the point entirely........

<---------------douchenozzle
and this blowhard needs to have his fucking tax returns audited (Donahue)

[dugaresa]

11. There are a lot of pro-choice Catholics in this country that should stop dumping money in collection

plates.

The Church will hear that.

[Cleita]

14. Yes, like all Catholic women. n/t

[ejpoeta]

18. that seems to be all they hear. they tend to change their thinking about things

once the money slows down. all that pomp and circumstance costs money, dontcha know... the pope living like a king.... they wonder why their numbers are dwindling. i was raised catholic.... went to catholic schools.... was dragged to church every sunday until i was 16 years old. I consider myself a recovering catholic. Don't get me wrong... there were some good nuns and priests at the schools i went to. I have met a few in my lifetime and am sure that most of the nuns and priests are there for noble reasons.... But the fact of the matter is that they , the church as a whole, is interested in the status quo. and they will not change anything until they are forced to by the falling off of parishoners.... less money coming in. that is all they understand.

[havocmom]

15. Yep. They could spend more effort on the sexual antics of some clerics than the rest of us.

Much as I hate to admit it, Earl Butz was correct, if rather rude in his presentation, about the church and sex:

At the 1974 World Food Conference in Rome, Butz made fun of the Pope's opposition to "population control" by quipping, in a mock Italian accent: "He no playa the game, he no maka the rules."*

Hey, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.

*On Butz: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2808990

[stray cat]

16. But you are not staying our of their finances....thats what the fuss is about

[juno jones]

20. Tax 'em all, let the IRS sort 'em out! eom n/t

[jmondine]

21. IF???

When have they not been involved in those things?

[DainBramaged]

22. Well, they have the balls to be blatant now

So I just thought I'd give them a shout out to let them know we're watching....

[anonymous171]

24. Isn't there an exception for moral activism or something like that?

:shrug: I am a Catholic, but if the church wants to join the fray against health care, then that makes them fair game for any and all criticism from the left.

[DainBramaged]

25. They've been fair game for criticism since they played the pedophile shuffle

and now they are bankrupting parishes to avoid civil penalties for the scumbags who were proven guilty that they covered for. If they can avoid civil penalties, they should pay taxes for their CRIMINAL activities.

[donheld]

26. You're just sayin.....I'm just agreein'

[Odin2005]

27. TAX THEM!!!

[Kansas Wyatt]

28. What did churches do in the 1800s over the abortion issue?

Back then, who handled abortions and so forth, and did churches throw a shit fit, like now?

I guess what I'm asking is, when did it become such an issue for churches?

A lot of prostitutes died from overdosing on laudanum, but some speculate that a lot of them were really botched attempts to miscarry.

[indepat]

29. Hear, hear, may the message ring out in every town and hamlet that

the tax-exempt of any organization will be withdrawn if in fact that organization operates as a political instrument. :patriot:

[SoCalDem]

30. Percentages

Of the 23.9% that call themselves catholic, there are probably a LOT who are "Sunday Catholics", and are quite liberal in their thinking.. why on earth we allow (probably) less than 20% of a religious group to dictate federal health policy, is well..insane..

If the church is against abortion, & contraception, then their devotees should avoid both..but NOT dictate what the rest of the 80% may do.

My Catholic aunt once told me "Catholics are against abortion until their 14 year old daughter gets pregnant".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

According to a 2007 survey,<9> the following is the order of religious preferences in the United States:

* Christianity: (78.4%)
o Protestantism (51.3%)
o Roman Catholicism (23.9%)
o Mormonism (1.7%)
o Jehovah's Witnesses (0.7%)
o Orthodox Church (0.6%)
o other Christian (0.3%)
* Unaffiliated, including atheist or agnostic (16.1%)
* Judaism (1.7%)
* Buddhist (0.7%)
* Islam (0.6%)
* Hinduism (0.4%)
* other (1.2%)

More recent studies show that the overall percentage of Americans identifying themselves as Christians is sliding. Christianity in the United States has become more polarized with the numbers of evangelical Christians increased which, according to the studies, also contributed to the increasing numbers of Americans who are rejecting religion completely.<10> Around half of American adults leave the faith tradition of their upbringing to either switch allegiances or abandon religious affiliation altogether.<11><12>

[Toasterlad]

31. Long Past Time.

[Beacho]

32. Been saying the same thing on just about every site I frequent

I've actually thought they should have had their status revoked back in '04 when the RCC injected their nose in the presidential election.

Pay to play, suckahs!

It seems that the issue is being raised on the MSM as well:

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/oneill-catholic-bishops-i-dont-know-where">Dr. Nancy with NOW spokesperson