JSUFYF: Churches getting tax money

I'm going to be blunt:  I believe the churches (synagogues, mosques, covens) should be taxed--but, like regular taxpayers, they can get exemptions and deductions on their taxes if they spend the money they collect in tithes and offerings on charitable activities. I've lived in places (Utah and Arizona) where the dominant religious groups owned a lot of property, which was removed from the tax base, making the burden higher for the rest of us. And this doesn't include all the perks that ministers get, including a parsonage allowance, which can be excluded from gross income for tax purposes, but not from self-employment taxes (per the Internal Revenue Service).

That out of the way, let me proceed to two examples of the state giving churches money that should not be done.

• Louisiana:  Gov. Bobby (Piyush) Jindal has decided that anyone who can run a school can be funded by state tax dollars, even if the school is religious. Even if the school is using religious curricula. From a June 1 Reuters article:

  Louisiana is embarking on the nation's boldest experiment in privatizing public education, with the state preparing to shift tens of millions in tax dollars out of the public schools to pay private industry, businesses owners and church pastors to educate children.

  And it goes on from there:

  At Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake, pastor-turned-principal Marie Carrier hopes to secure extra space to enroll 135 voucher students, though she now has room for just a few dozen. Her first- through eighth-grade students sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains "what God made" on each of the six days of creation. They are not exposed to the theory of evolution. 

  "We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children," Carrier said.

• Texas:  Americans United (AU) asked the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to investigate the Shekinah Learning Institute, which got $12.63 million in tax dollars in the 2010-2011 school year. The administrator of Shekinah is also the pastor of Shadrach Temple International Church. Problems AU cited included:  promoting weekly chapel classes, offering weekly Bible study and using a religious name and logo, all of which (according to AU) could be violations of the First Amendment.
  But even more problematic to me is this list of allegations that came out after the first complaint was filed. These are not tiny things either. From the Alternet article: 

* Shekinah used taxpayer money for the renovation and upkeep of Washington's church;
* Shekinah gave school funds to defray operating costs at Washington's church;
* School employees were told to help the church conduct its business;
* Shekinah paid church employees with taxpayer funds;
* Shekinah paid higher salaries to employees who were members of Washington's church than to equally qualified employees who were not church members.

Now, if churches want to run their own little schools and not teach the kids the truth, I think that's a bad thing, but they can do it--BUT NOT WITH MY TAX DOLLARS. I don't care what your religion is, I don't want my tax dollars going to support the indoctrination of children in the guise of public education. Because it's not. And in the case of the Shekinah schools, if the allegations are proven, then it's obvious the organization was using tax dollars as a slush fund to support church activities. Because, as I learned in law school oh so many years ago, money is fungible. And any money given to a church to ostensibly upgrade classrooms (which are also used for Sunday school, no doubt) also has the effect of freeing up church monies for other activities--you know, like running campaigns against gay rights. On top of that, if a pastor is paying congregation members more because they work for her, and this is coming out of state money, the pastor stands to benefit. Why? Because she knows how much they're being paid, and she is expecting her 10 percent cut (aka tithe) off the top. Like I said...money's fungible.

For that, we award the governor of Louisiana and the Texas Education Agency a Jesus Facepalm:

Update June 9, 2012:  Americans United's magazine, Church and State, has a special report, Showdown at Shekinah, which is definitely worth a read.