The absurdity of the state giving financial benefits to religious movements has been recently neatly illustrated in a posting by Libby Purves at Faith Central.
Pastor George Michael has declared his house a church which means that not only can his disabled wife and daughter worship without the hassle of travel, but also that he benefits by having to pay approximately 80 thousand dollars less in tax. Unfortunately he is being threatened with fines for change of property use.
Mr Michael was ordained online for free at the Church of Spiritual Humanism and, in America at least, can legally perform religious ceremonies and rituals. I am not sure why he bothered with the ordination. There are large numbers of ‘house churches’ that have non-ordained leaders performing all kinds of ceremonies. However, regardless of ordination, why should the state still be supporting minority activities of dubious intellectual and effectual standing? Religions can exist without state support.
Historically the church was close to the centres of power and was able to gain all kinds privilege because of that. In the UK, constitutional privilege (see, for example, the Church of England’s position in the House of Lords) and financial privilege (see for example The Gift) still exists and should be removed.
Religion has been around for a very long time and it is unsurprising if its practitioners have worked out a handsome set of scams and perks for themselves. Twenty - or even ten - years ago, we would probably not have raised an eyebrow at this but in more recent days atheism and secularism have started making more of a fuss and we have become more sensitized, as it were.
Don’t think I agree with, or accept, religious organizations receiving perks and privileges that the rest of us don’t - far from it - but I think we are still at the beginning of a long process of freeing ourselves and the nation from religious thralldom. The joke, of course, is that it is they who claim to be hard done by and “victimized”.
I think we will eventually bring this nonsense to an end but that it will be an uphill struggle. One day, the bishops will be evicted from the Upper House, for example, but it won’t happen next Thursday or for many Thursdays to come. We have to keep plugging away.
Personally, I don’t intend to remain apoplectic all that time. I value my health and my ability to have fun too much for that. Yes, I will vote and sign petitions, then I will go an have coffee at Starbucks or have a happy day out in Clacton. The game will be long and we must not forget to enjoy life in the meantime.
And let’s be honest, if I could find a neat way of reducing my tax burden as a result of some dropped stitch in the knitwear of the law, do you think I would not take it? I would be daft not to. After all, if the Inland Revenue is going to clobber me for an Olympic Games I do not want and resent paying for, why should I hesitate to get my own back if I can? The Reverend SilverTiger has a ring to it, don’t you think?
The Reverend Silver Tiger has a very nice ring.
It seems like Michael found a loophole and took advantage of it. Or, he may have thought he’d found a loophole and the government will be able to grin and say “Gotcha!” It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
I think we will eventually bring this nonsense to an end but that it will be an uphill struggle. One day, the bishops will be evicted from the Upper House, for example, but it won’t happen next Thursday or for many Thursdays to come. We have to keep plugging away.