People are surprised about churches and preachers—and especially Trump's Christian Nationalist bootlickers—taking billions in taxpayer money.
It's unconstitutional. Has been since the American founding. This is what the framers originally meant by religious freedom.
THREAD
Some of us have been warning about this since late March. Raising the alarm. Calling legislators. Writing opeds.
Here's one I wrote back on April 2.
religiondispatches.org/taxpayers-cann…
The government’s taxing power should not be wielded to oblige Muslims to bankroll temples, or to coerce Jews to subsidize Christian and Catholic churches, or to force Christians to fund mosques, or to compel the nonreligious to support any of the above.
One of this country’s first religious freedom laws warned that taxing citizens and giving the money to churches is “sinful and tyrannical.” The right to be free from that compulsion is the bedrock of religious liberty.
Nobody has been listening.
From May 7:
"The federal government can’t take our money and give it to Joel Osteen or Robert Jeffress or Paula White — even in the wake of a pandemic."
It did.
But guess what? there's an even scarier side to this....
madison.com/ct/opinion/col…
"It’s also a nightmare because churches and religious nonprofits, unlike every other charity in the United States, don’t disclose any financial information to the government or taxpayer."
Churches have no financial transparency or accountability. None.
But wait, it gets worse.
This gave Trump a huge political weapon just before the election. I explained this to The Humanist magazine a few weeks back.
thehumanist.com/commentary/unp…
We are giving, for the first time in American history, our government the power to directly fund religion...and we are giving that power to Donald Trump, who was carried into office on a wave of Christian nationalism...a man whose penchant for grift and corruption...is unbounded.
As this was all happening, the Trump's Supreme Court overturned constitutional clauses dating back to 1776 in some states and which bar taxing citizens for the benefit of religious schools. So much for precedent. Another 5-4 from Roberts's political court.
religiondispatches.org/school-voucher…
So there you have it:
1. You can be taxed and that money will go to a religion not your own. The Era of Government-Enforced Tithing has arrived.
2. Trump is already wielding this weapon to reap political benefit, doling out $$ to his megachurch buddies.
3. Those same churches...
...have no transparency or financial accountability, unlike other 501(c)(3) and nonprofits. We will likely never know what they really did with that, or any other, money.
4. There are 5 justices on the Supreme Court who don't give a damn about this un-American violation. They...
...see the separation of state and church—an American original, one of our country's great inventions—as discrimination.
This is Trump's America.
Corrupt.
Thieving.
Un-American.
Elections matter. What are you doing to end his reign this Nov.?
~fin
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.