Churches should donate 5-15% of their income to The Federal Government!
Dear Joel Osteen Ministries, Creflo Dollar Ministries and T.D. Jakes Ministries:
In The United States, Religious Organizations enjoy an economic safeguard
that many outsiders throughout the world denote as an unfair advantage: namely,
being exempt from any and all taxation from the state.
Admittedly, even as many non-profit Religious Organizations are using the funds
that they receive from their parishioners and congregation members for many
altruistic services, many Christian Ministries such as your own still
accumulate hundreds of Millions of Dollars in tax-free, annual revenue that it
never pays to the American Government...unlike the modern church's congregation
members in The United States, who have to pay Federal and State Income Taxes on
virtually every purchase they make as well as every dollar they earn along with
an ever-rising cost of living AND (if they're regular church attendees) regular
donations to the Church Collection Plate every Saturday and/or Sunday.
However, the Gospels and The New Testament of The Holy Bible offer many
instances wherein Jesus, his apostles and (later) The Apostle John exhorted the
followers of Christ to share in the burdens of the common people, so as to
present an example of faithfulness to the will of God that extends beyond the
physical plane (as is evidenced by Christ's life in abject poverty leading to
his death and its presented meaning, followed closely by the struggles of
Christ's apostles in a similar vein--including, most notably, The Apostle
Paul's dedication to engaging in arduous, menial labor so as to provide the
Churches of his day with an example of humble servitude and a spirit of
penitent working [1 Thessalonians 2: 4-9]).
Of course, Today's Modern Christian Church in The United States is allowed a
great deal of economic comfort that has become both the envy---and scorn---of
many of its greatest champions and detractors, alike. The purpose of this
petition is to encourage your respective organizations---Church ministries in
the United States that bring in nearly a quarter of a Billion Dollars in annual
revenue, collectively---to serve as a reminder to your congregations of
Christ's mandate to suffer with the common people while literally paying prices
that you are not necessarily required to even recognize as a
"burden"...precisely because it serves to strengthen the faith of
your congregation to see that their collective burdens are shared by Church
Leaders in ways that can be measured in simple, quantitative and economic
terms.
In short, Both I and all of the supporters of this petition would like to ask
that you prove the atheist community, skeptics, agnostics and disillusioned
believers all wrong in their allegations of Non-Profit Religious Organizations
in general (and The Modern Christian Church, specifically) being nothing more
than evil, chicanery-addled dog-and-pony shows designed to fleece people of
their hard-earned income with mythological stories of magical, mysterious
individuals who had never existed, under the pretense of "spiritual
renewal" and "learning to temper one's life with knowledge of The
Grace of God".
We know that you all wish to prove that you care more about sacrifice and
grateful service to a higher power than you do to simple monetary concerns, so
we would like to suggest that your organizations---in an emulation of annual
income taxation that your own congregants must adhere to, with The Federal
Government---simply donate 5-15% of your annual Income to The United States
Federal Government in a self-imposed "tithing tax".
As Jesus lived his entire life serving the people in complete economic ruin,
Your own Church should feel privileged to share in just a small sample of both
his as well as your congregations yearly taxation by the state, so as to ensure
that the Modern Church is not prone to falling into the trap of material greed
which the Bible warns will result in a decimation of all of our spiritual lives
(1st Timothy 6:10), as well as show solidarity with and understanding of the
tenets of both Christ's greater call to engagement with the people, while
commiserating with compassion with your present day Congregation's terror in
the midst of horrid, sometimes unbearable economic times.
Thank you for your time,
L. Llewellyn James
Founder and CEO
Alphaholics Non-Anonymous Art Studios
www.alphaholism.blogspot.com
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