Satanic Temple no longer will pay taxes, will be treated like mosques, churches and synagogues

[SaysWho?]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-26/the-satanic-temple-gets-irs-nod-as-official-house-of-worship

 

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The Internal Revenue Service has granted the same non-profit status given to churches, synagogues and mosques to The Satanic Temple, an organization in Salem, Massachusetts, that calls itself America’s first devil-worshiping church. It is now protected by federal laws governing churches that operate as charities.

In a statement this week announcing the status, the group called itself “a non-theistic religious organization dedicated to Satanic practice and the promotion of Satanic rights.” Based in the town that hosted the Salem Witch Trials in the 17th century, the statement added that the group “understands the Satanic figure as a symbol of man’s inherent nature, representative of the eternal rebel, enlightened inquiry and personal freedom rather than a supernatural deity or being.”

 

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The move comes as some Republicans and Vice President Mike Pence have promised to roll back the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 Internal Revenue Code provision that prohibits tax-exempt groups, including churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates or engaging in political activities.

 

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Lucien Greaves, a co-founder of the church, said in the statement that the group’s effort to seek tax-exempt status as a church was inspired by the efforts to repeal the Johnson Amendment.

 

“As ‘the religious’ are increasingly gaining ground as a privileged class, we must ensure that this privilege is available to all, and that superstition doesn’t gain exclusive rights over non-theistic religions," Greaves said. Greaves, whose phone number contains a 6-6-6-, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

[Nokra]

19 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

Greaves, whose phone number contains a 6-6-6-, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

What a weird aside.

 

I hadn't heard about the efforts to repeal the Johnson Amendment, but this sounds horrifying. Even leaving aside that I'm not religious myself, why would anyone, including the religious right, want to further wear down the separation of church and state? Don't they see how it could backfire?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 hour ago, Nokra said:

What a weird aside.

 

I hadn't heard about the efforts to repeal the Johnson Amendment, but this sounds horrifying. Even leaving aside that I'm not religious myself, why would anyone, including the religious right, want to further wear down the separation of church and state? Don't they see how it could backfire?

The Johnson Amendment has been de-facto non-existent for decades anyway.  We might as well drop the false pretense and let the chips fall where they may.

[Dodger]

Good for them. 

[SuperSpreader]

[Anathema-]

maybe I'll join