Should Churches Register?

Hey everyone,

I don't know if this is correct but I thought perhaps I should put this in a new thread (just in case it goes crazy!!), and also because I didn't want to hijack the other thread that was about [b]genuine suffering for the gospel of Jesus. [/b]

In the other thread, I brought up how 99% of American churches were already registered by the convenient way of tax exampt status. And I found the following that I didn't know....

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Miccah wrote:

Lysa wrote:

The only ones that don't have that status are the home churces. But I know, I could be wrong! Home church people, let me know!

No 501c3 in our HC.

A church can have a non-501c3 status, but then they would have to pay taxes and may (I am not certain, hence the may) be subject to the laws pertaining to business,ie. equal job opportunities (woman pastors), what can be said and not said (homosexuality is wrong), etc...

From: [url=http://hushmoney.org/501c3-facts.htm]hushmoney.org/501c3-facts.htm[/url]

501c3 churches are prohibited from addressing, in any tangible way, the vital issues of the day.

For a 501c3 church to openly speak out, or organize in opposition to, anything that the government declares "legal," even if it is immoral (e.g. abortion, homosexuality, etc.), that church will jeopardize its tax exempt status.

IRS document if anyone is interested... [url=http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf]Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations[/url]

I am more interested in how fast the crowd runs for cover (churches getting this status) than I am at them losing anything. They don't do anything anyway!

The only ones out there doing anything seem like they are hurting the church, through the lying when they put up what happens on youtube and you can plainly see they went into it with getting thrown into jail NOT reaching people. Why cannot pastors and preachers be 100% honest? But yet the liars are the first ones to tell the homosexual they're going to hell! Makes no sense to me.

Anyway, I wonder how LBJ bamboozeled the whole religious machine into filing for tax exempt status?

The thread probably will go crazy now that I've joined it. Dogma Enforcement is never far behind! Tax exempt status is like a trap door under the church and government has the lever. The commercialization of the church gives the state a pretext for removing or at least threatening tax-exemption. And a lot of churches would become insolvent if they started paying taxes like other businesses. Money-oriented churches are vulnerable to government bullying. I'd say more but my battery is low. Gotta go.

If you were creative, I think that somebody in a non-institutional and purely organic church could register a 501c3 that has some generic purpose i.e. a book club, and dispurse money that way, all without having any official attachment to the church. Either way, if Caesar wants to persecute the church, a 501c3 status will be irrelevant.

If you were creative, I think that somebody in a non-institutional and purely organic church could register a 501c3 that has some generic purpose i.e. a book club, and dispurse money that way, all without having any official attachment to the church. Either way, if Caesar wants to persecute the church, a 501c3 status will be irrelevant.

I tend to agree. Under real persecution, the church has always just went underground. Tax status is irrelevant. The "official" church simply dissolves while the body of Christ continues to thrive and flourish. The church is not bound up in the charter and bylaws. That is just a convenient way to do business.

twayneb wrote:
I tend to agree. Under real persecution, the church has always just went underground. Tax status is irrelevant. The "official" church simply dissolves while the body of Christ continues to thrive and flourish. The church is not bound up in the charter and bylaws. That is just a convenient way to do business.

When I started at a new church way back in 2005 and they wanted a loan for the property, guess what they had to provide? That’s right, the membership roster (names, phone numbers, and addresses); to prove that actual human beings attended ON A REGULAR basis [b]AND[/b] that they paid tithes.

In order to prove the tithing part, they also had to provide the deposits for a certain time period, with bank statements and deposit records. Which brings me to this... I also learned when I helped in their office that they made a copies of every single check that went through there and kept a copy.

(edit) You are absolutely correct that the Body of Christ thrives!

wayneman wrote:
The thread probably will go crazy now that I've joined it. Dogma Enforcement is never far behind!

wayneman wrote:
And a lot of churches would become insolvent if they started paying taxes like other businesses.

Does anyone know if this is true or not?

Personally, I don't think it's going to matter. If anyone takes away the tax exempt status from churches, it will be the present administration (this is just my personal and lone opinion). One of the reasons is the following article . . .

[b]Article Source[/b]: Yahoo! News Aug 17th 2009
[i]The $10 ticket was purchased at a convenience store in Haslett, five miles northeast of downtown Lansing. The lottery Web site says the odds of a single ticket winning $70,000 in Lucky 7s are one in 55,556. Michigan Lottery officials say the church will receive the full amount of the prize because it is a tax-exempt group.[/i]

:-? :-P :-(

It should be noted that Saul had no problem dragging Christians out of their homes and persecuting them, even when there was no 501c3 status or government registration of churches.