What is Digg?Sponsored by HowLifeWorks
How Private Online Shopping Clubs Work view!
howlifeworks.com - How to become a member and get discounts of up to 80% on must-have luxury goods
486 Comments
- Ninh, on 07/06/2009, -13/+523Tax them like any business.
- inactive, on 07/06/2009, -23/+494TAX EVERY CHURCH AT THE CORPORATE TAX RATE!!
There's your bailout. - seanstuart, on 07/06/2009, -9/+349Clearly it is God's Will.
- inactive, on 07/07/2009, -4/+241How are these people viewed as anything but common scammers?
- uncajoe, on 07/06/2009, -6/+230When they said "Charity begins at home", somehow I don't think it was meant this way.
- Hillsfar, on 07/06/2009, -4/+216WWJD, David Cerullo?
- AgeofMastery, on 07/06/2009, -4/+161If you're paying out the kind of salaries that it takes to build a house like that you're not a charitable institution anymore.
- c010rb1indusa, on 07/06/2009, -7/+144How bout building a $3 million home Cerullo, can't pitch in to save jobs at your own parish? How unchristian of you.
- AgeofMastery, on 07/06/2009, -13/+132He lays people off while he builds a 4 million dollar home...How very Christian of him.
- Tornawdoe, on 07/07/2009, -8/+122Jesus would probably mow his lawn.
- inactive, on 07/06/2009, -13/+126All religious higher-ups are con-men (technically, even though they may be well-intentioned in some cases), these guys are just worse.
- buddamus, on 07/07/2009, -6/+112Salvation at only $19.99, send money now and receive this "I'm a dumbass" T-Shirt free!
- Zippo, on 07/07/2009, -2/+92"God favors those who donate."
Why the ***** would God want or need your money? If you want to be charitable, donate to a children's hospital or something. - algaeturd, on 07/07/2009, -6/+96This is why people hate organized religion. It's a sham of hypocrisy...so apparent that even the youngest, most uneducated out there realize it's wrong as *****. Using a religion or God's name to create an empire worth millions on the backs of those who seek guidance from you must insure someone one of the hottest parts of Hell.
- EarlOfLade, on 07/07/2009, -2/+89You see... Jesus in America looks different from Jesus for the rest of the world. Here is the American idea of Jesus: http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1354/jaysusln3. ...
- Zippo, on 07/07/2009, -2/+75While I can see that ***** over a lot of small, honest churches, I wholeheartedly support the taxing of televangelists and mega-churches.
And Scientology needs to be taxed and taken down... exposed for the huge scam that it is. - illDecree, on 07/07/2009, -6/+79Don't you infidels question God's work!!!
/s
no, seriously.... this guy is a douchecanoe - ScottyMo, on 07/07/2009, -5/+72I am a Christian and go to church, etc. but you will not hear me defend this guy. He does not represent me.
- WRXFiles, on 07/06/2009, -4/+70It's a business, and the same as any other successful (ie profitable) business, when the business makes money, those that run and own the business profit.
That IS the American way
Now I will admit there are two problems with this concept:
The first being that it is supported by the general tax payer in the form of a tax-exempt status. Certainly to the extent they do charitable work they should get consideration under the tax act, but 100% tax free profits? That does seem excessive AND unfair.
The second being that many people are duped into supporting these businesses by believing they are connected to a 'higher power' and participation will lead to 'eternal life'. This is an educational issue, and not the fault of the business. If I can have a stream of people paying me $50 each for a psychic consultation, that shouldn't make my business model illegal. People are permitted to believe what they want and give their money in support of whatever belief system they want to endorse. Unfortunately, the US (and many other countries) are lagging far behind known science in their education, and the lack of knowledge and rational thought does not help this process.
At the end of the day? I'd like for the first to be addressed in the tax code, and the second to pass from the mainstream like Ouija boards, Voodoo, Psychic readings, Tarot cards and the like. But as long as people voluntarily line up to be fleeced of their own free will, who am I to say they shouldn't have the right to do so? - Zippo, on 07/07/2009, -1/+66douchecanoe is now the word of the day.
- spartan777, on 07/07/2009, -7/+70Pastors/church employees should be taxed at 100% of their income above $100,000 a year.
- theDunedan, on 07/06/2009, -1/+61@Ninh: Dugg up, but I have an alternate suggestion. Make the tax returns of every NPO staff person whose AGI > 200K (or some reasonable amount), make them public documents.
- INTERNETMASTER, on 07/07/2009, -2/+59I picked the wrong career
- yocouchdigga, on 07/07/2009, -3/+53because "god" wants them to have the money, obviously!
- inactive, on 07/06/2009, -4/+54Taxing churches is no more a 1st amendment issue than the illegality of ceremonial religious child molestation.
- inactive, on 07/06/2009, -9/+58Chruches, synagogues, and mosques are not NPOs. No religious organization is. The WWF however is an NPO, I wouldn't tax a legit NPO
- JFitzpatrick, on 07/07/2009, -0/+45His employment isn't the point of contention.
The point of contention, and very poor taste, is that while he was shoving people into the unemployment line he was building a house that requires the total yearly salary of roughly 100 average Americans.
If he was, as I'm sure he professes to be, walking the path of Christ... he could have easily chosen to live in a more modest home and spare his employees the hardship of unemployment. - KahRahTay, on 07/07/2009, -0/+43"Clearly, because this man is teaching about Jesus, he should not have a penny to his name"
well, actually... if he really wants to follow in Christ's footsteps according to the bible, then there is some truth to that statement.
Matthew 19:23-24
Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Luke 6:24
Woe to you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
James 5:1
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. - mbelrose, on 07/07/2009, -2/+43Hey now, guys, this is just unfair! Think how many construction jobs Mr. Cerullo is creating. You all know that Jesus was a carpenter.
- SpinningHead, on 07/07/2009, -0/+37@Charlotte
I think the economy would do better if scum bags like this quit fleecing the old and the ignorant in the name of Jesus so they could build $4mil homes. We already have enough scammers in the economy. - foucaultsvac, on 07/07/2009, -1/+38I'm not surprised. Cerullo has been known to be a sheister for years. Anyone spouting a prosperity doctrine (a teaching not found in the Bible) usually is.
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/c47.html - Mark1981, on 07/07/2009, -2/+37http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugZq9hiuCJo
"Jesus He Knows Me" satire about televangelism, released in a period when several televangelists such as Robert Tilton and Benny Hinn were under investigation for promising financial success to their listeners, provided they sent money to them. - MacEnvy, on 07/07/2009, -5/+40Then he's hearing voices, and should be committed.
- seanstuart, on 07/07/2009, -1/+34FTA: "A network spokesman did not respond to calls and e-mails requesting comment on the house. [Tevelvangelist] Cerullo defended his $1.5 million in compensation in a March interview and said he rejected recommendations that he be paid more."
Haha. What a lying sack of *****.
"Please, Mr. Cerullo! Take more! We want you to have it!"
"No, my friend, I cannot. I will live humbly for my Lord, in my 9,000sqft house with a dirt floor."
"You are so devout, Mr. Cerullo! Truly a man of God!"
"I know, my child. I know." - Chewie67, on 07/07/2009, -0/+33Shocking! Another corrupt preacher.
Haven't we reached the point where Televangelist is a synonym for Con Man? Does anyone really still believe these people are doing "Gods work", and not just ripping you off? - pilgrim3970, on 07/07/2009, -0/+31show up at his church, turn over the ATM machines and start flogigng people with a whip made of patch cables.
- pinchduck, on 07/07/2009, -1/+32I really like theDunedan's suggestion. The problem with taxing churches outright is that it further breaches the separation of church and state. The parishioners will feel that money they have given to the church, for whatever purpose, is going back to the government, and this will re-energize the moribund religious right. Keep their tax-free status in place, and keep publicizing the outrageous abuses of each church.
- phexerian, on 07/07/2009, -9/+38100k? ***** that. They are clergy, destined to be poor with tradition. Tax them if they make more than 40 thousand a year.
- Fullvinyl, on 07/07/2009, -1/+30Where in the hell in the First Amendment is taxation even mentioned, let alone forbidden to be imposed upon churches as a restriction? Taxation isn't an abridgment of religious freedom by any stretch of the imagination.
- oldhick, on 07/07/2009, -0/+29Actually, that's not true. Most battered housewives defend their husbands.
- kromix, on 07/07/2009, -2/+30+1 here too, This guy ain't a "Christian", Prosperity Doctrine teachings absent from the Bible are not anywhere near what your "usual American-Christian" is about, and this guy is a SCAM.
- ziffel, on 07/07/2009, -2/+30.... like these people actually care WJWD.
- DeskFlyer, on 07/07/2009, -1/+29I thought this was going to be about Peter Popoff. ***** that ***** too.
- thefirelane, on 07/07/2009, -5/+32yeah, just like there's no tax on gun sales or manufacturers... errr wait.
idiot - jeffwmartin, on 07/07/2009, -1/+26@Charlotte, So he's borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. He's laying people off from his company to employee some construction workers.
- njl52, on 07/07/2009, -1/+25This is like the ideal digg target; a Christian and a Rich guy doing stereotypical Christian and Rich Guy things.
- MacEnvy, on 07/07/2009, -4/+28dirtycanucker, please stop making us atheists look bad. The verses listed above and their associated passages are some of the best things in the New Testament, regardless of claims of divinity.
It's also the part of the Bible that right-wing Christians tend to ignore. - inactive, on 07/07/2009, -5/+28Yep, tax them heavily. And any church that proves there is a god gets a 100% tax refund.
- lordjaggy, on 07/07/2009, -0/+22Sounds like he chose his morals from the following list....
1) Lust
2) Gluttony
3) Greed
4) Sloth
5) Wrath
6) Envy
7) Pride - Stormwern, on 07/07/2009, -2/+24Excellent suggestion, that should go for any employee of any tax exempt organization. Greedy people running npo's is a bad idea to begin with.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 501 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 