Neil deGrasse Tyson: "I am not an atheist!"
- Thread starter Cypress
- Start date
Obtenebrator
Verified User
God you hate atheists so much, don't you? As much as I love NdGT I disagree with his point that an atheist is what the most vocal and annoying of the atheists is. It's like saying Christians are wholly defined by Ted Haggard or the worst people you can find.
Atheism isn't defined by the worst behavior of people who are atheists. It just isn't. Neil should know that.
But I can see why you are attracted to this. It has all the recipe you normally go for:
1. An authority few can actually debate against (your specialty is quoting them)
2. Someone who casts atheism in a bad light.
Seems right in your wheelhouse.
Remember when I discussed my "spiritual path" and you blew a fuse over my use of "spiritual"? Yeah, sounds like your type of reasoning when Neil mentioned the "Godspeed" bit. LOL.
Atheism isn't defined by the worst behavior of people who are atheists. It just isn't. Neil should know that.
But I can see why you are attracted to this. It has all the recipe you normally go for:
1. An authority few can actually debate against (your specialty is quoting them)
2. Someone who casts atheism in a bad light.
Seems right in your wheelhouse.
Remember when I discussed my "spiritual path" and you blew a fuse over my use of "spiritual"? Yeah, sounds like your type of reasoning when Neil mentioned the "Godspeed" bit. LOL.
Last edited:
It's really funny that Neil got a bunch of nasty messages from atheists irate that he used the word Godspeed to his astronaut friend
Perry the PhD, please don't pretend you are traveling the high road and supposedly are above the fray of the militant atheists that Neil is talking about. You routinely equate religious belief with believing in invisible elephants and polka dotted leprechauns.
Holy rollers that threaten people with hell are definitely more annoying.
But atheists screaming that all religious people are idiots are a close second.
Churches cannot be assessed property tax by federal law. I think you ignore the fact Christians get tax breaks to promulgate their beliefs. Atheists cannot get those property tax breaks.It's really funny that Neil got a bunch of nasty messages from atheists irate that he used the word Godspeed to his astronaut friend
Perry the PhD, please don't pretend you are traveling the high road and supposedly are above the fray of the militant atheists that Neil is talking about. You routinely equate religious belief with believing in invisible elephants and polka dotted leprechauns.
Holy rollers that threaten people with hell are definitely more annoying.
But atheists screaming that all religious people are idiots are a close second.
That is why the non-religious don't support the Church.
If churches are running food pantries for the poor, making meals for the homeless, providing day care services to children of working parents, shelter in cold weather, charitable aid to humanitarian crises they should get tax benefits for providing a charitable service to the community.
If they aren't consistently providing substantive charitable services they should have a tax liability.
I don't know of any charitable organizations that explicitly identify themselves as an organization for atheists
I don't care what they do. Pay your property tax like every other property owner.
They raise the taxes for everyone else.
IBDaMann
Well-known member
Nope. Everyone is supposed to be equal under the law. Businesses already get to write off their expenses. If atheists don't receive special tax breaks for providing a humanitarian service to the community, then churches shouldn't either.
Do you have to be aware of an organization for it to be treated equally under the law?
Not a federal issue, and unless you know the tax codes of the 50 states, not even worth discussing because we are both speculating out of sheer ignorance.
Local property taxes is not the hill I am going to plant my flag on and fight to the death for
My state seems to have property tax exemptions for any any qualifying charitable organization.
Reducing the tax liability of charitable causes is a national value and priority that is not going to change
It is federal law.
The federal government collects income, payroll, and excise taxes, but not property taxes as far as I know. As the presumptive tax code expert, I'll leave it to you to explain if I'm wrong.
If you are talking about a matter of constitutional law, like the establishment and free exercise clauses of the first amendment preventing the taxation of churches, that's a constitutional amendment issue, and it's not a hill I am going to choose to plant my flag on to die
Federal law makes it illegal to assess property tax on churches.
Like I said, because of the first amendment establishment and free exercise clauses, unless you can tell me otherwise
huh?
Was this federal law passed on a whim, a lark, or was it passed with the constitutional understanding that the free exercise clause of the first amendment prevents the government from taxing explicitly religious activities?
Property tax. Not tax on religion.
A tax on a church verses a tax on a religion is a distinction without a difference.
I guess this discussion is over because you can't tell me if this federal law was passed on a whim, or whether there is any underlying first amendment issue.
I suspect the constitutional directive that congress shall pass no law abridging the free exercise of religion has everything to do with this tax exemption.
The law was passed a long time ago.
The fact a church cannot be forced to pay property tax is a violation of the first amendment.
Atheism, like theism, is essentially a belief system. The entire notion of using "atheist" as a self-descriptor is predicated on "belief"...which, as I have mentioned often, when talking about the REALITY of existence...is nothing more than a guess.
Atheists just do not want to acknowledge the belief that predicate their use of the descriptor.
Other than that...nothing wrong with someone describing him/herself as an atheist. Might even be correct in their belief (guess).
Might be wrong.
No way to know right now.
blind guess blind guess blind guess