Sunday, August 25, 2013

Government Lawyers to Atheists: Yes, You're a Religion

Seldom does the boomerang of fate connect with such a resounding clang as it has with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is being told by federal government lawyers that not only is atheism a religion, but the FFRF's leaders are probably eligible for the "parsonage exclusion" break on their taxes. 

Now atheist leaders are caught like deer in the headlights of an approaching truck, temporarily stunned while they think of a way out of this trap, which they themselves set. 

But let's start at the beginning. 
Churches, synagogues, temples and other places of worship often give their ministers, priests, etc. housing allowances, and the IRS allows the recipients to deduct those allowances from their income because living near the church is usually required by the job of minister. 

The FFRF, one of the nation's premier extremist hate groups, was up to its usual tricks of trying to punish Christians, Jews and everyone who doesn't hold the atheistic view by suing to get rid of the housing exemption on the grounds that it is taxpayer support for religion. 

But the FFRF, which has positioned itself over the years as a "nonreligion" specifically so it can screw over other religions without being held to the same level of accountability, had no legal standing to file a lawsuit because the exemption didn't actually harm atheists. Its "nonreligion" stance for once came back to bite FFRF on its rear end. 

So the diabolical little geniuses at FFRF thought they came up with a clever way around the problem by having the board vote to give housing allowances to two of its officers and then claiming that the atheists were being discriminated against because, as a "nonreligion," the officers were ineligible for the  parsonage break. 

CONTINUED:  Government Lawyers to Atheists: Yes, You're a Religion

No comments:

Post a Comment