Indeed. That’s the same point I make in the article.

That’s certainly true. Taxes are the only real charity. Everything else simply doesn’t scale.

But I speak more on our immoral tax regime elsewhere (e.g. here and here and here).

The present article is concerned with what is being measured and compared “as” charity by Brooks and others, so it doesn’t matter to their arguments whether Christians themselves count the same things as charity that they are.

But to that question, you’d have to run a study to find out, but at a glance, it looks like Christians do count giving to their church as charity (not just because they report it that way on tax returns, but also in how they boast of being charitable in such giving and how churches goad or shame them for not being a truly charitable person unless they do).

I made a similar comment thats pending, but then saw this thread. Members should still get the tax write off, but it just shouldn’t be counted as a measure of charity in studies trying to prove Christians are more charitable. Only money that actually goes to real charity should be included in the studies. But I think they are viewing such giving as “sacrificing”.

Billionaires should be paying more taxes.

Sadly I don’t have time to work my way through threads elsewhere. There are hundreds and hundreds of those. Not enough time in my life.

I disagree only on a single point: there are secular charity gyms, maker spaces, music venues, etc. They subsist on donations and operate as non profit organizations, recognized by the IRS. Churches wouldn’t in practice be any different. If we took away the special exemptions for churches, all that would do is force them to reincorporate as non profits and start opening their records to the public and the IRS to verify they aren’t taking a profit (people would also then know how too heavy their admin is, e.g. how much cash the preachers walk away with, etc.). That would certainly be an improvement. But don’t operate under the mistaken notion that they would be taxed. They would no more be taxed than atheist organizations are. Unless they chose to operate for profit, so as to keep their books closed. And that would be an interesting choice to see them make.

In my view, charity has to be based on a percentage of surplus, so if you aren’t earning a significant surplus, you shouldn’t be expected to give much to charity.

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Isn’t that the point of Mark 12: 41-44 ?
You probably knew that though and have mentioned it. I’ve heard from an accountant the idea of money being fungible. (a moderate Republican who herself points out that we spend too much on an inefficient military).
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Also, while I am here, can I ask for your input on something? I am curious to hear your opinion on another string of posts,
http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/2015/05/17/open-thread-for-episode-918-matt-and-john/#comments
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Feel free to tell me that you don’t want to get involved. I have listened to some of your lectures on the Historicity of Jesus (among other things) on Youtube. Since readings of yours seem to be the source of the discrepancy I thought that I would go to the source and ask for your opinion directly. Thank you.