Tax 'em to Kingdom Come
A number of pastors have declared, here, that you cannot keep religious faith from expressing itself in the political realm.
Fair enough. Let pastors and clergy say whatever they want, and endorse whomever the Lord likes. But religious organizations as a whole don't need tax exempt status. It doesn't make sense for government to have to sweeten the pot for faith-based giving.
I even say this as a former board member of a religious congregation and as a former chairman of a religiously affiliated nonprofit community group.
Isn't there space for some middle ground here? Can't we respect the traditional privileges of and responsibilities undertaken by the First Estate, by accommodating legitimate religious activity in the tax code? The IRS just wants to avoid conflicts of interest such as that epitomized by Rev. Drake who wants to have his tax-advantaged communion wafer and eat it too:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-pulpit29-2008sep29,0,1477507.story