On Sat, 8 Nov 2014, "Lev Lafayette" <lev@levlafayette.com> wrote:
b) Following this, you could realise that the introduction of marriage equality in civil law in no way changes your denomination's disapproval of such marriages and in no way forces your denomination to conduct marriages that they do not agree with.
You don't have to support same-sex marriage personally; all you have to do is say that same-sex couples should be entitled to the same legal rights as others, including marriage.
I think that every church which is supported by my tax money should be subject to all laws against discrimination. Any organisation that wants a religious exemption to anti-discrimination laws should pay their own way. Currently donations to religious organisations are tax deductable. That means that my tax money is subsidising donations to churches. That situation is wrong. If a church wanted to tax deduct it's own donations to charity (IE having subsidiaries that care for the poor etc) then that would be OK. But just having tax deductions for any money that flows through a religious organisation is wrong. Among other things this is why Scientology is now claimed to be a religion. Instead of taxing the poorest people when they get medical treatment or buy basic food items (under Abbott's new GST plans) they should tax all the clergy who have expensive houses and cars subsidised by the tax payer. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/