‘It Belongs To God!’: Pat Robertson Snaps At ‘Liberal’ Viewer Who Wants To Tax Churches

[big_dog]

Televangelist Pat Robertson on Monday accused a viewer of having a “liberal mentality” because she suggested that tax-exempt status was essentially a government handout to churches. “Whose church are we?” the viewer named Wendy asked in an email to Robertson. “Are we God’s church or the world’s? Jesus said, ‘Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.’ Taxes.”

“Why are churches taking a handout from the government?” Wendy wanted to know. “The just shall live by the government or by faith?” Robertson seemed outraged that the question had been asked. “I don’t know what handout you’re talking about. We don’t take a handout from the government,” he quipped. “Not paying taxes, it’s your money. The fact the government doesn’t take it away from you is not a government handout, and time immemorial, what belongs to God is what belongs to God!”

“That money in the church is given by people to the Lord,” the TV preacher continued. “It doesn’t belong to the government. So, that’s not a handout to keep the government from taking it away from you.” Robertson said that the viewer had “this liberal mentality that everything that you have belongs to the government, and it’s a benefit and privilege that they don’t take it away from you.” “That’s the reverse, it belongs to you,” he insisted. “And they shouldn’t take what belongs to God.”

Last year, the documentary Mission Congo accused Robertson’s tax-exempt organization, Operation Blessing, of funneling donations to the pastor’s diamond mining operation. Robertson’s CBN also enjoys a tax-exempt status, but the IRS temporarily revoked the status for two years over the network’s involvement in the 1988 presidential election. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/it-belongs-to-god-pat-robertson-snaps-at-liberal-viewer-who-wants-to-tax-churches/

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

1. Bwwwwwhahahahahaaaaaa!!!

Now THAT'S an issue old shithead Pat REALLY cares about.

[hobbit709]

2. so why does god need money?

[big_dog]

3. so Pat can keep the diamond mines running for the children!

n/t

[Oktober]

19. ... To work in...

FTFY ...

[L0oniX]

4. Let's not get into how much Patty peanut head is worth.

[Initech]

5. We could seriously wipe the deficit in about 10 years if we tax churches and billionaires.

Fuck you Pat.

[Octafish]

6. Anyone remember who Pat Robertson sold his Family Channel Broadca$ting Empire?

Rucking Fupert Murdoch, who paid $1.9 billion.

[randys1]

8. If there was actually a hell Robertson would have a special suite of rooms for himself

and all of his fellow con artists.

Nothing is worse than taking money from people on fixed incomes, lying to them about what the money is for, etc.

There was a report that I doubt is accurate that says righty donates more money than lefty, if it is true what it really means is righty stupidly gives money to churches thinking that this is charity.

It isnt, in most cases the money is used for anything but "god's work".

Organized religion, all organized religion, is the greatest con on earth.

[1StrongBlackMan]

9. I won't go as far as to say ...

"Organized religion, all organized religion, is the greatest con on earth" ... a person's belief system is their belief system, if it helps them get through the day/life ... good on them; but, I will say that it takes a "special" person to abuse the trust of believers for personal gain, WHILE professing the existence of a God with the connected existence of a hell.

I really wonder what these preachers imagine it will be like, an instant after death?

[randys1]

10. You have a right to believe whatever you want, but organized religion in almost every case

uses that belief to fleece you, in my opinion.


I am an atheist but when I was a believer I couldn't find a single religion that wasn't guilty of this, especially the american charismatic christian churches.


We need to educate people into understanding why relying on religion isn't good for us.

But it is an uphill battle, I totally understand that. The belief is a strong thing, I had it very strong at one time.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. Why ...

We need to educate people into understanding why relying on religion isn't good for us.

Are you comfortable with others "educating" you into understanding why relying on a God is good for you?

I say believe (or don't believe) as you will ... you know, live and let live ... or better, MYOB.

[Oktober]

20. If someone asked the unicorns in their backyard...

... To grant them good luck for the day and to smite their enemies, we would lock them away as loonies.

Ask the same of a magical spirit with a significant body count and you get tax credit...

[1StrongBlackMan]

21. No ...

So long as the unicorn whisperers didn't pose a physical threat to themselves or others ... they would be just fine.

[randys1]

23. OK, we can agree to agree sort of LOL while we address much bigger issues together

hand in hand...

[Booster]

11. Nailed it. His net worth is over $100 million so I guess not ALL of it belongs to God.

Like you, I believe there's a very special place in Hell for people who make millions in the name of God.

[Octafish]

13. Pat Robertson is special. That's why he deserted his command during Korean War.

My source is his then-fellow Republican, Pete McCloskey:

2nd Lt. Pat Robertson — DESERTER

The unctuous TV preacher Marion “Pat” Robertson once was a US Marine officer when he got the call that maybe his life was too important to risk on the battlefield.

During the fighting in Korea, Pat Robertson was a second lieutenant leading a platoon of US Marines heading for action in 1951 when he decided to call his daddy, then a very, very conservative and Democratic Senator from Virginia, to get him pulled off his troop transport ASAFP.

Robertson told the other officers he would be saying “Sayonara!” when the transport ship pulled into Yokohama, its final stop before Korea. The other officers thought Pat Robertson was joking, but when the ship shoved off, there was Pat (and another 2nd lieutenant, apparently for cover) on the dock, waving bye-bye.

Most of the officers and Marines went on to get wounded and killed. PTL, at least a couple remember the Truth.

The story was repeated in 1988 when Robertson ran for president as a “Combat Veteran.” The source of the story was Pete McCloskey (R-Calif.), one of the surviving USMC officers who was on the transport and witnessed seeing Pat wave buh-bye from the dock.

Here's a great resource on the subject:


THE LIQUOR OFFICER

Or PAT ROBERTSON GOES TO WAR

Excerpt...

Former GOP congressman Pete McCloskey of California, who served in the same unit as Robertson, claimed that Robertson had relied on his father's influence to get him out of combat duty. Robertson was so rankled by the charge that he sued McCloskey and Representative Andy Jacobs, an Indiana Democrat who also circulated the charges, for $35 million.

McCloskey insisted that Robertson was on a ship headed for combat until his father used his influence to have him removed. According to McCloskey, Robertson later boasted that he had used his father to "get him out of combat duty."

The libel suit turned out to be an embarrassment to Robertson. During depositions, Paul Brosman, Jr., a retired university professor who served with Robertson in Korea, backed up McCloskey's claim and went even further, asserting that the televangelist had consorted with prostitutes and had sexually harassed a Korean cleaning girl who worked in the barracks. Brosman's deposition asserted that Robertson once feared he had contracted gonorrhea from a prostitute and was "very relieved" when he discovered the problem was a urinary tract infection. Brosman added that he had never personally seen Robertson with a prostitute and said some of his remarks were based on "scuttlebutt" he heard from others.

The trial also established that Robertson's father did indeed send a number of letters about his son, on Senate stationery, to Marine officials. In one the elder Robertson expressed concern that his son had not been adequately trained to be a combat officer.

CONTINUED...

http://www.schlatter.org/liquor.htm

[lob1]

7. If God wanted money, he would've invented it.

[951-Riverside]

14. I'm all for taxing churches. The IRS should have no right dictating what is said in church

When you file for tax except status as a church, it allows the government to dictate what is said in church or even revoke your status if you say something they don't like.

On the Sunday before the 2004 Presidential election, Rector emeritus George Regas preached a sermon opposing the Iraq War. The premise of the sermon was a debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry moderated by Jesus Christ. In the sermon Regas supposed that, "Jesus [would say], 'Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster.'"

Complaints about the sermon led to an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into whether the sermon voided the church's tax-exempt status as a prohibited political endorsement. The church has responded by claiming that the IRS is selectively enforcing the rule by not pursuing actions against conservative churches. In response to the investigation, Rector Ed Bacon gave a sermon called, "Neighbor Love is Never Neutral."

In September 2006, the IRS issued a summons against All Saints demanding that the church turn over documents related to the controversial sermon. All Saints Church's response was that the IRS was violating the church's First Amendment rights and that the Church would challenge the IRS's actions in a summons enforcement proceeding in the United States Federal District Court. The church then established a charitable fund to raise money for its legal defense.

The Pasadena Star News reported that All Saints would remain defiant against the IRS. Rector Ed Bacon asserted that political activism was "in the DNA" of the church.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints_Episcopal_Church_(Pasadena,_California)#IRS_investigation

[onethatcares]

15. according to the word

Jesus said, "if you want to follow me, give up everything you have and start walking" or some such thing.

These people with mega churches and mega bank accounts have made a mockery of that type of service.

I don't care how much they preach the profit doctrine

[jberryhill]

16. There's a simpler method

Every week, each church should take all of the money they've collected, and throw it up in the air.

God will take what he wants, and then we tax the rest of it that falls back down.

[Historic NY]

17. Then he should render unto Caesar...

[Initech]

18. His only god is the almighty dollar, so go figure.

[lancer78]

22. Pat Robertson and jerry Falwell

after the Rapture.