Looking at a map, it\u2019s obvious that warm, volatile masses of religiosity rolling out of the Bible Belt will sooner or later hit the icy, skeptical air of the wide-open West.<\/p>\n\n
The fronts often collide near Colorado Springs \u2014 home base for dozens of national and international Christian ministries \u2014 creating awesome church-state storms.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI think of it more in terms of tectonic plates,\u201d said State Treasurer Bill Owens. \u201cIt\u2019s like Colorado\u2019s where these two great forces come together and the earth starts buckling and shifting. \u2026 Obviously, they\u2019ve hit critical mass down in Colorado Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
So pick a metaphor \u2014 any metaphor. The key issue is whether Colorado is a sign of what\u2019s to come elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n
The next battle is the Nov. 5 vote on Amendment 11, which would give Colorado the nation\u2019s first state constitution requiring most religious institutions and other non-profit groups to pay property taxes.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cPeople say the vote\u2019s too close to call,\u201d said John Patrick Michael Murphy, a radio talk show host, attorney, Colorado Springs iconoclast and mastermind of Amendment 11. \u201cPersonally, I think we\u2019re going to flip this thing over like a flapjack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
One Murphy manifesto says that since non-profit groups use \u201cpolice and fire protection, they should pay taxes to support these services along with schools. \u2026 If this proposal passes, taxpayers can then contribute the extra money from their decreased tax bills \u2026 to the church or non-profit of their choice. It would be their choice, not the government\u2019s!\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Supporters argue that, in terms of dollar values, religious groups own 80 percent of Colorado\u2019s tax-exempt property. They say Amendment 11 would raise about $70 million.<\/p>\n\n
Opponents note this is only 3 percent of Colorado\u2019s annual property-tax revenue. Also, complexities in state laws may funnel the savings to commercial property owners, while resulting cuts in non-profit social services could force residential-tax increases.<\/p>\n\n
Recent polls suggest the amendment will fail, said Owens. Still, this new church-state showdown raises crucial issues.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cRight now, anyone who knows anything about what\u2019s going on knows that government officials are having to ask churches and non- profits to step up and take a larger role in social issues,\u201d he said. If Amendment 11 passed, and inspired others to use the same strategy, \u201cwe\u2019d be sending precisely the wrong signal. If you tax something, you get less of it. \u2026 We need churches and community groups to do more, not less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
On one level, this isn\u2019t just a fight over religion. By threatening the wallets of both secular non-profit groups and religious groups, Amendment 11 created one of the most bizarre coalitions in recent American history. The opponents literally range from Planned Parenthood to Focus on the Family.<\/p>\n\n
Still, it\u2019s impossible to gloss over the church-state implications. Supporters insist that making churches pay property taxes will promote the separation of church and state. However, Amendment 11 clearly attempts to reward some religious activities while taxing others. It would allow exemptions for property owned by some non-profit institutions, such as schools, orphanages and facilities to help the elderly, abused, homeless and disabled.<\/p>\n\n
While this sounds good, the result would be to hopelessly ensnare the state in religious affairs, said Joseph Conn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Colorado would be saying that some forms of religion are good for the community, and thus worthy of tax exemptions, while other forms are not as good for the community, and thus deserve to be taxed.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThis is a fatal flaw and reflects a basic misunderstanding of the law,\u201d said Conn. \u201cThink about it: this would allow religious schools to be tax-exempt, but not the actual buildings in which people worship, while the whole point of religious schools is to support what\u2019s being taught in those churches. What kind of sense does that make? \u2026<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t allow the government to get tangled up in religion like that. The state has no right to tell us what is good religion and what is bad religion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Looking at a map, it\u2019s obvious that warm, volatile masses of religiosity rolling out of the Bible Belt will sooner or later hit the icy, skeptical air of the wide-open West. The fronts often collide near Colorado Springs \u2014 home base for dozens of national and international Christian ministries \u2014 creating awesome church-state storms. \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n