COMMENTARY: Are religious groups”rendering unto Caesar?”

c. 1997 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is publisher of Religion News Service and author of”Turn Toward the Wind.”) UNDATED _ Next time you buy a Bible in Pennsylvania, it will cost a little more. That’s because the courts in that state just ruled that exempting Bibles, hymnals and other religious publications from sales […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Dale Hanson Bourke is publisher of Religion News Service and author of”Turn Toward the Wind.”)

UNDATED _ Next time you buy a Bible in Pennsylvania, it will cost a little more. That’s because the courts in that state just ruled that exempting Bibles, hymnals and other religious publications from sales tax is unconstitutional.


Bible sales aren’t expected to dive as a result of this ruling. And Frank Couch of Thomas Nelson, one of the country’s largest Bible publishers, says it will make”no difference at all.”He views the exemption as an out-of-date state law, like the so-called”Blue Laws”that once kept stores closed on Sundays.

Pennsylvania’s action may hardly cause a ripple, but secular citizen groups in other states are beginning to question the equity of everything _ from excluding churches from municipal taxes that pay for garbage collection, to federal tax codes that give special status to ordained ministers, even if they aren’t involved in a local parish.

To some, these initiatives are seen as an attack on religion. To others, they are simply a way to bring equity to situations where religious status has little to do with paying taxes.

To me, it’s time for a group of fair-minded individuals from religious organizations to take a hard look at the breaks they receive. Some exemptions make sense and support the constitutional separation of church and state. Others are vestiges of a bygone era.

In Pennsylvania, Christian bookstores expected the tax to be assessed at some point and had little negative reaction to it.”For the most part, customers are surprised that there’s no sales tax on Bibles,”Jennifer Flaber of the JOY Bookstore in Sinking Spring, Pa. told Christian Retailing magazine.

Then why did it take action by the American Civil Liberties Union to overturn the exemption? And why did Pennsylvania’s courts take time and money to review a case that will have little impact on the practice of religion?

If religious organizations joined together to review tax and legal issues themselves, they might be able to diffuse some of the growing animosity toward religion by secular folks. Why not offer to give up benefits that aren’t really fair? Why not admit that many churches, synagogues and mosques receive the same municipal benefits as their for-profit neighbors but do not pay their fair share of taxes?


A popular verse in the Old Testament says God requires his followers to”live justly.”It’s time for religious institutions to take that admonition seriously and be willing to live up to a higher standard.

An ordained minister acquaintance recently told me that his personal taxes are reduced because of the”manse allowance”for clergy.”But isn’t that intended for parish ministers to help defray housing costs?”I asked of the man, who does not have a parish but is an executive in a large publishing organization.”Sure, but if it’s in the tax code, why not take advantage of it?”he asked.

At the risk of sounding judgmental, this is the kind of attitude that causes secular people to dislike religious types.

Separation of church and state is an important principle, and religious individuals and institutions have every right to defend it. But the teachings of Jesus are clear:”Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s.”(Matthew 22:21)

I have a feeling this principle applies even when Caesar isn’t looking.

MJP END BOURKE

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