The Journey 196 (Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla)
Read: Mathew 25: 31-46
The Church and Tax Exemption Status. How does church qualify itself to a status of tax exemption. This is the issue that is now debated in different circles after a news items in Washington Post, where the renowned atheist Richard Dawkins had called the tax exemption status given to church as a disgrace. According to Dawkins, even the non religious and the atheist people are also generous just like the religious ones. Dawkins point of argument is that, just because an organization calls itself a church, they should not be entitled to or freely qualify to get tax exemption status. Each church should separately make a profile or a case on the way they do community work or charitable work and it should be only on the basis of that, should the tax exemption be given. If this is the criteria for tax exemption then the same yardstick has to be followed for any other organization even if it is not the church. Dawkins is critical of the generosity of the religious people and the church because he feels that the charitable work is done more for proselytizing than having a genuine concern for the suffering people. He also pointed out that there are several secular organizations who are doing are doing a lot of charity work and good for their communities, which are sometimes more worthwhile than the church’s and added that his own website, RichardDawkins.net, has helped organizations raise more than $500,000 for groups such as Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross. I think Dawkins raises lot of questions that we need to answer. Do we as a community of faith qualify for tax exemption? And if so how do we qualify ourselves for that privilege? There is also an ethical question whether in the name of charity do we have the right to share the gospel?
This week we shall start on a new theme “ Transformation in my church”. The portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Mathew 25: 31-46. There are many passages in the bible that talks about the judgment of God and also some of the yardstick that God would use to judge people. Here in this portion that we read we find Jesus telling that God would judge his people on the basis of ones response and discernment to the needs of the suffering in the community. Here you find that Jesus mentions that there are people in our community who are lonely, who are hungry, who are thirsty, who are sick and those who are in prison. The question that Jesus is asking us is whether we are aware of such people around us. This is because when Jesus spoke about judgment, some people asked Jesus “ When did we see you hungry, thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison” [ Mathew 25: 44]. That is when Jesus states that when you did something for the least of these you have done it for me. Hence what Jesus is teaching us is that the mission of the church is to deliberately go out to these least of the people and be a church to them. Today for many of us church is a community meant purely for catering the needs of its subscribing members. But Jesus teaches us that church is meant for the community. Hence community work should not be considered as one of mission activities of the church, it should be the mission. For most of the parishes here in our diocese we just set apart an income in our budget for community services which is actually against the principles of the gospel. Let us show people like Dawkins that church exists only for mission and community and not for its members and for self existence.
The Church and Tax Exemption Status. How does church qualify itself to a status of tax exemption. This is the issue that is now debated in different circles after a news items in Washington Post, where the renowned atheist Richard Dawkins had called the tax exemption status given to church as a disgrace. According to Dawkins, even the non religious and the atheist people are also generous just like the religious ones. Dawkins point of argument is that, just because an organization calls itself a church, they should not be entitled to or freely qualify to get tax exemption status. Each church should separately make a profile or a case on the way they do community work or charitable work and it should be only on the basis of that, should the tax exemption be given. If this is the criteria for tax exemption then the same yardstick has to be followed for any other organization even if it is not the church. Dawkins is critical of the generosity of the religious people and the church because he feels that the charitable work is done more for proselytizing than having a genuine concern for the suffering people. He also pointed out that there are several secular organizations who are doing are doing a lot of charity work and good for their communities, which are sometimes more worthwhile than the church’s and added that his own website, RichardDawkins.net, has helped organizations raise more than $500,000 for groups such as Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross. I think Dawkins raises lot of questions that we need to answer. Do we as a community of faith qualify for tax exemption? And if so how do we qualify ourselves for that privilege? There is also an ethical question whether in the name of charity do we have the right to share the gospel?
This week we shall start on a new theme “ Transformation in my church”. The portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Mathew 25: 31-46. There are many passages in the bible that talks about the judgment of God and also some of the yardstick that God would use to judge people. Here in this portion that we read we find Jesus telling that God would judge his people on the basis of ones response and discernment to the needs of the suffering in the community. Here you find that Jesus mentions that there are people in our community who are lonely, who are hungry, who are thirsty, who are sick and those who are in prison. The question that Jesus is asking us is whether we are aware of such people around us. This is because when Jesus spoke about judgment, some people asked Jesus “ When did we see you hungry, thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison” [ Mathew 25: 44]. That is when Jesus states that when you did something for the least of these you have done it for me. Hence what Jesus is teaching us is that the mission of the church is to deliberately go out to these least of the people and be a church to them. Today for many of us church is a community meant purely for catering the needs of its subscribing members. But Jesus teaches us that church is meant for the community. Hence community work should not be considered as one of mission activities of the church, it should be the mission. For most of the parishes here in our diocese we just set apart an income in our budget for community services which is actually against the principles of the gospel. Let us show people like Dawkins that church exists only for mission and community and not for its members and for self existence.