The Religion News Service is reporting that Mission, Kansas is now being sued by the Catholics and Baptists for imposing a Transportation Untilities Fee on all business including churches. Churches should be paying property taxes like all other privately owned property is required to do. To get around the law in all 50 states and DC that exempt churches from paying property taxes, cash-strapped cities are now looking to invoke fees for services used by churches as well as all other private businesses.
The fun part of the story is watching the conservative lawyers for the churches go into court and argue that the fees are a violation of Church State Separation. You know, that thing they continually keep harping is not in the Constitution. Well it certainly is a live and doing well when a state or locality needs funds from them.
Don't you just love churches that argue there is no separation of Church and State when the issue is them receiving money from governments for faith-based intiatives and they argue they need to discriminate on the basis of religion and sexual preferences, but there sure as hell is a separation of Church and State when the State needs money from them. All of sudden they know all about the Lemon test and US Supreme Court interpretations that are also judge made law and not in the Constitution. Why, cause it is their ox that is getting gored.
SH
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