March 12, 2016 4:39 AM

Does anyone REALLY believe Scientology to be a religion? I didn't think so.

In a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court today, the eight justices ruled in favor of revoking the Church of Scientology’s tax-exempt status in the United States. Under the ruling, Scientology will still be able to operate as a business but no longer as a non-profit religious organization. The case was brought forward by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division after concluding a two-year-long investigation into the inner workings of Scientology. The investigation, along with an extensive audit, found the group to be a “criminal operation with a sole purpose of making money”. The eight justices agreed with the IRS and its findings that Scientology was neither a religion or fell under the guidelines of a non-profit charitable organization.

As difficult as it might be to imagine, there are still people who consider Scientology to be a religion. Even with all objective evidence trends toward revealing L. Ron Hubbard’s brainchild to be a brilliant money-making scam, many (especially Scientologists) still cling to the delusion that Scientology is a legitimate religion on par with Christianity, Islam, Judaism, et. al.

I’ve advocated for years that the IRS should remove tax exempt status from ALL churches; it’s the Constitutional thing to do. Government shouldn’t be involved in subsidizing churches, and it shouldn’t be the arbiter determining which groups/organizations meet the definition of a “religious organization.” Taxpayers spend billions subsidizing churches every year, which seems an obvious and direct violation of the separation of Church and State…not that any politician has the courage to broach the subject.

The IRS investigation demonstrated the Church of Scientology to be a for-profit enterprise that relies on exorbitant fees extracted from its members. That’s not a church; it’s a recipe for a Ponzi scheme.

“If private schools had similar prices to the courses in Scientology, students would receive the absolute highest level of education by the top educators in the country,” Downey said. “But in reality, based on the ridiculously high cost of Scientology, there is no school out there that even exists. The best schools in this country charge a fraction of the exorbitant amounts of money that Scientology charges its members.”

Stripping the Church of Scientology of its tax-exempt status, besides being long overdue, is the right thing. It should have happened years ago. There’s no credible argument to be made for the Church of Scientology being a charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

As one might imagine, Scientologists are not taking the news well:

Paul Horner, a spokesperson for Scientology, told ABC News the ruling is “discrimination based on religious beliefs”.

“In a free country, such as ours, it amazes me that over ten million Scientologists can have their beliefs trampled on like this,” Horner said. “The Church of Scientology is working hard to make this world a better place, constructing more buildings and ships and other really neat stuff, and now, most of that will have to be put on hold because of a few religious bigots.”

It’s not surprising that the Church would react by blaming “a few religious bigots” for the IRS’ decision, but the truth is that this was a long time coming and long overdue. Scientology is prone to exaggerating its own importance and impact, beginning with the size of its membership. While Horner claims there are “over ten million Scientologists, the actual number is a matter of some considerable debate, with the actual number probably closer to 25,000.

For those in the upper echelons, Scientology has proven to be hugely profitable…and that’s a big part of the problem. Religion shouldn’t be something that enriches certain adherents at the expense of others. That’s called a “business,” and if profits are made, taxes should be paid.

Now that the IRS has revoked the Church of Scientology’s tax-exempt status, it’s time they began looking at Christian churches and religious organizations. That will never happen, of course; it requires a degree of political courage conspicuously absent in Washington, DC. Even so, the American people shouldn’t be subsidizing churches and religious organization. Period.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on March 12, 2016 4:39 AM.

So you STILL think Bernie Sanders isn't electable? was the previous entry in this blog.

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