Separation of church and state

I think that one key in the last article I linked is the following in "The Legal Eagle" section: "In 1971, the IRS issued a decision redefining the tax exemption as a public endorsement or subsidy." Tax exemption should not be looked on as a public endorsement or subsidy. Such a view implies that Government is meddling in religion. The first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". But endorsing (or not endorsing) religious groups does just that. If you charge someone for exercising their religious beliefs, you are attempting to establish religion. Perhaps not directly, but indirectly through people's pocketbooks, which is actually probably more effective than just by law.

I think that the only solution is to either not tax religious groups (currently the case, I think) or tax them all the same (no loopholes). The first is definitely easier, but admittedly allows the possibility of non-standard religious groups trying to use the tax exempt status. It has some issues that need to be dealt with, but I think we don't want the government messing around with religious definitions.