Good article with good points Alan.
The church is very political and that is right wing supporting every war coupled with their blessing including sending off their own congrgational members to the slaughter. The church is not naive or stupid, their organizations too have long arms in intelligence circles that know the nature and predatory character of these wars. Wars are about making super profits, grabbing new resources and new territories to plunder and colonise. As well as strengthening the enslavement of the worlds people. Let us not forget how the the Pope did a filthy deal to get the Vatican state by supporting and blessing the fascist dictators Mussolini and Hitler in their quest for war and to reorganise Europe in their favour. There are plenty of priests in South America who have given their allegience and blessing to every muderous and torturous dictator and rightwing death squads. Today the church is an arm of the super rich and that is precisely why none of them get up in parliament and fight and defend workers or the poor. That aspect can be extended to every state and country globally that the church are arm raisers for the rich in parliament. Every morning in the White House Bush and his political cohorts huddle in prayer praying their bombs will be accurate, even after a million Iraqis have been slaughtered and 4 to 5 million turned into homeless refugees. All so that the US can dominate and steal the oil in the Middle East on behalf of the oil/petrol conglomerates. The main role the church plays is to promote "a better life in the hereafter" or "put your head in the sand and pray" "and never challenge the idle rich". Or "mankind has a bad heart" therefor you cannot fight for a better world or the world's resources belong to all and should be shared by all.

David Palmer says "Governments put money in the way of churches because churches are prepared to get out and do work no other groups do..." And then he lists a range of social welfare services.

First of all, secular non-for-profits and government enterprises also carry out such work. Local councils deliver HACC services for older people and people with disabilities, ACON and Bobby Goldsmith Foundation in NSW deliver services for people with HIV/AIDS, the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service is self-explanatory, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre has a project giving legal advice to homeless people, the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care in NSW is a service provider as is Legal Aid NSW. There are non-religious community transport organisations, women's refuges and services for young gay people.

I could go on but to say that no other group is prepared to undertake the work church organisations do is patently wrong.

The problem often is to do with whether the money is well spent - but secular organisations are not the only ones that can maladminster money. And also, as I've said elsewhere, to whinge about being persecuted is not something wealthy church organisations can really do credibly in this country. To do so would reveal an ignorance about genuine persecution.

You are right about one thing, David Palmer.

>>Red Cross, World Vision and a host of big name charities were all started by Christians<<

But you entirely miss the point, that these organizations, like the churches, are also simply businesses, and as such should be held to the same rules as all other businesses.

World Vision is a classic, by the way. Their CEO, St. Tim Costello, in 2007 took out a salary package of over $250k, a 30% increase over the previous year. Their top four "key executives" extracted over $800k between them.

They are not in the "charity" business, they simply collect and disburse monies, extracting a service fee along the way.

>> In 2004, the Vatican launched a global diplomatic campaign for the recognition of Christianphobia. ... Churches need to understand that the demands for accountability and transparency, taxation reform, and for an Australian Charities Commission, will continue, and it will be futile campaign to label such demands as Christianphobia.<<

Could the author please provide an exact quote where "the Vatican" labelled "demands for accountability and transparency, taxation reform, and for an Australian Charities Commission" as Christianphobia?

Ok. Where do we start. Before I do I will acknowledge I believe in god but I am not religious.

Religion is a creation by man. It was introduced to create mass division within the general public. Fortunately we are not a highly religious country compared to others but this would be changing as we bring in more migration from countries where religion is considered more important. So we are going to have religious groups continue to become more powerful influences to our country which is unfortunate but true. Look at the situation in america at the moment and you will see how good 'faith' can be abused. along with president bush announcing his 'crusade' before invading islamic countries. bush was elected due to the powerful influence of his religious background and then within 12 months raged war against a different religion. Its only a matter of time before religion wreaks more havic here. I recall K Rudd announcing his religious background before the election. Maybe it helped? But that was the first time a political leader within Australia has done that.

Anyway, since we are talking tax. Its great to know I can pay tax through the nose (i estimate 70% of my earnings go to some sort of tax) whilst these dangerous groups can pay zero tax, in turn becomming large comgolmerates and end up running the country behind the scenes. But australians all let us rejoice, cause we are young and free.

I could keep going about all this but people will think im a psycho as they are not prepared for the real truth of what is happening in this world

Peracles,

In Cash We Trust.

I recall seeing on American CCN an American preacher complaining about being downtrodden and, the interviewer pointing out the good Reverend was wearing a Rolex. Likewise, I wonder how many non Seventh Day Adventists are hired by Sanitarium, which, incidently, has tax free status.

Side bar: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/07/07/1215282750977.html

"If" the Cardinal is found to have covered-up a heinous crime, he should face a jury.

That said, there would have been people in history whom made great life-time sacrafices to help their fellow persons. Of these people, some, not all, will have been theists. At least theist acting in accordance with their espoused convictions.

Cheers,

O.