My Sick Mind

“People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them." - Dave Barry WASHINGTON (AFP)* Nearly 40 percent of US Christian churches saw a drop in offerings from their flock last year, according to a survey on contributions compiled by the group Christianity Today International. "For the first time in consecutive years there is a notable decline for a significant number of churches," said Matt Branaugh, one of the report authors. Lawd-a-mighty, what is we gonna do? The recession has hit religion. According to the survey of 1,000 churches across the United States taken for a second consecutive year, 38 percent of churches registered a drop in donations, against 29 percent the previous year. The "State of the Plate" survey did not report the value of the offerings. One third of the churches surveyed -- 32 percent against 14 percent the previous year - cut expenses between one and 20 percent, which included cutting...

As I was driving to work today, I saw a vacant lot with a sign proclaiming it to be the "Future home of [some] Church of Christ." The first thing I thought was, "aren't they all Christ's churches?" The second thing I thought was, "There goes another ratable ." Another currently taxable property is being turned over to a group who will develop it, use our resources and not pay taxes on the property. That started off the chain of thought that wondered about (a) why it was necessary to build another church and (b) the whole separation of church and state thing. The phrase separation of church and state is generally traced to a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists , in which he referred to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as creating a "wall of separation" between church and state. The phrase was then quoted by the United States Supreme Court first in 1878, and then in a series of cases...