For a better understanding of Karl's warp, you might click on either or both the book links on the right. Some of the book can be read free, online. A full download costs about $7.
This being Memorial Day, it is important to say a thing or two about our world.
I have a lot of fun running around our country in our motor home. We visit every place we choose, depending on the price of gasoline, of course. Other than that, no one can tell us where to go or what to do.
We owe a lot of this to those who have struggled, each in their own way, to make freedom ring.
Some have been in battle, some have worked in defense plants, others have farmed, others have simply behaved themselves wherever they were.
For whatever reason, I appreciate all of them.
old karl
Monday, May 31, 2004
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
KRT Wire | 05/17/2004 | Texas official says Unitarian church not a tax-exempt religion
"What constitutes religion? When and how should government make that determination? Questions that for years have vexed the world's great philosophers have now become the province of the state comptroller's office.
Questions about the issue were referred to Jesse Ancira, the comptroller's top lawyer, who said Strayhorn has applied a consistent standard - and then stuck to it. For any organization to qualify as a religion, members must have 'simply a belief in God, or gods, or a higher power,' he said.
'We have got to apply a test, and use some objective standards,' Ancira said. 'We're not using the test to deny the exemptions for a particular group because we like them or don't like them.'
Since Strayhorn took over in January 1999, the comptroller's office has denied religious tax-exempt status to 17 groups and granted them to more than 1,000, according to records obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Although there are exceptions, the lion's share of approvals have gone to groups that appear to have relatively traditional faiths, records show.
But of the denials, at least a fourth include less traditional groups. In addition to the Denison Unitarian church, the rejected groups include a Carrollton, Texas, group of atheists and agnostics, a New Age group in Bastrop, Texas, and the Whispering Star Clan/Temple of Ancient Wisdom, an organization of witches in Copperas Cove, Texas."
As churches find themselves in more and more difficult economic times, happenings like this make life even more difficult. To suddenly have a body of the government decide that your church is not a "real church" can come as a real shock to a community.
How many people live in a rural community that cannot afford to support 2 or more churches, so they have combined faiths? Or they have simply said, "We don't care what religion you believe in, just come be part of our community for the sake of the community."
Questions about the issue were referred to Jesse Ancira, the comptroller's top lawyer, who said Strayhorn has applied a consistent standard - and then stuck to it. For any organization to qualify as a religion, members must have 'simply a belief in God, or gods, or a higher power,' he said.
'We have got to apply a test, and use some objective standards,' Ancira said. 'We're not using the test to deny the exemptions for a particular group because we like them or don't like them.'
Since Strayhorn took over in January 1999, the comptroller's office has denied religious tax-exempt status to 17 groups and granted them to more than 1,000, according to records obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Although there are exceptions, the lion's share of approvals have gone to groups that appear to have relatively traditional faiths, records show.
But of the denials, at least a fourth include less traditional groups. In addition to the Denison Unitarian church, the rejected groups include a Carrollton, Texas, group of atheists and agnostics, a New Age group in Bastrop, Texas, and the Whispering Star Clan/Temple of Ancient Wisdom, an organization of witches in Copperas Cove, Texas."
As churches find themselves in more and more difficult economic times, happenings like this make life even more difficult. To suddenly have a body of the government decide that your church is not a "real church" can come as a real shock to a community.
How many people live in a rural community that cannot afford to support 2 or more churches, so they have combined faiths? Or they have simply said, "We don't care what religion you believe in, just come be part of our community for the sake of the community."
Monday, May 10, 2004
Sharing Creation
Communities with economic problems should be able to rely on the local congregation to lead the way to recovery.
The Bible covers a lot of interesting material in wonderful ways. I do not claim to understand all of it, but it is interesting.
For instance, the thing about Creation. Now, I am not talking about Creationism. Creationism is the debate over whether the whole thing was created by God in just the way the Bible says in one of the Creation stories.
No, I am interested in the reality of the act of Creation itself. Particularly I am concerned with God's choice to share the work of Creation with humankind. It is plain from scripture that this is the case, for God asked humankind to "name" them. That is, to describe the way the animals will relate to each other and to humankind.
There is another way that God shares the work of Creation with us. That is, God does not dictate the way we operate together or toward each other. Clearly, that is our responsibility. We have the task of defining our paths with and toward each other. The only limit is that our choices must reflect Creation itself. We must operate in ways that fit best within God's Vision for Creation.
We are called to build peace, openness, honesty, justice, equality within our communities. This pattern then becomes the way to build the best businesses within Creation. When our businesses do not quite make it, it seems clear that we must understand that the business has at least some area in which it does not meet with Creation standards.
Then it becomes our task to make our lives fit the Creation. Right?
Yachats Blue Link
The Bible covers a lot of interesting material in wonderful ways. I do not claim to understand all of it, but it is interesting.
For instance, the thing about Creation. Now, I am not talking about Creationism. Creationism is the debate over whether the whole thing was created by God in just the way the Bible says in one of the Creation stories.
No, I am interested in the reality of the act of Creation itself. Particularly I am concerned with God's choice to share the work of Creation with humankind. It is plain from scripture that this is the case, for God asked humankind to "name" them. That is, to describe the way the animals will relate to each other and to humankind.
There is another way that God shares the work of Creation with us. That is, God does not dictate the way we operate together or toward each other. Clearly, that is our responsibility. We have the task of defining our paths with and toward each other. The only limit is that our choices must reflect Creation itself. We must operate in ways that fit best within God's Vision for Creation.
We are called to build peace, openness, honesty, justice, equality within our communities. This pattern then becomes the way to build the best businesses within Creation. When our businesses do not quite make it, it seems clear that we must understand that the business has at least some area in which it does not meet with Creation standards.
Then it becomes our task to make our lives fit the Creation. Right?
Yachats Blue Link
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