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Keep Religion Out?

Updated: Aug 26

Drawn on April 26, 2025 | Published from Miami | Updated August 26, 2025

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The Taboo


The allure of taboo lies not only in its social forbiddance but also because, though people may agree in principle, the arguments supporting that agreement often feel wildly at odds — even counterintuitive — to allies of kindred opinion.


Religion’s role in politics is one such arena — a shifting sand hosting a melodramatic circus where Christian fearmongers perform their tired, Fox News-fueled tragedies. But this spectacle is only the surface-level noise of a far more pervasive truth: in the American mind, God is so interventionist that He’s not only on the money — He’s also in the fine print. The USA is a country drowning in so much faith that “acts of God” — an ecumenical figure of speech for the ‘unforeseeable’ — ubiquitously features as the closing liability for virtually any contract.


This is where the inked taboo of church-state separation hits the paper — where the rubber meets the road. And yet: name me a single attorney who’s ever managed to prove God’s Will while defending an insurance company’s refusal to pay out a vehicle claim. I’ll wait.


Really, whether or not the Establishment Clause or Declaration of Independence truly divide church from state is up for lawyers to decipher. But, despite catching glimpses of “In God We Trust” mottos in just about everything red-white-and-blue, the way the US currently operates — at least up until recently — emphasizes that there is such a separation; indemnifications be damned.



The Money


In America, religious institutions bring home so much bacon — with upwards of 1.2 trillion US dollars [1] in socio-economic impact — that the papal entourage back at the Vatican looks anorexic by comparison. This is especially true for prosperity gospel televangelists: Jet-set tycoons who rake in undisclosed fortunes from their impressionable sheep without a shred of taxation-turbulence shaking their flight — a fair deal, apparently.


After all, these deacons are US citizens who run organizations that could be described as major legacy corporations with offshore levels of cash. Regardless of any ideological wall between church and state, one would think it’d make sense for them to return a slice of that tithing back to society. Surely, with the kind of money pouring into their coffers, they can certainly afford to pitch into the nation’s piggy bank with enough left over for that Learjet 75 Liberty — suede-lining trim options included.


Fascinatingly, by a quirk of church - state separation, religious bodies offer no more than solicitation and prayer to pay their dues.


Though the question of taxation is frequently raised by critics of the church, one could argue that imposing the concept on any religion is flawed and could do far more damage than the current exemption setup. You see, Religion is already very loud in American politics. Their powerful lobbyists have very clear-cut agendas designed to attack the laic structure. As things stand, however, these crusaders cannot be formally represented in the government. Thankfully, pursuits like their abstinence-based 'good works' — meant to debilitate society — are still not unanimously endorsed by the democracy they seek to destroy. Yet change is on the horizon: recently manifest in socially subversive Executive Orders and deliberately laxed federal oversight of conservative-state bills [2] [more here].



So suppose we did tax the churches


The argument for imposing taxation on Religion in the U.S. generally posits that, since churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples alike are allowed to instigate secular democracy with socially repressive ideas, the riposte of least resistance would therefore be to collect a margin on their gross contribution — naturally. This increasingly popular concept however, begs for a self-inflicted disaster.


Process Drawing
Process Drawing

First. Tapping into organized religion’s balance sheet requires a balanced tap back into legislation. The equation effectively works both ways.


Indeed, the church would have an officially unrestricted say in every arena of law-making. Federal and foreign policy could conceivably be filtered through scripture. For instance, the effect of their unhinged battle on children’s education would be disastrous. Starting with folksy wall-mounted prayers, the great flood of religious precepts would inundate public schools [3]: Biology would teach Creation, chemistry would teach alchemy, and physics would teach astrology. A revisionist mission currently finding its form in public schools at the behest of MAGA loyalists and anti-science Judeo-Christian organizations like the infamously named PragerU, whose curriculum is already being funneled into classrooms under the guise of history and civics: a worldview where slavery is framed as preferable to death, planet Earth is said to be 6,000 years old, and theology masquerades either as an alternative to reality or — far more dangerously — as fact [4]. The long-term repercussions of such a state-subsidized mass retardation would be severe.


Second. Would fishing from the donation basket not render the government complicit in the misery that religious institutions inflict on their throngs?


In democracies, taxation traditionally serves as a marker of legitimacy for businesses. While the degree of sacred wickedness varies from faith to faith, were that standard ever applied to churches, the United States would earn the 'brand of accomplice' to Religion’s exploitative teachings and practices. Granted, legal-loot collected from weapon manufacturers could also be considered wrong by that measure, but, as bizarre as it sounds, tanks are ballistic tools, not an ideology. Critically, one's projectiles will rust faster than the other's dogma.


“[...] Technology isn't intrinsically good or evil; it's how it's used. Like the death ray.” [5]

— Professor Hubert Farnsworth, Futurama, August 5th, 3010 A.D.



Generally, organized religions, on the other hand, are splintered communities for whom the principles of democracy are antithetical to their faith. Indeed, deep down, the Christian Right finds more common ground with fascism than liberalism, bordering on the synonymous. So mull over how immoral it would be to include these outfits of mystics in the decision-making process once their tax exemptions are lifted.



The Tepid Solution


Although challenging, the ideal solution would be to restrict, to a halt, the lobbying from religious groups in government and apply more oversight. Lobbying, after all, is the clearest path through which churches inject political pressure into state affairs — and the more brazen this influence becomes, the more legitimate the opportunity to confront them through the law.


Confoundingly, the cold reality is that the human-rights-abusing, soul-collecting, pyramid-scheme business models of superstar faith-healers strangely ruin more lives than they claim to save. Be it through child molestations or peddling miracle water, once these deplorable vampires inevitably break the social contract — particularly under the spotlight of their own self-publicized influence — the backlash writes itself. With enough resistance, courts could finally get a clear shot at rectifying the threat from Religion.


However, unless the objective were to bleed ‘em so dry of cash that they would wither into oblivion — something highly improbable to say the least — we should absolutely not tax organized Religion. Guns and drugs can be regulated, but the same cannot be said for mythology. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but who are we to prevent the indoctrinated from giving money to these professional liars? As long as there is no official conduit for churches to affect laws, democracy for everyone is protected. Making churches pay would irreversibly harm the secular system.



The Bottom Line


The dangerous climax of Religion bureaucratically intermingling with the government is American Sharia. A Hell on Earth materialized, where life under heal of something akin to Iran’s clerical oligarchy, ruled by a Supreme Leader with divine immunity, bankrolls proxy militias, executes dissidents [6], stones women for adultery [7], and stages public hangings from construction cranes in city squares [8]. Any expression deviating from state-sanctioned Shi’a doctrine — including satire like this — would be criminal, with offenders condemned to lashes and stonings [9].


This model is already beginning to break through in America in the form of “Anti-Christian behavior taskforces” by non-other than the Attorney General of the United States [8] — inching ever closer to the likes of a religious police. So, consider the disastrous effect of adding kindle to the fire by fiscally tying their divine mission to US politics. The buffer is fragile but present; no need to weaken it with taxation that would only serve to almost guarantee state-sponsored inquisition.


Fundamentally, the ideal binding prerogative to voice an opinion, whether church attendee or heathen, is the right to vote: one person, one voice. Ideally, that’s the secret trick to a working republic. Dirty money is excellent at blemishing the blueprint. We shouldn’t taint the design by making misinformed decisions based on the weight of a wallet. Especially one that comes with as many numinous strings attached as the church.


So ask yourself: if the devil is always in the details, why would we ever hand him the deed to democracy?



[1] World Economic Forum. 2021. Religion may be bigger business than we thought. Here's why. [online] Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/religion-bigger-business-than-we-thought/ [Accessed 8 August 2021].


[2] Full analysis of the Alabama ruling on IVF:


[3] Lobbying religion in schools:


[4] PragerU replacing PBS and science education as a whole: Rameswaram, S. (2025, August 8). The White House has a preferred alternative to PBS. It may already be in countless classrooms. Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast/422812/prageru-education-pbs-npr-cpb-defunding [Accessed August 26, 2025].


[5] Futurama, Season 6, episode 8; “The Darn Katz”, first aired August 5th, 2010.


[6] Associated Press (2023) Iran sentences US-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd to death for ‘terrorism’. Available at: https://apnews.com/article/iran-execution-jamshid-sharmahd-93555d24a162515f554ade4aac3c64f4 (Accessed: 18 April 2025).


[7] Iranian adultery:


[8] Associated Press (2023) Iran executes man convicted of killing security forces during protests. Available at: https://apnews.com/article/iran-crime-government-and-politics-da53071412f8c3da9cd51945b7870780?utm (Accessed: 18 April 2025).


[9] Hudud: Rules for harsh punishment such as lashes and stoning.


[10] Anti-Christian Policy Task Force: PBS NewsHour (2025) ‘WATCH: Bondi launches taskforce on “anti-Christian policies” in government and regulations’, PBS NewsHour, 22 April. Available at: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-bondi-launches-taskforce-on-anti-christian-policies-in-government-and-regulations (Accessed: 24 April 2025).

 

All audio is AI generated.

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