Have you heard about the war on religion…in Israel?
It seems Israel’s secular government wants to eliminate exemptions to military service including those now enjoyed by Ultra-Orthodox Jews. In addition, the Israeli Supreme Court just ruled that funding to ultra-Orthodox seminaries whose students avoid the draft should be stopped.
If the Obama administration did something like this conservatives would be calling for his impeachment. They would insist that he was infringing on their First Amendment rights because he was anti-religious and anti-God. His war on religion would finally be exposed.
For years they have made the charge that he was no friend to Israel, as if the U.S. should support everything the Israeli government says or does.
Wonder if they still believe that now that the Israeli government is “attacking” Ultra-Orthodox Jews?
Or is it possible this ironic twist in international politics might lead them to see that there is no war on religion in Israel anymore than there is one here in the U.S., that what is going on in both nations are honest efforts to maintain a sensible balance between government responsibilities and religious liberties.
If Ultra-Orthodox Jews want to be exempt from compulsory military service, why should their educational institutions enjoy tax exemptions? The Supreme Court there apparently thinks they can’t have it both ways.
Maybe the same principle should be at work here.
At the moment religious hospitals, schools, and other institutions, including churches, get all the benefits taxes allow the government to provide, such as roads, bridges, safety, educational grants, etc., while at the same time picking and choosing which government programs and policies they like and don’t like.
What if the government said that because of the desire of religious institutions to be free of government intrusion of their right to discriminate against gays and lesbians or refuse contraceptive care through insurance policies, it would refuse to provide federal grants to students who attend religious colleges and universities, or it would end tax exemptions for such institutions?
The cry of bloody murder would be heard around the world, and the complaint would be legitimate if religious bodies played by the rules everyone else plays by.
They don’t. They want and get special treatment, but there is a price to pay for that. It’s called civic responsibility.
But they want none of it.
It’s time to stop this nonsense.
Unless religious institutions gain some balance and use some commonsense when it comes to such issues as healthcare and political involvement, any tax exempt status they and those of us who serve in them enjoy should come to an end.
Nobody else has it both ways. Neither should religion.
