Humanity-Demeaning Activities

So now we know what it takes for a church to lose its tax-exempt status.

Panama City Beach's Life Center: A Spiritual Community has lost its tax-exempt status after authorities discovered it has been hosting late night spring break parties as "Amnesia: The Tabernacle" since Feb. 28. (full story here) 

The place sounds, in the coverage anyway, more like a strip club than any conventional idea of a house of worship.  But think about it this way: since a religion is defined by the beliefs of its adherents, who's to say that strip-club attendance is not a sacrament?

Churches (and synagogues, and mosques, and temples...) engage in all kinds of conduct that is reprehensible and demeans the humanity of their congregants and communities. Slut-shaming, general misogyny, child abuse, science denial, fantasy escapism from real problems... the list can go on and on... and it has for millennia.

What's so special about this one?

I think it's at least an interesting exercise to explore why this church's humanity-demeaning activity gets its community riled up while others get their communities to rally 'round.




via Friendly Atheist