Dear Editor,

Like many of our fantastic readership, I saw what I believe to be a horrifying video of prosperity gospel evangelical preacher Kenneth Copeland bragging about how many aircraft he owns, (thanks to the large and tax-free generosity of his flock), and he had the audacity to claim he needs his business class gulf stream jets to fly around the world to preach. This video is available on YouTube for your viewing pleasures.

According to an article in theGuardian.com, religious institutions in the United States generate a whopping $1.2 trillion annually! Tax free! To elucidate on this point, the annual U.S. military budget, as bloated as it is, accounts for $686.1 billion annually. NASA, the celebrated space and exploration agency that it is, has a paltry budget of $21.5 billion.

There is a sad and a very hard-to-ignore trend going on in religion in America today, ministers who are called according to their scriptures to be servants of God and the flock of the church are becoming laughably wealthy, and what is the product they sell or service they provide? Nothing, in fact it’s my personal belief based on my experiences, most of that wealth is generated by donations of well-meaning congregants.

The United States is facing some crossroads with regard to the budgets and how we collect and allocate money, with Social Security in jeopardy, Medicare and Medicaid and the ever-growing needs of the least among us, a concerned and informed American citizen must ask, how long are we going to allow religious institutions to continue the tax-exempt welfare they are on? How long will the Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, Peter Popoffs of the USA skate through and not have to pay for the services we all pay for that the government provides, and for what? Planes? Multi-location campuses? Hush money for the next scandal?

We owe it to ourselves, with the problems we face, to not only end handouts and tax breaks for corporations, but for the religious corporations, too. End the tax exemptions!

Tony Frantz

Parryville