[nemoniac]

By what sense of entitlement does the columnist expect preferential treatment by Google or anyone else merely due to the fact that you have a religious group?

By coupling charitable activities to religious activities you raise questions about your motives. Decouple them and your genuine charitable activities will be eligible.

[Tichy]

Was thinking the same thing - if some religious group wants to do common good (rather than repair the roof of their church or whatever), they could simply create a spin-off organization dedicated to the common good.

[pbhjpbhj]

So, if they run a soup kitchen or other service from their building they have to let it fall down, at which point they can't offer any further services from the building?

If the roof is repaired, as it is at out church building, by volunteer labour from the Church using their own funds ... presumably then too you'd want to stop supporting any charitable function we perform?

I think the thing people don't seem to understand about [most] Christian churches is that the money comes from the people who are part of the local Church community. It's what they could instead choose to spend on going to a football game every week or buying a new car or going on holiday. It's their money that has already been taxed as income being pooled together for common activities; more often than not those common activities include a large proportion of charitable work.

[Tichy]

The soup kitchen could pay rent to the church. Anyway I am not a tax advisor. And there already was a discussion about pro and contra religion yesterday. It is just not obvious that churches help the common good - some probably do, others don't (scientology?).

[gizzlon]

Or, it's the other way around: They expect to not be treated differently than other nonprofit's merely due to the fact that they have a religious group.

So who decides what "genuine charitable" activities are?

[bryanlarsen]

So who decides what "genuine charitable" activities are?

The IRS, actually. Google for 501c3.