Saturday, August 11, 2007
Tax exempt bigotry
The nondenominational High Point Church of Arlington, Texas canceled the memorial service for Cecil Howard Sinclair, a Navy veteran 24 hours before it was to start because the deceased was gay. How pathetically sad.
According to the man’s sister, Kathleen Wright, the church knew the man was gay when they offered to host the service. Sinclair’s brother works for the church as a custodian. When they learned of the brother’s death, they offered to host the memorial. They changed their mind though after there was a mention of the man’s life partner in his published obituary.
The High Point Church was founded by the Rev. Gary Simons and his wife April. She is the sister of Joel Osteen, pastor of the 38,000-member megachurch Lakewood Church in Houston.
It’s bad enough for this church to judge Cecil Sinclair and decide to treat him and his memory in a bigoted fashion. What’s worse is that they are able to enjoy tax exempt status while discriminating against a veteran. They pay no taxes on the massive amount of revenue they generate. I bet that Cecil Sinclair and his life partner paid their fair share in taxes.
Because churches are tax exempt in our country, High Point Church is being financially subsidized in part by the very people they discriminate against. People like Cecil Sinclair and his partner.
And that is wrong.
