The Powers That Be know that the pitchforks are coming for them, so they are engaged in tactics to direct anger anger away from themselves.

The classic tactic is to blame minorities, racial, religious, it matters not, only that the group be unpopular and visible. However, not only does this not work with lefties, it backfires. Thus the attacks on the tax free status of churches. A significant portion of the left is not only atheist, but actively anti-church. How easy to tell people that the reason that they can’t have nice things is because churches do not pay property taxes.

First of all, the federal government is finance by its fiat currency, not taxes. So the fact that churches are tax free has zero impact upon the federal government. The purpose of federal taxes is to regulate the economy, not pay for government services.

Now as to state and municipal taxes, they do pay for services. But the reason states do not have funds for nice things is that the rich and powerful have filled state legislatures and county boards with people who refuse to fund education and health care, but lavish tax breaks and subsidies to the rich and powerful. The rich and powerful people who have arranged for that do not want you to scrutinize their activities, thus the attempt to redirect your anger towards churches.

Churches are the last institutions controlled by the middle class. Between the decimation of organized labor, and the corruption of the other institutions of civil society, churches are the last bastion of middle class values. If you are active in the anti-war movement, the single payer health care movement, or any other progressive cause, you know that they almost always meet in a church. Churches provided much needed logistical support to the Occupy movement, from simply a place to take a shower, to a place to store supplies. Occupy could not have happened without religious support. The same is true of other progressive causes. This has NOT gone unnoticed by The Powers That Be, thus the effort to drive a wedge between the atheist progressive left and the religious left. And some people who should know better are falling for it.