Tax Religion, not Charity.

I'd agree with that but it has nothing to do with religious claims (or their truth value) which have nothing to do with taxation. I'm happy for religious organisations to set up charities but I have issue with a religion being granted tax exemption simply because it is religion.

In fact, I'd argue the tolerance and acceptance which now characterises many people's perception of modern Christianity is the result of pragmatic secularism and the need to survive in a multicultural society. The only reason Catholics and Protestants aren't fighting each other in the streets of Australia (anymore) is because of a mutual desire to survive and experience peace, not because they're tolerant of each other's theology (they still think the other is going to hell, at least doctrinally – the disparity between church dogma and the beliefs of it's congregation is a different issue). This may be more to the heart of Andrew's comment, religion creates more lines of division in our society, in addition to language, ethnicity, culture, politics, gender, wealth, etc. However, religion is consistently the deepest division because the stakes are so much higher, more often than not an eternal existence is at risk.

Everyone pays tax in order to provide the government with the financial means to provide the services society expects or demands but might otherwise not be created if free-market forces were left to dictate service provision. In order to be exempt from contributing to this justification is required, you need to be saving the government resources. The government wouldn't be building churches or running masses but they would be forced to deal with social issues of homelessness, youth issues, aged care, etc in a greater degree if people weren't running charities. These charities need to be encouraged and fostered (regardless of who runs them) but in order to maximise efficiency and accountability the government must be confident they are not taxing the right groups (eg groups doing charity not groups sitting around and musing over scripture and maintaining old buildings).

For example, my boss recently participated in the St Vinnies CEO Sleepout, I donated money to his participation – I consider it a worthwhile cause. I don't care that St Vinnies is a religious organisation, their charity work is generally valuable and they deserve tax breaks for it. However, if they run churches and all the additional costs associated with them then they should not receive any tax break for these activities (I don't think they do it is just an example). I understand things get messy when a church operates charitable activities from their property and premises and how these should valued and to whom but Australia's taxation system is complicated for everyone, including charities, and I openly support moves to simplify and improve its fairness.