What's going on at Rocky Ridge?

[Ozy_Flame]

Usually these type of threads invoke thoughts of drug houses or hostage situations. I'm disappointed.

[VladtheImpaler]

Jebus is coming back. Bet nobody figured Rocky Ridge would be THE place...

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by geos

If CP promised to help some kids learn hockey, do you think the government should top up our contributions by as much as 40% so we can have a really nice place to hang out and talk puck. After all, hockey is my only religion.

Just my opinion.

I'm not religious at all, but when comparing all of the various churches and temples that exist, at least 'something nice' was the result of all of the money.

How much public money (ie: tax money) do you think has gone into arenas and rec centers across the country?

[Ozy_Flame]

I don't know if any public funds were put into this thing, but I'll take my tax dollars into designer bridges over religious grandeur 10 times out of 10 thank you very much.

[geos]

Originally Posted by calculoso

I'm not religious at all, but when comparing all of the various churches and temples that exist, at least 'something nice' was the result of all of the money.

How much public money (ie: tax money) do you think has gone into arenas and rec centers across the country?

Those are not private clubs, they are for public health and enjoyment. Different.

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Jebus is coming back. Bet nobody figured Rocky Ridge would be THE place...

No one figured the Angel Moroni would pick rural New York to visit either, yet there he was.

[Dentoman]

I'm hoping for the "Wanting to live close to the Mormon temple" premium when I sell my house.
Based on the demographics of the crowd this morning, I don't think there were very many Mormon kids on time for school this AM.

[nik-]

As a Catholic I demand only Catholic churches be subsidized by tax dollars!

[billybob123]

Originally Posted by geos

Thats great and I am happy for them. However, their traditional ways and rituals should not be supported by my tax dollars.

I doubt much of the construction is covered by the religion's tax-free status. It's far more likely funded by the mandatory 10% tithe that the Church takes from parishioners. They keep records on whether people tithe properly or not, so they definitely rake in some coin.

[geos]

Originally Posted by billybob123

I doubt much of the construction is covered by the religion's tax-free status. It's far more likely funded by the mandatory 10% tithe that the Church takes from parishioners. They keep records on whether people tithe properly or not, so they definitely rake in some coin.

The Tithe is tax deductible. Thats my beef. Its a free top up courtesy of the taxpayer.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I don't know if any public funds were put into this thing, but I'll take my tax dollars into designer bridges over religious grandeur 10 times out of 10 thank you very much.

Technically no, but tax free donations paid for it. Here are some really rough numbers that I am just guessing on:

Since the money all comes from tithing, which is 10% of the income of the people of the church, which they don't pay taxes on. Assume that an average of 30-40k per person since LDS women often don't work outside the home, then $3-4k a year of untaxed money is earned by each adult member. There are 20 buildings in Calgary, each with about 100-150 tax paying individuals that attend that building (and pay tithing), which means there is about 2-3000 people who have contributed, at $3-4k of untaxed money, so about $600k to $1.2 million od total income that is untaxed. Tax rate for people earning that much money is what 30%, so $180k - $360k money that was NOT paid in taxes by LDS people.

Now consider that the LDS church has 20 buildings to pay for and maintain in Calgary, activities for all the stuff they do, world wide humanitarian stuff, sending missionaries all over the world etc etc, not much more than 10% of the money they take in could go directly into building temples. This number is probably way to big, but lets be conservative. That means $18k-$36k of Calgary taxpayer money per year was lost due to the building of LDS temples.

So yes, taxpayers spent money on it, but I imagine the financial benefit to the city in visitors would easily outweigh that, or put a good dent in it at minimum.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Either way, churches not paying taxes is ####ing bull####.

[geos]

Your math doesnt work. And your income number is way below the Calgary average.

$55000 x 10% = $5,500 x 200ppl/church x 20 churches = $22,000,000 of tithe alone at 30% deductability = $6.6M just to YYC Mormons.

Theres your Peace Bridge every year.

And this isnt picking on Mormons... I have an issue with these amounts anywhere being spent on opulent Churches. When did pride become such a core religious value?

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by geos

Your math doesnt work. And your income number is way below the Calgary average.

$55000 x 10% = $5,500 x 200ppl/church x 20 churches = $22,000,000 of tithe alone at 30% deductability = $6.6M just to YYC Mormons.

Theres your Peace Bridge every year.

And this isnt picking on Mormons... I have an issue with these amounts anywhere being spent on opulent Churches. When did pride become such a core religious value?

Immediately after Jesus went to go live full time with his weekend Dad.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by Locke

Is he bugling or whats the deal here?

All Mormons worship bugle players. It's actually a pretty widely know fact of their religion.

[Komskies]

This is the religion with the magical underwear, right?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by geos

Your math doesnt work. And your income number is way below the Calgary average.

$55000 x 10% = $5,500 x 200ppl/church x 20 churches = $22,000,000 of tithe alone at 30% deductability = $6.6M just to YYC Mormons.

Theres your Peace Bridge every year.

And this isnt picking on Mormons... I have an issue with these amounts anywhere being spent on opulent Churches. When did pride become such a core religious value?

Its been one of the core sins for a while now as I recall.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

All Mormons worship bugle players. It's actually a pretty widely know fact of their religion.

This I did not know. Why?

[BurningYears]

Originally Posted by Komskies

This is the religion with the magical underwear, right?

[trumpethead]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

So many Blazing Saddles jokes, so little time . . . .

Cowperson

Rock Ridge... Rock Ridge!!

I was hoping that building was the William J. Le Petomane memorial gambling casino for the insane.