Yesterday, Darryl W. Perry and I went and paid a visit to the “City of Keene” building and cut them a check for valued services provided, but forbade them from using the money to aggress against peaceful people. Here is a video Darryl shot just after the check was delivered to “the City”:
Here’s the full text of the letter we delivered with a check for $1,431.21 and their property tax bill demanding $3,045.13:
To our neighbors calling themselves the “City of Keene”:
Greetings! This letter is in response to the letter sent to us on 2013-09-19 by Daniel J. Langille, “City Assessor”. In his letter, Mr. Langille references your society’s statutes (RSAs) and seems to suggest that they somehow apply to the Shire Free Church. The Shire Free Church is not part of your society. Your society is based on coercion, and as a peace church, we cannot be a part of a group that uses coercion against peaceful people.
If it is your position that the Shire Free Church is subject to your statutes, then please cite the facts that lead you to that conclusion. Specifically, please explain, step-by-step, how the Shire Free Church and its ministers are obligated to obey your ordinances and statutes and how our property, in this case the parsonages at 73 & 75 Leverett St., is similarly obligated. Is it your claim that you own the property in question?
To be clear, we are not organized under your “state” – we are organized by God.
That said, as good neighbors, we will be contributing an amount to your organization to further select useful services that you provide. The funds we are providing today are only to go to city operations that are peaceful and not based on the threat of violence, like road maintenance, public works, parks, fire protection, library, administration, and human services. You are authorized to distribute funds to the Keene police department, but only if they will be used to protect people from criminals who actually have an identifiable victim.
While we at the Shire Free Church support education, we do not support coerced education, so we are excluding the education portion of your property tax request. That leaves $1,431.21 remaining of your requested $3,045.13.
In addition, we will, as a courtesy to you, fill out your BTLA Form A-9 prior to April 15th. We are not doing this out of any sense of obligation to follow your statues, but merely as a courtesy, as we understand that your organization has certain processes that you follow. We are not obligated to your decision on this matter, unless you can somehow prove that the Shire Free Church is obligated to your society’s ordinances and statutes, as requested above.
In peace,_________________________________
Darryl W. Perry, Minister, Shire Free Church _________________________________
Ian Freeman, Minister, Shire Free Church
Our letter was in response to this letter from their “Tax Assessor”, which was sent to us in reply to our initial notice that the property was now church-owned parsonages.
[…] View original article. […]
This is interesting… I hope you get some press on this.
As long as you all reside in this community — that you chose to purchase a home in and you chose to live within, you are a part of this community, There is no magic bubble surrounding your home that excludes you from the responsibilities of any other citizen in this community. If you do not want to pay taxes here, support the schools here, or respect the oversight of the City of Keene’s governmental structure — then you clearly do not belong here and should find someplace else to be. Period.
Why? Because I said so. Why did you say so? Because I have a Bearcat and bigger guns than you. Now I understand.
That’s your opinion. And thanks to the fact that you live in the free Christian nation of the U.S.A. you’re fortunate to be entitled to express your opinion, no matter how offensive it is. The price of your freedom is that you must accept that other people may not share your opinion. If you’re willing to accept that compromise, then welcome to America! On the other hand, if you are intolerant of diversity, then clearly you do not belong here. Period.
The reason Churches (such as the Shire Free Church) are not taxed is because Churches do not operate to make a profit as do other charities. They operate for the benefit of the public. Churches do pay property tax on property not used as part of their charitable function (my church pays property tax on a house that was willed to it), employment taxes on wages and income tax on unrelated business income, if it has any.
You seem to believe that making a profit is not a public benefit!
Is Shire Free Church for profit?
Charity is something you give away for free, and I don’t believe they’ve given the church away for free, have they?
Yep, the house was given to the Shire Church for free.
“Yep” what? The Church didn’t give the house away, Ian gave the house away. So Ian is a charitable donor. You didn’t ask about Ian; you asked about the Church. If I go get a free lunch at a soup kitchen, that doesn’t make me a charity, it makes me a recipient of charity.
Ian gave the church to himself so he could try to avoid paying his property taxes.
Is this the same advice you would have given to the Founding Fathers when they were debating how to deal with King George?
So, “it’s her fault because she was ‘dressed sexy’ and was walking down that street at night,” eh?
What you just said is identical to what rape apologists say.
Interested to see how this unfolds. Not sure why education was disregarded in comparison to the other services though. Seems the same arguement would apply uniformly.