Reminder – Secular NZ and Australia

Coming up next Saturday – the Humanist Society of New Zealand, the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists, and the Australian National Secular Association are sponsoring a  conference on:

New Zealand and Australia’s

Secular Heritage and its future.

0845 am – 5 pm Saturday 30 August 2008

Lecture Theatre 2, Rutherford House,
Pipitea Campus, Victoria university of Wellington.

(Rutherford House is adjacent to the Wellington Railway Station. The entrance is from Bunny Street.)

Taxation offense

I don’t wish to offend anyone. However, Robert M. Pirsing, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, commented “When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion.” Recently I heard a conference presenter quote this and add: “And you can then claim tax exemption!”

The problem of tax exemption for religious organisations was recently raised in an article in the New Zealand Listener (see The God Dividend). The article was based on an interview with Max Wallace, author of The Purple Economy. The problem arises from the fact that our legislation, in common with many other countries, defines the advancement of religion as a charitable purpose