Well, Rapaire, I'm not so sure about churches. Not that I haven't broached the issue myself. The reason has nothing to do with the sacredness of religious institutions, but of the current interpretation of the 1st Amendment. If churches were taxed, but unable to participate actively in the political process, would that not be a form of 'taxation without representation?'

Last year, Steven Waldman, author of "Founding Faith" (a terrific analysis of what the Framers thought about religion in the public aquare) and a founder of beliefnet.com, was Scholar-in-Residence at the Synagogue my family attends. During a Q&A, I A'd whether or not an organization as ours should be exempted from taxes. The Rabbi's and the president's heads snapped toward me so quickly as to look like they had been pole-axed.