Peaceful Assembly Church

[Lloyd Danforth]

According to Silent Bob, they also continue to tax the new church. I guess they also refuse to get government approval.

Continue? I'm told that SOME PORTION of that property (which is not used for religious purposes) is now taxed, and that this started happening only AFTER the selectmen chose to start creating problems for themselves by messing with Peaceful Assembly Church.

This is most likely

[Tom Sawyer]

Sounds like the the churches need to stick together... the gooberment has established the line, and they are on the side against the churches.

[John]

I'm surprised the left/ACLU hasn't gotten on the bandwagon of churches not paying taxes....  I'm sure they can come up with reasons why that violates the separation of church and state.

It truly is about separation of church and state. The government guys want more paperwork - and thereby, more control.

Peaceful Assembly Church will not be hiring any lawyers to fix the selectmen's problem. Hiring another lawyer would prolong the situation and make it much more complicated than it actually is.
The selectmen can simply tell their lawyer to fix the problem. He simply found the wrong answer the first time. He can just as easily go back and find the right answer.
More lawyers cause matters to get worse and cost LOTS and LOTS of money by creating BIG STINKING legal battles.
This battle could go on for many many years, DRAINING everybody's pockets - WHILE THE LAWYERS GET VERY STINKING RICH. Even if someone like the ACLU stepped forward and took one side for free, it would still cost people on the other side LOTS and LOTS of money.

The people in the town of Grafton do not have to fear Peaceful Assembly Church. Lawyers are not part of our plan.
Nor is hurting other people nor destroying property belonging to others.

The selectmen are creating this problem and it is they who can fix it.
If those INDIVDUALS continue making bad CHOICES and decide to steal this property, INDIVIDUALS with guns will come here and do that. All the INDIVIDUALS doing the harm will point their fingers at other guys and say, "Its not MY fault. THEY! They "made" me do it. I'M JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS. I'm just doing my job."

Just following orders as they march along. "Its not MY fault. I just drive the train."

[Russell Kanning]

According to Silent Bob, they also continue to tax the new church. I guess they also refuse to get government approval.

interesting

[Russell Kanning]

It is nice to know that this church is not interested in involving the bloodsucking lawyers.

I guess they would rather have you fill out some paperwork and get their permission to run a church .... then fill out some more paperwork and have the government pay you to continue.

[John]

EXACTLY! Its a trap.

One long time Grafton woman, who fashions herself a Peaceful person because she is against foreign WARS, stopped at Peaceful Assembly Church and said to me, "So John, When are you going to file as a 501c3?"
When I said, "We're not," she looked perplexed and replied, "Then how are you going to get any grant money?"
Knowing that someone else had previously introduced and talked to her about the concept of "the gun in the room," I said, "We are not interested in taking any money which was taken from people at gun point."
She looked rather surprised and a bit uncomfortable to hear this and so I said, "You think you are against WAR because you are against internation WAR, but you appear to be OK with being at WAR with your neighbors."

She stopped coming to the church.
I'm thinking that she probably realizes that when we say "Peaceful Assembly Church is open to all Peaceful people," that she is really not quite ready for DOMESTIC Peace. Maybe in time. There is always hope.

[Russell Kanning]

for most people it is just assumed that you fill out that paperwork and start getting the goodies

[John]

Very sad, but very true.
Its also assumed that one should hire lawyers.

[John]

Posted at http://www.graftonforum.com/forum/index.php :

Subject: 8/6/11 - Government vs. Church - deadline passes

Government vs. Church

The 12 NOON, August 6, 2011 deadline threatened by town of Grafton (523-7700) for Peaceful Assembly Church (523-7111) to pay taxes - or else - has passed.

Peaceful Assembly Church continues to claim exemption.

Lawyer for town can very easily fix the error.The sooner this happens the easier it will be on everyone.
1 day has passed. Do 730 remain?
How long will it take?

Why do governments hate independent churches so much?

Peaceful Assembly Church remains open to all Peaceful people - Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, nothing-at-all, or something-in-between.
Peace & Metta.

PS - If you call either number, please try not to be nasty. (I've not heard the recording of any of the calls to another number, but I'm told more than one was less than civil. That's not necessary and its probably counterproductive.
Thanks.

[Russell Kanning]

When you call the town of Grafton, do they even know what you are talking about?

[John]

Our new flier:

]Peaceful Assembly Church
(Organized in Grafton, NH and Serving in the Upper Valley and beyond since 2010.)
We don't claim to have all the answers.
We are not trying to "convert" anyone.
We are open to all Peaceful people.
We want to lean from each other.

Hello friend,
   
   When we say we are open to all Peaceful people, we mean you - AND your ideas. We mean: Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Nothing-at-all, or Something-in-between.

   Our mission is simply to foster Peace as prescribed by God, and, if you have a different word or way of describing our Creator or your higher Power, that's OK. If you do not believe (or are not sure) there is one, that's OK also. We still can learn from each other. We always want to share ways to better and more Peacefully interact with our neighbors. There is Peace inside each individual.
   
   All major religions in the world claim to be Peaceful, and yet there are endless WARS all over the planet, and smaller WARS everywhere. WARS are generally supported by organized religious people and their governments. We want to see this change, and to better understand how we can change and how we were conditioned to going along with violence, we are currently recommending people read (or listen to for free online) Leo Tolstoy's "The Kingdom Of God Is Within You."

   Individuals don't generally control what happens around the world. We as individuals control ourselves. We control how we interact with our neighbors. When we sit as a JUROR we decide whether we will do direct violence against others by hitting them with fines and/or locking them into prisons. Every day, we make choices about how we treat the guy down the street, or the woman across the way, or the person who cuts us off in traffic. We might think about the Budha's teachings on compassion and Jesus's teaching regarding mercy. Forgiveness often leads to external as well as internal Peace. 
      
   Our faith/spiritual/bible/moral study every Sunday morning is open to EVERYONE who is Peaceful - including atheists/non-theists/agnostics/etc. so long as they are not here to hassle or harass.

   Peaceful Assembly Church is unincorporated and totally independent. We get ZERO money from any other church and, will NEVER take any money from local, state or federal governments. We have been mostly funded by the dwindling personal saving of Peaceful Assembly Church fonder (John Connell.) This will not last. We have received some small gifts. Any small or large voluntary donations to keep us going are appreciated.  Please help us help others - if you can.

May we all walk in Peace & Metta.

Please check us out at PeacefulAssemblyChurch.org (and on youtube and facebook.)

[Russell Kanning]

interesting
there are a couple of typos that you might have fixed in official versions

[John]

We want to lean from each other

When one guy pointed at this on the paper so as to bring it to my attention, I said; "Oh my! That was suppossed to say "on." 

[John]

While the spiritual mission of Peaceful Assembly Church (organized in Grafton, NH in two-0-one-0), to foster Peace as prescribed by God, and the personal message of Pastor/brother John Connell (born in NE, oh-so-many years ago) that we can all find Peace-through-Forgiveness continue to spread near and far; now Peaceful Assembly Church "flag" is also inspiring imitation.

Below is the first know imitation of Peaceful Assembly Church's "flag," the "new gadsden."  HOW COOL IS THIS?

As we each - as individuals - usher in the "New Beginning", the various versions of the Gadsden-flags-of-old, with their implied threats, demands, and personalization are being replaced with this new and quite-simple Call-to-Conscience; no demand, no implied threat, and the subtle message that we will find iner-Peace by giving and promoting outer-Peace.


The End is Over. Be the change!
Peace & Metta

[Alex Libman]

I respect the tactic of appealing to an oppressor's sense of pity - or, more likely, the pity of the public opinion at large, which all modern-day oppressors must take into account due to the economic benefits of keeping their serfs on a longer leash.  It hasn't worked very often in the past, but it likely will work in the future, because the world is increasingly driven by public opinion, and a dove is a lot more difficult to vilify than a snake.  A peaceful philosophy would be a very good complement to my "big idea", the tactic of creating public opinion pressure to allow Private Land Secession.

But this is the real world, and saying please will only get you so far.  We live in a gray reality of fractional probabilities.  Maybe you can be a white dove, but I can't.  I am a vulgar gray pigeon, and you do not want me in your flock.  I will never cease being gray.  I will never cease pursuing the Truth, in all its dehumanizing ugliness.  But I will always respect people who uphold the fantasy of humanity as a white dove, because that fantasy is beautiful.