To the Editor, ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ I am writing to strongly protest Giles Howard’s column titled, ‘Taxes… To the Editor, ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ I am writing to strongly protest Giles Howard’s column titled, ‘Taxes should apply to churches.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Howard forgets that the constituents of the church are tax-paying citizens and that they pay every expense the church bears. They receive no federal funding, could never ask for a ‘bail-out’ and have no political position on any government regulatory board or position of office. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ A church is, in reality, a large group of citizens who share the same system of beliefs and are entitled to protest any movement of government or society in a peaceful manner just like any other citizen. Howard uses the term ‘institution’ in only the most superficial sense of the word ‘mdash; as a building sitting on a plot of land. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Moreover, Howard argues that a tax-exempt institution, such as a church, should be restricted from wielding political influence in the form of a protest. However, why should the very same church be forced by the government to conduct services such as gay marriages? I will say that I do not oppose gay marriage, but I find Howard’s arguments to be hypocritical and illogical. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Probably the most ignorant section of Howard’s article is the part that suggests organized religion serves little to no benefit to the nation-state in the United States and even less so than a museum or a library. It is difficult to begin to explain how idiotic that idea is. Howard needs to remind himself that this nation is grounded in strong religious ideologies. It is for this reason that the United States is so respectful and has produced so many remarkable achievements in public policy. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ I apologize if my response seems rushed. I didn’t budget much time in my day to respond to religious-insensitive individuals. I am too busy trying to exact a positive influence in society by developing methods to treat cardiovascular disease using stem cell therapies ‘mdash; and I’m Catholic! Can you believe it? ‘ Andrew Fisher Pitt Researcher