Church, congregant, minister, religious order

Definition: As used herein, the words “church,” "congregant," and “minister” (not capitalized) are used generically to refer to church-like Organizations whose congregant-like members engage minister-like Individuals. An ethical society, for example, where congregants employ a Leader who is an atheist or agnostic as their minister, is nevertheless a church. As used herein, "religious order" (not capitalized) refers to an Organization of Persons who make solemn promises to live according to the Organization's laws, rules, and regulations and those of a specific church that authorized the establishment and continuation of said Organization. ==== DAN: work on the following: Please see the following two commentaries - Commentary about the institutional Aspects of churches and ministers The CG adopts the words "church," "congregant" and "minister" in imitation of the United States Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRC and IRS use these words to refer not only to Christian churches but also to Jewish synagogues, Muslim mosques, Hindu temples, and other church-like organizations including ethical societies whose members typically are atheists or agnostics. Thus, belief in God is not a requirement to enjoy the “blessings” of tax savings and other protections of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. See: http://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Churches-&-Religious-Organizations Commentary about God, after-life, religious Belief and so on Many users of the CG are church-going people who Believe in God's existence. They Believe in the Four Last Things, for example. However, in general, these topics are outside the scope of the CG and the question that church-going people might ask is why are they kept outside the CG? It is the Judgment of the CG editors that the degree of Social Fragmentation presently in the United States and in many other countries, such as those in Europe, precludes Adequate Belief in religious matters that, in turn, would be Adequate to sustain churches and ministers, in general. (The collapse of church attendance in Europe and its gradual decline in the United States supports this Proposition.) See Wikipedia article, Church Attendance.) Therefore, the CG editors have made the Judgment to concentrate on developing and sustaining Social Cohesion and leave it to individual 72-Groups and American Conversation Groups what, if anything, to do about religious matters.