Oh damn, still in this dream.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-49017512

Wherein we find that some folk, despite being nominally Christian, don't appear to be aware of "Render unto Caesar" which deals with this case specifically. How detached from reality are Christians these days? And how ignorant of their own beliefs and scripture?

Or maybe these folk aren't actually Christians. Maybe they are just rather simple capitalists who want some sort of affiliation with what they imagine to be their cultural inheritance. Maybe they want inclusion in some structure that does not partake of "the other"; because that is often how we define ourselves.

But whatever their motivation happens to be, these folk appear to be heterodox. Christians render unto Caesar. Jesus is recorded as actually telling them to do so in all of the synoptic gospels; they were told to pay their taxes, and at a guess, looking at the wording and context, in full. But try telling some Christians that. The context of the Zealot's revolt against Roman taxation rather makes the case specific. But it does go to show just how far back we can document anger about taxes.

What do the modern Christians think about taxes?

I mean if Jesus said it directly (as with the Sermon on the Mount) surely even Pauline theology can't ignore the direct instruction Jesus gives.

Or maybe American Christianity can just redact those bits of Jesus's teachings it objects to.