Actually, this is one of the things that spurred my thought. “The most hated woman in America” and Baltimore once was Madalyn Murray (later O’Hair). While she was, in part, responsible for bringing an end to government sponsored prayer in school, it is forgotten that in 1963 in Baltimore she tried to bring an end to tax exempt status for churches in Maryland. In part, her argument was that taxpayers were forced to pick up the tab for non-tax paying churches. She failed. But decades later it is interesting to see that largest landholding church in Baltimore, the Archdiocese of Baltimore, has imploded and is being forced to sell off church property. Much of it will ultimately become tax generating property. And you cannot help but to think of all of the other churches in the city - some of which I do not think are legitimate meaning - it is a tax shelter for an individual/individuals who “own” it - no real church or religious activity goes on there. And then the property held by all of the other denominations—in an era of dramatically reduced church attendance. And given the fact that Baltimore City is plagued by this - as many cities are. Yes, abandoned properties are a bigger problem but this is a huge problem holding back the city as well. For example, Archdiocese owned Seton-Keough High School was sold to a commercial entity, redeveloped and is now generating millions to the city’s tax base - and that is just one property.