ARE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S SURROGATES GOING AFTER CHURCHES THAT DISAGREE?

While listening to NPR's afternoon news programme All Things Considered Tuesday on the way home from work, I heard a disturbing report about how the Internal Revenue Service is considering revoking the tax exempt status for a Southern California church (click to listen to the report) because of a sermon delivered just before last year's presidential election.

All Saints' Episcopal Church of Pasadena is known as one of the largest and most liberal congregations in Southern California. In 1987 the congregation declared itself as a "Peace and Justice Church", stating that All Saints' would be a place where "the most pressing and most difficult issues relating to peace and justice are addressed".

Reverand George F. Regas, who for nearly 30 years served as the church's rector, has spoken in his sermons against the Vietnam and Gulf wars. He was a guest celebrant and gave the sermon during a service on October 31, 2004, two days before the presidential election. The message, entitled "If Jesus Debated Senator Kerry and President Bush", did not endorse either candidate, but was strongly worded against our current engagement in Iraq as well as speaking out against poverty and in favour of a woman's right to choose on the issue of abortion. Rev. Regas also described both Bush and Kerry as "...devout Christians". You can hear it yourself (MP3 file courtesy Los Angeles Times).

Apparantly the sermon got some attention in Washington, DC. Seven months after the service, on June 9, All Saints' received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service which stated that "a reasonable belief exists that you may not be tax exempt as a church..." As you all know, churches and other tax-exempt organizations are prohibited from endorsing a candidate for public office or intervening in political campaigns and elections. The letter said that "our concerns are based on a November 1, 2004 newspaper article in the Los Angeles Times and a sermon presented at the All Saints' Church discussed in the article".

In it's response, All Saints' included copies of it's policies as well as all literature given out prior to the election and transcripts of the sermon.

The church was offered a deal during a face-to-face meeting in which the IRS would not pursue an examination of it's tax-exempt status if it admitted wrongdoing by intervening in an election. Needless to say, All Saints' declined the offer. The current rector of All Saints', Rev. J. Edwin Bacon, informed his congregation of the IRS issue last Sunday during the Sunday Requiem Eucharist as his guest celebrant, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize reciepent Archbishop Desmond Tutu, looked on.

I don't mind any minister preaching on what they consider moral issues. War, poverty, and a woman's right to choose are not only political issues, but moral ones as well. I fully agree that churches should not actively endorse candidates for public office or attempt to influence the outcome of an election. But anyone who reads the transcript of the sermon will clearly see that while Rev. Regas decried against what turns out to be some of the shortcomings of the current administration, he did not endorse or favour one candidate over another. Compare that to what Jerry Falwell does in the pulpit at Thomas Road Baptist Church, or what some of our local pastors likely do on Sunday mornings as an election approaches.

The IRS's behaviour in this case is shameful, and reeks of political persecution.

You can read a transcript of the sermon, as well as the IRS letter to All Saints' and it's response and the Peace and Justice proclamation by clicking on the links from the church's page.