A liberal church that has been threatened with the loss of its tax-exempt status over an anti-war sermon delivered just days before the 2004 presidential election said Thursday it will fight an IRS order to turn over documents on the matter.
"We’re going to put it in their court and in a court of law so that we can get an adjudication to some very fundamental issue here that we see as an intolerable infringement of rights," Bob Long, senior warden of All Saints Church, told The Associated Press.
He said the church’s 26-member vestry voted unanimously to resist IRS demands for documents and an interview with the congregation’s rector by the end of the month.
The church’s action sets up a high-profile confrontation between the church and the IRS, which now must decide whether to ask for a hearing before a judge, who would then decide on the validity of the agency’s demands.
Interesting. An Episcopal Church in California had a sermon against the War in Iraq, and it’s being threatened with losing its tax-exempt status for being "political" [As noted above, it’s deemed to be a "liberal" church].
Standing before an enormous American flag in Mellon Arena, conservative evangelical activist James Dobson told thousands of supporters he was deeply disappointed in the nation’s Republican leadership, but that the nation’s future depended on re-electing them.
However, he said, "This country is at a crisis point. Whether or not the Republicans deserve the power they were given, the alternatives are downright frightening."
Dr. Dobson, who has built an enormous following in three decades as a Christian radio psychologist, is renowned for his ability to turn out the conservative "values voters" who tipped the last election.
Although tax law forbids Dr. Dobson’s Focus On The Family Action, the nonprofit organization that sponsored the rally, to endorse candidates, organizers said that last night’s Stand for the Family Rally was held in Pennsylvania because of its high-profile U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Rick Santorum and Democratic challenger Bob Casey. Issue guides being distributed last night clearly favored Mr. Santorum. So Dr. Dobson’s warning shot across the bow of the Republican Party was unexpected.…
But, he asked his audience to consider what would happen if Republicans lost control of key committees on education, the judiciary, and especially, the armed forces."We are at war in this country with an enemy who wants to destroy us," he said. He stressed that only a small minority of Muslims believe that their faith justifies violence, "but let’s say 4 percent of Muslims want to kill us … . That’s 48 million people who want to bring us to our knees."
He compared those who want to negotiate their way out of crises in the Middle East to Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who sought to appease Adolph Hitler prior to World War II.
I suppose there might be a logical explanation for this difference that doesn’t have to do with which side of the political fence these people live on, but right now, I can’t for the life of me think of what it might be…
This reminds me of the Catholic bishops who not only supported Bush in 2004, but who told their parishioners they would have to confess if they sinned and voted for John Kerry. Here is the opening of the article about this in the New York Times, followed by the link.
Group of Bishops Using Influence to Oppose Kerry
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: October 12, 2004
DENVER, Oct. 9 – For Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate in Colorado, there is only one way for a faithful Catholic to vote in this presidential election, for President Bush and against Senator John Kerry.
“The church says abortion is a foundational issue,” the archbishop explained to a group of Catholic college students gathered in a sports bar here in this swing state on Friday night. He stopped short of telling them whom to vote for, but he reminded them of Mr. Kerry’s support for abortion rights. And he pointed out the potential impact his re-election could have on Roe v. Wade.
“Supreme Court cases can be overturned, right?” he asked.
Archbishop Chaput, who has never explicitly endorsed a candidate, is part of a group of bishops intent on throwing the weight of the church into the elections.
Galvanized by battles against same-sex marriage and stem cell research and alarmed at the prospect of a President Kerry – who is Catholic but supports abortion rights – these bishops and like-minded Catholic groups are blanketing churches with guides identifying abortion, gay marriage and the stem cell debate as among a handful of “non-negotiable issues.”
To the dismay of liberal Catholics and some other bishops, traditional church concerns about the death penalty or war are often not mentioned.
Archbishop Chaput has discussed Catholic priorities in the election in 14 of his 28 columns in the free diocesan newspaper this year. His archdiocese has organized voter registration drives in more than 40 of the largest parishes in the state and sent voter guides to churches around the state. Many have committees to help turn out voters and are distributing applications for absentee ballots.
In an interview in his residence here, Archbishop Chaput said a vote for a candidate like Mr. Kerry who supports abortion rights or embryonic stem cell research would be a sin that must be confessed before receiving Communion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/12/politics/campaign/12catholics.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=a9a03da961c44224&ex=1159416000