IRS STICKS NOSE INTO "HORNET'S NEST"
- From: KEBSCHULLW@xxxxxxx
- Date: 19 Dec 2005 14:28:27 -0800
Looks like IRS has done the near impossible. They have managed to
unite Congressional Democrats and Republicans with a common purpose.
There is more at the Churches website.
Cheers,
WDK
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Contact: Rebecca Kutler (202) 225-4176
Schiff Calls for GAO Investigation of IRS
All Saints Church in Pasadena Targeted After Sermon
WASHINGTON, DC - Earlier today, Congressman Adam Schiff called for a
Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation of the IRS
practices regarding the tax-exempt status of churches and other houses
of worship. Following news reports that All Saints Episcopal Church in
Pasadena was under investigation after an anti-war sermon that was
given by Rev. George Regas in 2004, Rep. Schiff requested a report from
the IRS on its practices. He has now joined with two other members in a
bipartisan request for a formal GAO investigation.
"While the federal tax code prohibits tax-exempt organizations,
including churches, from intervening in political campaigns and
elections, the faith community has every right to express itself on the
major issues of the day. An overzealous IRS must not be permitted to
chill the speech of the nation's clergy on matters of such great
importance as war and peace," said Schiff.
The letter asks for an investigation that provides:
· Details regarding any IRS inquiries of tax-exempt organizations
alleging political campaign activity that have been initiated in the
last five years, including a detailed account of the allegedly
objectionable content or acts.
· An analysis of the genesis or source of each IRS inquiry alleging
improper activity in this area.
· An analysis of the final resolution of each such IRS inquiry,
including a determination of whether such tax-exempt organizations
admitted wrongdoing in order to settle the matter with the IRS.
Congressmen Walter Jones (R-NC) and Joseph Pitts (R-PA) also signed the
letter. GAO is an independent, non-partisan agency that is commonly
called the "investigative arm of Congress."
*************************************
Antiwar Sermon Brings IRS Warning
All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena risks losing its tax-exempt
status because of a former rector's remarks in 2004.
By Patricia Ward Biederman and Jason Felch
Times Staff Writers
November 7, 2005
The Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California's
largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its
tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004
presidential election.
Rector J. Edwin Bacon of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena told
many congregants during morning services Sunday that a guest sermon by
the church's former rector, the Rev. George F. Regas, on Oct. 31, 2004,
had prompted a letter from the IRS.
In his sermon, Regas, who from the pulpit opposed both the Vietnam War
and 1991's Gulf War, imagined Jesus participating in a political debate
with then-candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry. Regas said that
"good people of profound faith" could vote for either man, and did not
tell parishioners whom to support.
But he criticized the war in Iraq, saying that Jesus would have told
Bush, "Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed
doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no
imminent threat has led to disaster."
On June 9, the church received a letter from the IRS stating that "a
reasonable belief exists that you may not be tax-exempt as a church ...
" The federal tax code prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including
churches, from intervening in political campaigns and elections.
The letter went on to say that "our concerns are based on a Nov. 1,
2004, newspaper article in the Los Angeles Times and a sermon presented
at the All Saints Church discussed in the article."
The IRS cited The Times story's description of the sermon as a "searing
indictment of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq" and noted
that the sermon described "tax cuts as inimical to the values of
Jesus."
As Bacon spoke, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
a co-celebrant of Sunday's Requiem Eucharist, looked on.
"We are so careful at our church never to endorse a candidate," Bacon
said in a later interview.
"One of the strongest sermons I've ever given was against President
Clinton's fraying of the social safety net."
Telephone calls to IRS officials in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles
were not returned.
On a day when churches throughout California took stands on both sides
of Proposition 73, which would bar abortions for minors unless parents
are notified, some at All Saints feared the politically active church
had been singled out.
"I think obviously we were a bit shocked and dismayed," said Bob Long,
senior warden for the church's oversight board. "We felt somewhat
targeted."
Bacon said the church had retained the services of a Washington law
firm with expertise in tax-exempt organizations.
And he told the congregation: "It's important for everyone to
understand that the IRS concerns are not supported by the facts."
After the initial inquiry, the church provided the IRS with a copy of
all literature given out before the election and copies of its
policies, Bacon said.
But the IRS recently informed the church that it was not satisfied by
those materials, and would proceed with a formal examination. Soon
after that, church officials decided to inform the congregation about
the dispute.
In an October letter to the IRS, Marcus Owens, the church's tax
attorney and a former head of the IRS tax-exempt section, said, "It
seems ludicrous to suggest that a pastor cannot preach about the value
of promoting peace simply because the nation happens to be at war
during an election season."
Owens said that an IRS audit team had recently offered the church a
settlement during a face-to-face meeting.
"They said if there was a confession of wrongdoing, they would not
proceed to the exam stage. They would be willing not to revoke
tax-exempt status if the church admitted intervening in an election."
The church declined the offer.
Long said Bacon "is fond of saying it's a sin not to vote, but has
never told anyone how to vote. We don't do that. We preach to people
how to vote their values, the biblical principles."
Regas, who was rector of All Saints from 1967 to 1995, said in an
interview that he was surprised by the IRS action "and then I became
suspicious, suspicious that they were going after a progressive church
person."
Regas helped the current church leadership collect information for the
IRS on his sermon and the church's policies on involvement in political
campaigns.
Some congregants were upset that a sermon citing Jesus Christ's
championing of peace and the poor was the occasion for an IRS probe.
"I'm appalled," said 70-year-old Anne Thompson of Altadena, a
professional singer who also makes vestments for the church.
"In a government that leans so heavily on religious values, that they
would pull a stunt like this, it makes me heartsick."
Joe Mirando, an engineer from Burbank, questioned whether the
3,500-member church would be under scrutiny if it were not known for
its activism and its liberal stands on social issues.
"The question is, is it politically motivated?" he said. "That's the
underlying feeling of everyone here. I don't have enough information to
make a decision, but there's a suspicion."
Bacon revealed the IRS investigation at both morning services. Until
his announcement, the mood of the congregation had been solemn because
the services remembered, by name, those associated with the church who
had died since last All Saints Day.
Regas' 2004 sermon imagined how Jesus would admonish Bush and Kerry if
he debated them. Regas never urged parishioners to vote for one
candidate over the other, but he did say that he believes Jesus would
oppose the war in Iraq, and that Jesus would be saddened by Bush's
positions on the use and testing of nuclear weapons.
In the sermon, Regas said, "President Bush has led us into war with
Iraq as a response to terrorism. Yet I believe Jesus would say to Bush
and Kerry: 'War is itself the most extreme form of terrorism. President
Bush, you have not made dramatically clear what have been the human
consequences of the war in Iraq.' "
Later, he had Jesus confront both Kerry and Bush: "I will tell you what
I think of your war: The sin at the heart of this war against Iraq is
your belief that an American life is of more value than an Iraqi life.
That an American child is more precious than an Iraqi baby. God loathes
war."
If Jesus debated Bush and Kerry, Regas said, he would say to them, "Why
is so little mentioned about the poor?''
In his own voice, Regas said: ''The religious right has drowned out
everyone else. Now the faith of Jesus has come to be known as pro-rich,
pro-war and pro-American.... I'm not pro-abortion, but pro-choice.
There is something vicious and violent about coercing a woman to carry
to term an unwanted child."
When you go into the voting booth, Regas told the congregation, "take
with you all that you know about Jesus, the peacemaker. Take all that
Jesus means to you. Then vote your deepest values."
Owens, the tax attorney, said he was surprised that the IRS is pursuing
the case despite explicit statements by Regas that he was not trying to
influence the congregation's vote.
"I doubt it's politically motivated," Owens said. ""I think it is more
a case of senior management at IRS not paying attention to what the
rules are."
According to Owens, six years ago the IRS used to send about 20 such
letters to churches a year. That number has increased sharply because
of the agency's recent delegation of audit authority to agents on the
front lines, he said.
He knew of two other churches, both critical of government policies,
that had received similar letters, Owens said.
It's unclear how often the IRS raises questions about the tax-exempt
status of churches.
While such action is rare, the IRS has at least once revoked the
charitable designation of a church.
Shortly before the 1992 presidential election, a church in Binghamton,
N.Y., ran advertisements against Bill Clinton's candidacy, and the tax
agency ruled that the congregation could not retain its tax-exempt
status because it had intervened in an election.
Bacon said he thought the IRS would eventually drop its case against
All Saints.
"It is a social action church, but not a politically partisan church,"
he said.
.
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