Thread: Pasadena Church Won't Yield to IRS

Ok, I see...churches that aid and abeit illegals are ok. They are actively doing what corporations are doing (get that membership up so they can get more money) and that is ok? I'm not saying all of them. I am saying the ones that get in your face about this. Our nation is one of laws and God given rights. Without rules there is chaos. Without morality there is llawlessness. I may not go to church but that does not mean I do not believe!

Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/

Pasadena Church Won't Yield to IRS
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-09 ... oll=la-hom
e-headlines

From Associated Press

September 21, 2006

The leaders of a Pasadena church battling the IRS over a sermon critical of the
Bush administration delivered before the 2004 presidential election voted
unanimously today to resist an order to turn over documents related to the case,
the congregation's senior warden told The Associated Press.

"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 issues here that we see as an
intolerable infringement of rights," said Bob Long, senior warden of All Saints
Church.

The 3,500-member Episcopal congregation, which could lose its tax exempt status
over the dispute, scheduled a news conference for 2:30 p.m. to formally announce
the unanimous vote of its vestry.

The 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. The judge
would then rule on the validity of the agency's demands.

Terry Lemons, a spokesman for the IRS, did not immediately return a call for
comment. IRS officials have said they cannot comment on specific cases.

According to the IRS, the only church ever to be stripped of its tax-exempt
status for partisan politicking was the Church at Pierce Creek near Binghamton,
N.Y., which was penalized in 1995 after running full-page ads against President
Clinton in USA Today and The Washington Times in 1992 during election season.

Under federal tax law, church officials can legally discuss politics, but to
retain tax-exempt status they cannot endorse candidates or parties. Most who do
so receive a warning.

The IRS, however, has promised tougher enforcement of the law during this year's
mid-term elections and in the 2008 election cycle.

The agency completed investigations of 90 tax-exempt churches and charities in
2004 and found wrongdoing in 70 percent of the cases. Four -- none of them
churches -- lost their tax-exempt status. In 2005, the agency began audits of 70
churches and charities and has 40 cases pending so far this year.

The dispute with All Saints centers on a sermon titled "If Jesus Debated Senator
Kerry and President Bush" that was delivered by guest pastor Rev. George Regas
just two days before the 2004 election. Though he did not endorse either
President Bush or Sen. John Kerry, he said Jesus would condemn the Iraq war and
Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive war.

"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,"' Regas said, according to
a transcript.

The IRS reprimanded the church in June 2005 and asked that it promise to be more
careful. Church officials refused.

Last week, the IRS demanded documents and an interview with the rector by the
end of the month.

Today, the church's 26-member vestry voted unanimously to resist those demands,
Long said.

voted unanimously today to resist an order to turn over documents related to the case, the congregation's senior warden told The Associated Press.

The IRS laws are written by the federal government so why don't federal marshalls get a warrant and force their way into the church and obtain the files they are looking for?

While they are at it, they should take a trip to Los Angeles and arrest Cardinal Mahoney(sp?) for aiding and abetting illegal immigrants. Once that's done, take a trip to Chicago and arrest that dude harboring Elvira (or whatever her name is). I'm getting sick, sick, sick, of the lawlessness that is being tolerated in the name of political correctness!

Let's start acting like the rule of law actually means something in this country.

Just curious... Is there some sort of ongoing cooperation between the Episcopal Church and the illegal alien community? I thought that most illegals were Catholic, but I have been noticing little Episcopal shield stickers on the windows of illegal alien friendly businesses. In case you are unfamiliar, it looks like this: