IRS Threates Church in Pasadena

Yesterday's LA Times ran this story about an IRS probe at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. That's pretty close to home here in LA. Apparently last year the Rev. George Regas' preached a sermon in which he was critical of the Iraq war based on the teachings of Jesus. The article claims he was just as hard on Kerry (then running for president against GW Bush) as he was on Bush. Now it comes out in today's paper that this investigation is part of a wider probe on the part of the IRS. You can read this follow up story here. Now conservative groups, like National Association of Evangelicals, are joining the call for the IRS to back off. This is an interesting case that is likely to create bigger waves. Remember that last fall a young pastor resigned under pressure when he apparently told his congregation that if they voted for John Kerry they had better question their membership in the church (not en exact quote, but something like that). Several members told the pastor that they did, in fact, vote for Kerry and they were removed from membership. This type of behavior is actually a violation of IRS law which states that non-profits cannot support particular political campaigns. However, a sermon on the fact that Jesus taught non-violence is another story.

Comments

[Doug Morgan]

Rick Warren, on the Lehrer News Hour just after the '04 election, referred, if I recall correctly, with satisfaction to his e-mail newsletter that went out to hundreds of thousands of pastors, identifying the issues upon which Christians should place the highest priority as they go to the polls: gay marriage, abortion, etc. which of course would mean a vote for Bush. Perhaps his e-mailing comes under a "for profit" enterprise, but I suspect not. He should be perfectly free to send out that kind of message as leader of a non-profit. Under the standard applied to the LA liberals, though, it appears that he would be in deep trouble.

[Ryan Bell]

There was an also an interesting letter to the editor in the LA Times today. The writer observed that right next to the article about the Pasadena church being investigated by the IRS appeared another article about churches passing out flyers this Sunday in support of Prop 73 (requiring girls under 18 to notify their parents before an abortion). She wondered if all those churches will now be investigated.