Is the Internal Revenue Service starting to police free speech in America? Has it, in this administration of cronies and corruption, become an arm of the White House, using tax law to squelch those who would question the president? The IRS pursuit of All Saints Church in Pasadena makes you wonder.
On Oct. 31, 2004, the Rev. George F. Regas, a retired rector of All Saints, returned to the pulpit to deliver a probing sermon on morality. He posed an imaginary debate between Jesus on one side and John F. Kerry and President Bush on the other. He described how the Jesus he knew from the Bible would have been saddened by the war in Iraq and the untended poverty in the United States.
He imagined Jesus saying, “Shame on those conservative politicians in the nation’s Congress and in state legislatures who have for years so proudly proclaimed their love for children when they were only fetuses but ignored their needs after they were born.” His Jesus rebuked President Bush, saying, “Your doctrine of pre-emptive war is a failed doctrine.” The Los Angeles Times reported his sermon as a “searing indictment” of the Bush policies on Iraq.
On June 9, after the election, the IRS sent an initial letter to the church, citing the newspaper article. This was part of some 60 inquiries launched by the IRS into churches after the 2004 election, about three times the historic average.
This is an era when Catholic priests and bishops are telling believers that it is a sin to vote for John Kerry or others who are pro-choice. The Christian Coalition has distributed millions of voter guides slanted against Democrats.
Yet there is no sign that the IRS is investigating right-wing churches. As Rev. J. Edwin Bacon Jr., rector of All Saints, asked, “I’m very interested to know whether the IRS is taking a look only at churches that are critical of the war in Iraq, or also at the churches that are supportive of the war and the president.”
The All Saints investigation raises a profound threat to speech in the United States. This is a president who employs religious language and often claims a mandate from above for his policies. The president says his favorite philosopher is Jesus. But his policies directly offend the teachings we have from Jesus. Most recently, the president has vowed to issue his first veto in office to stop legislators from reviving the Army’s standards against torture.
It is vital that the IRS hear from religious and secular leaders. The church cannot turn its back on the society around it. And this country doesn’t need an inquisition run by the IRS.