By Lee Cullum, KERA 90.1 Commentator
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-491729.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Last week I heard a bright young intellectual proclaim the death of secularism. That came as a shock to me, but it also set me to thinking about American politics, American religion and the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS is on the rampage at the moment, investigating All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, because George Regas, a senior priest, gave a sermon before election day last year in which he urged members of the congregation to vote according to their deepest beliefs, especially on issues of war and peace. Unfortunately the Los Angeles Times covered the sermon and called it a searing attack on George W. Bush and the war in Iraq.
There is no question that All Saints is a liberal church with a long history of opposing war. There is no question either that Father Regas was far more critical of Bush than of John Kerry when he imagined a debate between each of them and Jesus Christ. His mistake was mentioning the names of any candidates at all so close to the election even though he said at the outset that he wasn't trying to tell anybody how to vote.
The law permits religious and other non-profit organizations to involve themselves in causes but not candidates. This means that voter registration drives at many evangelical churches last year probably were legal. Even so, Ted Haggard, head of the 30-million member National Association of Evangelicals, immediately came to the aid of All Saints, according to the L.A. Times. He could see where the IRS might go next if ever there is a Democratic president who wants to ratchet up this war of nerves. Haggard himself supports the war in Iraq, but he understands the principle at stake.
The IRS relied on press reports and tips from interested individuals and groups, which is a little frightening, to identify 100 non-profit institutions that crossed over the line politically in 2004. About 60 were selected for fuller examination, and around one-third of those were churches. Is this the best use of tax-payer dollars? And what was the political tilt of those identified?
Walter Jones, a Republican congressman from North Carolina, has introduced a bill that would allow pastors to endorse candidates without jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of their churches. But there is no need for this. What is needed is some sensible restraint on the part of the IRS. African-American churches have long been a center of quasi-political activity. So are many evangelical churches today. If All Saints got into the act, however briefly and obliquely, how horrible is that?
The IRS has told the leaders of All Saints that if they would admit they were wrong, all would be forgiven. But this All Saints refuse to do, and the church is right. As the rector, Edwin Bacon, said, if allowed to stand, this attack by the IRS would "mean that a preacher cannot speak boldly about the core values of his or her faith community without fear of government recrimination."
It's fine to be strictly legal, but in the case of religion, it's more important to be wise. The IRS should back off, and let the death of secularism settle into something that works within the framework of separation of church and state.
Lee Cullum is a contributor to the Dallas Morning News and to KERA.
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