IRS v. God

When confronted by tough choices, Christian churches and youth groups across the United States often look to one simple question for guidance: What Would Jesus Do? That’s exactly what a former pastor of Pasadena’s All Saints Episcopal Church asked his congregation back in 2004. Only the issues he was concerned with aren’t typical sermon fodder in America (premarital sex, career choices, neighborhood relations); this pastor was talking about the death and destruction caused by a U.S.-led war. In a sermon titled “If Jesus Debated Senator Kerry and President Bush,” guest pastor Rev. George Regas, without endorsing either candidate, asked churchgoers, “What might Jesus say about preemptive wars like the Iraq War?”

According to the IRS, Jesus would keep his mouth shut. In 2005, the IRS reprimanded All Saints, asking the church to be more careful about its political speech. The church refused. This week, the IRS stepped the dispute up a notch, asking the leaders of the 3,500-member church to turn over all documents related to the case. The church has again refused, asking instead that courts decide whether the investigation is an infringement on their First Amendment rights. The confrontation could lead to All Saints losing its tax-exempt status.

Even though the Bush administration has seen fit to erode many civil rights in this country, their constitutional bulldozing has largely steered clear of the religious rights of white, Christian Americans, until now. This investigation into All Saints for asking tough moral questions is nothing short of intimidation. There are countless ways in which religion has been inappropriately, and illegally, injected into our political life since the Bush administration started running Washington; this is not one of them. The IRS says it has 50 similar cases pending and will be tougher on institutions as the mid-term elections approach. The investigation in Pasadena serves as a warning to religious communities everywhere that they better stay away from real moral issues and stick with those core values. Like premarital sex.