wfn.org | [ENS] IRS warning follows antiwar sermon;

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Monday, November 07, 2005

IRS warning follows antiwar sermon; Pasadena parish refutes charges

ENS 110705-1

[ENS, Los Angeles] Warned that its tax-exempt status faces IRS examination
after a 2004 anti-war sermon, All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena,
California, refuted the charges in announcements to the congregation
during November 6 Sunday services, and a news release (text follows).

The Los Angeles Times carries a further report in its November 7 editions.

Full text of parish news release:

All Saints Church of Pasadena, California, notified by the IRS that it
intends to conduct an examination for possible violation of its non-profit
status, denies that any regulations were broken, and affirms its First
Amendment freedoms of speech and religion.

The IRS cited a sermon delivered by a guest preacher on October 31, 2004,
the Sunday before the 2004 Presidential election, and a local newspaper
story the following day reporting on the sermon, as evidence that an
inquiry was warranted. The IRS has alleged that the sermon may have
contained "implicit" intervention in the 2004 Presidential election
because it contained references to the two candidates' positions on
certain moral issues, and it reminded the congregation the need to
consider their values when voting..

All Saints Church's rector, J. Edwin Bacon, said, "We've broken no rules.
The IRS's concerns are unsupported by the facts. They also infringe on
religious freedom and freedom of speech, and threaten core values which
the congregations holds dear. The sermon explicitly ended with "when you
go into the voting booth on Tuesday, take with you all that you know about
Jesus, the peacemaker. Take all that Jesus means to you. Then vote your
deepest values." We have a diligently enforced policy against campaign
intervention and will continue to maintain our nonpartisan stance with
commitment and integrity.

"We take pride in our long history of active involvement in the community
and in our steadfast and theologically-based commitment to alleviate
poverty and promote peace, equality and social justice. From this
commitment, All Saints Church cannot and will not waiver."

Federal tax law prohibits campaign intervention by organizations,
including churches, that are exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code. If proven, a single violation may be punishable
by both an excise tax on political expenditures and revocation of an
organization's tax-exempt status.

"I don't believe the law requires us to mandate that a preacher's sermons
may not discuss core moral values during worship," said the Rev. Bacon.
"Teaching moral values is, after all, one of the Church's main functions,
and to suggest that a preacher may not preach about the value of promoting
peace simply because the nation happens to be at war during an election
is in fact an affront to all who have given their lives to preserve just
these liberties.

"The moral values expressed in this sermon include profound but simple
truths that reflect our faith, and Church members should be able to
acknowledge that without threatening the Church's legal status. Jesus
said: 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the Children
of God,' and we strive prayerfully to make this a part of our everyday
lives."

Marcus Owens, tax counsel to the Church, member in Caplin &
Drysdale's Washington, D.C office, and former director of the IRS
Exempt Organizations Division, adds, "the IRS's concerns are based
on a subjective determination that the guest preacher was implicitly
opposing one candidate while endorsing another. Apparently, the Service
has disregarded the fact that the guest preacher explicitly stated at
the sermon's outset, 'I don't intend to tell you how to vote.' "

The sermon at issue, entitled "If Jesus Debated Senator Kerry and
President Bush," was delivered by the Rev. Dr. George Regas, 75, who
retired as rector of All Saints Church in 1995. Regas made it clear that
he was expressing his personal opinons, though his sermon reflected core
beliefs held by members of All Saints Church regarding the immorality
and sin of war.

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