I read with growing frustration as the IRS continues it's fishing expedition into a small Pasadena church (All Saints, a few thousand congregants) for a message delivered by Rev. George Regas. At the same time, ignoring the obviously over the top political comments of one of the largest "religious" organizations in America, James Dobsons "Focus on the Family"
Standing in the pulpit of All Saints Church in Pasadena, on Oct. 31, 2004, Regas said:
"Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. (snip) My hope is that you will take into that voting booth all that you know and have learned about Jesus."
Let me see: Love the neighbor? He who is without sin cast the first stone? All seems to be within religious doctrine to me. No mention of Dems or Repubs. Didnt tell anyone who to vote for.
Fast forward to 2006. Standing in Mellon Area in Pennsylvania, Dr. James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family (a tax exempt religious organization) spoke to his followers. The followiing is a summary of his general comments from CBS news. (He chose western Pennsylvania for his conference to prop us support for Senator Rick Santorum.)
"Standing before an enormous American flag in Mellon Arena, conservative evangelical activist James Dobson told thousands of supporters he was deeply disappointed in the nation's Republican leadership, but that the nation's future depended on re-electing them."
Can someone please tell me who REALLY is the one that needs to be investigated for advocacy from the pulpit? This is clear cut religious advocacy. What gives on this? Dobson, Robertson, Falwell, et al...... they all get a PASS. But when someone says from a pulpit that maybe WAR is a BAD thing, the IRS suddenly thinks that they are advocating a political point of view?
My personal feeling is that churches SHOULD pay taxes of some sort. After all, no matter what, they do have an opinion on issues. How can they not? And those opinions are protected by the 1st Amendment. James Dobson IS free to advocate whatever he wants...... as a private citizen. However, when I, as a tax payer, essentially subsidize his point of view, I feel that he should not be able to advocate a point of view in conflict with my opinion, and not pay taxes. His organization as well as the others mentioned, generate MILLIONS of dollars of revenue. They have media empires. This is not your corner church. Tax exempt status for churches has roots in the church being part of the fabric of local communities. Your corner church. These laws were before the days of mass media empires, such as the one controlled by Dobson.
If it is found that All Saints was guilty of politics, and as a result loses its tax exempt status, I am all for complete removal of all tax exempt status for all religious organizations. Christian. Muslim. Scientologist. They should all pay taxes just like the rest of us. Then and only then will we have a level playing field of public opinion.
Dobson in effect, is a relgious corporation. With his empire, his opinion runs over the top of nearly every smaller mom and pop church in the country, liberal or conservative. Dobson and his ilk are essentially nationalizing religion as a commodity to be sold to the highest political bidder. This my freinds, must stop. His views are out of sync with the vast majority of christians in this country, yet due to his size and undue political influence, he stands taller than all of us. Most other churches would rather spend thier money closer to home doing revolutionary things like...... helping the poor!! Dobson would rather spend it on Washington Lobbyists and conferences in basketball arenas to help sagging Senate Candidates. And I cant imagine Dobson flying coach. Someone needs to do some research on this kind of stuff and expose this quack for the fraud he is.
I say we bring all religious organizations to the same level. Make them all pay taxes on donations above 1 million dollars. It protects smaller churches and curtails the power of the larger empires. The days of the televangelist and relgious media empires must come to an end.