The IRS has threatened to revoke the tax-free status of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA for antiwar remarks in a sermon that was also published in newspapers. Should the IRS be allowed to decide when a statement is political action rather than social action? Is this action of the IRS politically motivated? If the IRS is not acting politically then we should expect the IRS to admonish the churches responsible for the recent attack on Bush for his Miers nomination. I don’t suggest that anybody hold their breath until this happens. Should we expect the IRS to threaten any of the conservative churches for their pro-war, anti-Kerry rhetoric prior to the 2004 election? If Kerry had been elected would the IRS be threatening the All Saints Episcopal Church? Of course it wouldn’t. However, would the IRS be re-evaluating the tax-free status of equally outspoken conservative, pro-war, anti-Kerry churches. Perhaps. Is not a politician by any other name still a politician?
The speaker, Reverend George F. Regas, a past rector of the church, admonished Bush for the war but did not advise who to vote for in the 2004 election. However, the reverend took the liberty to speak for Jesus in a hypothetical debate with Bush and Kerry. Regas made the following statements, "Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster" and "I will tell you what I think of your war: The sin at the heart of this war against Iraq is your belief that an American life is of more value than an Iraqi life. That an American child is more precious than an Iraqi baby. God loathes war."
Reverend Regas obviously overlooks the holocaust against the Kurds and the murders of another 300,000 Iraqis that had opposed Saddam throughout his dictatorship. This war is being fought FOR the Iraqi people not AGAINST the Iraqi people.
The question often posed to me is “why should OUR children die in Iraq?” Is an American life worth more than an Iraqi life? Aren’t we fighting against the enslavement and murder of other humans? Aren’t we all equal citizens of this earth?
