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September 21, 2006
Love of Neighbor is Never Neutral
by Jesus Politics
Rev. Ed Bacon of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California recently preached a sermon reflecting on the news that his church appears to be in some kind of trouble with the IRS. The sermon has been posted online and it is worth a read. Some excerpts:
During this next week, we will decide which course of action we will now take. One option is to present the documents and myself for testimony as the summonses dictate. On the other hand we may choose respectfully to inform the IRS that we intend not to comply with these summonses. It would then be up to the IRS to decide to take this matter into the U.S. judicial system for a hearing and ruling on whether or not the courts would enforce the summonses. A courtroom would provide a venue in the halls of justice for us to make our argument. Our argument is that there is no objective basis for the IRS to have a reasonable belief that we have indeed participated in campaign intervention. Furthermore, we would argue that this entire case has been an intrusion, in fact an attack upon this church’s First Amendment rights to the exercise of freedom of religion and freedom of speech. [ ]
With those legal details noted I want now to address what I see at stake in our religious and political lives as a result of this latest IRS action. The current administration of the IRS apparently thinks that religious organizations should stay neutral when political issues are concerned. What that thinking totally misses is that we do not have a choice about whether or not to be neutral in the face of dehumanization, injustice and violence. Our faith mandates that, always stopping short of endorsing or opposing political candidates, the church can neither be silent nor indifferent when there are public policies causing detriment to the least of these.
History is shamefully littered with the moral bankruptcy of people who were Christian in name but not behavior, who were silent or indifferent or neutral in the face of dehumanizing and destructive public policies. We remember Christians who would own slaves, expecting them to have the Sunday meal prepared when they returned from church. We remember Christians who would go to Easter services not far from death camps, brushing the ashes off their Easter finery to enter churches where their pulpits were silent in the face of the Holocaust. Neutrality and silence in the face of oppression always aid the oppressors.
Neutrality, silence and indifference are not an option for us. We must express our conscience in word and in deed or we will lose our soul in addition to losing our way. If the IRS is successful in chilling the voices in American pulpits and houses of worship, religion in America will lose all relevance and moral authority and offer nothing but impotence in the face of this war of aggression in Iraq, the genocide in Darfur, the explosive growth of terrorism, the violence of occupations in Palestine and Iraq, the global AIDS pandemic, the death of one child every three seconds in the world due to disease and poverty, torture in secret detainee camps, the shredding of the Geneva Conventions, bigotry based on race, religion, gender and sexual orientation, underfunded public education, and the growth in poverty. Every human life is sacred: Iraqi, Iranian, Palestinian, Sudanese, North Korea, Israeli, Lebanese and American, and American pulpits must not cower from speaking truth to power, including any and every expression of imperial American exceptionalism that through policy and practice values American life above other life. All life is sacred to God.
For pulpits in the USA to become even more neutral than they already are will make religion even more of a problem than it is already. Jesus proclaimed that religion too frequently is not a part of the solution. Too often religion is not only a part of the problem. It is the problem. Jesus said that religious institutions can become like salt that has lost its flavor. It’s only good then is to be thrown away.
The Book of Revelation (Chapter 3) speaks of the Church of Laodicea that had become so bland, so ineffectual, so callous to human suffering, so cowering before the saber rattling of the empire of the day, so lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, that God said, “I will spew you out of my mouth.” That is exactly what happens to churches and other faith communities that do not stand up, speak up and act up when human beings are not treated with the dignity and honor due those who bear the image of God. The fundamental commandment that pulsates at the core of our being is a threefold love: to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Love of neighbor is never neutral.
Posted by Jesus Politics at September 21, 2006 06:03 AM
Comments
Although I disagree with some of All Saints Episcopal's beliefs, I defend their right to stand up for what they believe in. The IRS should leave them, and every other chuch in America, alone and use its resources for legitimate purposes.
Tax exemption is a snare to churches. We must be free to express our beliefs without being threatened by the government.
Posted by: Gary at September 21, 2006 01:31 PM
Express your beliefs, or force them down the throats of everyone around you??? Coerce people to follow YOUR ideas of Christianity? That may not be the stated goals of fundamentalist churches, but it is the goal anyway. I said on another thread that we're called to be a light, and NOT a flamethrower. Christians are supposed to lead by example, and not by coercion.
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I find it ironic that the IRS seems to be unwilling to go after groups that are WRONGLY using the church to advocate one political party over another (well documented Conservative Republican activity), yet they jump on a church that has publically stood against the foolish, evil, and sinful war in Iraq.
Bush has a major evil to answer for in that one.
Why don't they go after the conservative churches who publically support and advocate for the war in Iraq? That is far worse than advocating for peace, or decrying the lies, hypocracy, and just plain EVIL of the Iraq conquest and occupation.
Posted by: Bob Bowers at September 21, 2006 03:55 PM
Gary: Sounds like you are as much of an advocate of separation of church and state as I am. I too believe that the government should leave the churches alone and I also agree that tax exemption can be trap in some cases. In fact, the very principle of tax exemption was based on the idea that the churces should remain neutral in the matter of endorsing candidates and political parties. Churces still have the right to present their Faith Values however. For example, it is, AFAIC perfectly valid and legal to espouse pro-life values from the pulpit if that is indeed what your Faith Tradition believes in. It is another matter entirely to use the pulpit to endorse a specific candidate and/or party. What the minister does in his/her private time is another matter.
Bob: Actually, the IRS is going after Operation Rescue: West and several other organizations of that ilk. I think the Bush Administration is trying to stifle dissent from both sides of the aisle. Remember, the NeoCons really don't any use for religion save only as an instrument of domination and power.
Posted by: Frank Frey at September 21, 2006 07:38 PM
Gary wrote...
"Tax exemption is a snare to churches. We must be free to express our beliefs without being threatened by the government"
As you well know the rule against partisan activities is directed against tax-exempt organizations and not churches (it just happens that most churches wish to be tax-exempt.)
Do you advocate repeal of prohibitions against partisian activities for all tax-exempt organizations or just those that have religious character?
Should religious tax-exempt organizations get to play by a different set of rules than secular tax-exempt organizations or would all tax-exempt organizations get to engage in partisan activities?
Just curious.
Posted by: Brian at September 21, 2006 10:09 PM
You're right, my friend. I know lately they HAVE gone against a few of the more fundie organizations, but the impression I'd gotten was that it happened because of the many complaints that had been leveled against them.
On the other hand, I'm curious if they went against this church strictly because of the opposition to the Iraq war, or if the church was endorsing a party or candidate.
If it was strictly because of the opposition to the war, then they should treat the anti-abortion churches and so forth the same.
Better yet, as long as that parish wasn't endorsing a party or candidate, they should leave it alone.
Posted by: Bob Bowers at September 21, 2006 11:36 PM
Oh what delicate irony, I freakin love it. For years the mainstream church has wanted to partner with politics but it's such a useless partnership, and comes down to control one way or the other. I guess the real question should be can gov't control the will of God? Some might think it's possible but the 2 are inextricably opposites (faith n politics).
So when the church decides to stand up for human rights and deny it's own gov't (similar to the things Christians did under Roman rule) then we have a problem...nationalism won't cut it anymore. We have to follow Christ and none other, which means doing only good for others (at least as far as I have seen in the gospels), and the gov't wants to have a 'beef' about that? Pull our 'tax exemption', who cares...we will still go on in our faith in Christ or does that tax-exemption mean too much? I say we split from the iron hand of political rule and start calling things the way we see them...sobeit of some of our sister churches will scrutinize us...maybe they should re-examine what faith they claim.
If the gov't starts to determine what we can or cannot teach I will directly dis-obey. If it's a crime to speak against strocity then we better start defining our gov't for what it is, atrocious. I mean freedom of speech only works if both parties can respect the lines, seems like in this story one is trying to enforce on the other. I am more than glad we are starting to recognize that this was inevitable.
Posted by: Societyvs at September 22, 2006 11:21 PM
Hi Gary
The thing is, what is prohibited is stumping for a particular candidate. But surely the government ought not interfere with a religious group preaching to uits own members on matters they consider moral issues. Conservative churches believe that society ought not accept same-sex relationships or abortion and they (quite within their rights and their responsibilities) advocate that their members work against those things. That this activity comes *close* to partisan politics is just something a society that values democracy and religious freedom has to to tolerate. The same goes for us as well though; left leaning churches have every right to advocate for particular issues so long as we don't campaign for specific candidates.
The IRS is way out of line here, just as they would be if they tried to take away the tax exemption from churches that promote conservative positions.
your friend
Keith
Posted by: keith johnson at September 23, 2006 06:29 AM
