There was a congruence of stories I noticed in the news this week, across a wide gulf of cutlure, affluence and faiths. While the monks of Burma are being controlled by force of the gun and being kept in bounds, a church in Pasadena is being hemmed in by the IRS. All Saints Episcopal Church, a large, affluent, socially active congregation was investigated for electioneering from the pulpit in the 2004 election–with the threat to cut off tax exempt status. This month, the IRS simply closed the case, thus leaving it unresolved–will they be investigated again? I think we should all think of ways to call our tax exempt status into question. How will I transcent the putative controls the government and culture seems to have on my willingness to speak out? What would it take for me to launch into the streets with my bowl in the air?
Of course–its iimportant to point out that congregations “electioneer” all the time… perhaps the line crossed by All Saints is electioneering about the morals of spending and economic justice while having the wealth and influence to have an impact, as opposed to sticking to the narrow moral agenda of sinfulness sex and abortion promoted by the thousands of conservative evangelical churches. There is evidence here of explicit political intimidation from the Justice Department here. A chilling thing, indeed.
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