[Fwd: Fwd: Letter to the Editor regarding IRS Bullying Peace Activists at All Saints Church]

forward letter from my friend who is a member of this church

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fwd: Letter to the Editor regarding IRS Bullying Peace Activists at All Saints Church

To:
Refe .COM>

Here's a letter I wrote to the San Jose newspaper regarding the IRS auditing/loss of exemption of All Saints.
Hugs, Louise

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/columnists/13129889.htm

Begin forwarded message:

> From: didogart@... <mailto:didogart@...>
> Date: November 11, 2005 8:08:55 PM PST
> To: letters@... <mailto:letters@...>
> Cc: Christina Honchell <chonchell@... > <mailto:chonchell@...>>, sherhold@... > <mailto:sherhold@...>
> Subject: Letter to the Editor regarding IRS Bullying Peace Activists > at All Saints Church

Dear Mercury News:

I found Scott Herhold's article to be very refreshing. Thanks for printing it! As a member of All Saints Church in Pasadena, I am astounded by why the government cares to bully my church into a forced redaction about the American-Iraq War. The penalty for refusing to say "uncle" is a tax audit by the IRS and the nuisance of litigation, costly legal fees and loss of time which otherwise would be better spent helping the poor and needy. What's next, a burning pyre? My feeling is that the IRS is in my church's office because we actively protest war, support reproductive choice, and value same sex marriages. Meanwhile, a double standard allowed President Bush to campaign in churches and use church rosters to solicit votes but when a peacemaking church like ours assembled to contemplate how Christ would effectively vote, it's time to punish us with the loss of our tax exempt status? Why would the IRS even care about how we think Christ would have voted in 2002? Because our rector emeritus, George Regas' sermon was deduced to be anti-Bush during election season. Well, I'm sorry, but even Pope John Paul II was against this war. But aside from skirting around the issue of whether or not a tax exempt church said "vote for Kerry"(which didn't happen) -- what's really going on here? Just a hunch, but I suspect that some conservative group fears All Saints to be so socially powerful that it will ignite a peace movement like the one experienced during the 60s and is striking at All Saints to preemptively kill a peace movement. Talk about dumb scheming. If anything, the IRS' audit on the church will only generate greater interest in the movement and make it thrive. As for clarification on what was said during Rev. Regas' sermon-- I heard his sermon, word for word, and he preached about the sins of war and how war is against the teachings of Jesus, and that war of any kind is the most extreme form of terrorism. He also wondered how an American child could be more valued than an Iraqi child, and what would it take to end the proliferation of nuclear arms. The answer? Voting. Not voting for Kerry, not voting for Bush, but for voting in the individual who best can "be trusted to be the peacemaker." Regas concluded his sermon by saying that Jesus would also probably say, "Shame on all those conservative politicians, congress and legislature who have for years so proudly proclaimed their love for children when they were only fetuses but ignored their needs when they were born." To me, that is a profound statement. It is a spiritual statement, not a political one. But the IRS isn't going after All Saints because of one lone minister's words. There is another reason. The mystery behind that reason should matter to anyone who values the rights of the Constitution, especially the right to free speech and public assembly. Are we headed toward a "brave new world" sort of order?

Louise Chrisman

Monrovia, California

--
Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island <http://anaphoria.com/>
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU <http://www.kxlu.com/main.html> 88.9 FM Wed 8-9 pm Los Angeles

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@a...> wrote:
> forward letter from my friend who is a member of this church

Kraig, thanks for posting that. I used to always use the phrase "I
couldn't believe when I heard...", but these days it seems there isn't
anything that can't happen. In any event, I couldn't *believe* it when
I heard radio news reports the other day about this church being
harassed. They probably haven't come after my Quaker meeting because
it's too small and doesn't account for much $$$.

And I promise not to unleash the Navy down here. :)

Cheers,
Jon

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@a...> wrote:
>
>
> forward letter from my friend who is a member of this church
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Fwd: Letter to the Editor regarding IRS Bullying Peace
> Activists at All Saints Church
>
> <snipped almost everything>
>
> Are we headed toward a "brave new world" sort of order?
>
> Louise Chrisman
>
> Monrovia, California

I'd be happier if it *did* look like we were headed
towards Brave New World ... instead, it looks like 1984
is already here.

-monz

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "monz" <monz@t...> wrote:

> I'd be happier if it *did* look like we were headed
> towards Brave New World ... instead, it looks like 1984
> is already here.

On example of 21st-century newspeak, coined by analogy
with Orwell's "War is Peace", which could apply to the
Bush regime's spin on the Iraq war:

"Terrorism is Anti-terrorism"

-monz

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "monz" <monz@t...> wrote:

> One example of 21st-century newspeak, coined by analogy
> with Orwell's "War is Peace", which could apply to the
> Bush regime's spin on the Iraq war:
>
> "Terrorism is Anti-terrorism"

Perhaps if it were reversed it would be easier to see
how true it really is:

"Anti-terrorism is Terrorism"

-monz