Prophetic Voice or Liability?

"History is shamefully littered with the moral bankruptcy of people who were Christian in name but not behavior." - Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena California.

The IRS is threatening to strip this church of its tax-exempt status on the basis of a sermon given there by a guest preacher (the church's minister in years past) two days before the 2004 presidential election.

In the sermon, the pastor takes on the voice of Jesus, who is extremely critical of Bush's policies and attitudes. Several times in the sermon, the preacher, Rev. George Regas emphasized he was not endorsing either candidate, and he was critical of John Kerry as well. But way harder on Bush.

From the LA Times:

All Saints came under IRS scrutiny shortly after Regas, the church's former rector, delivered a sermon that depicted Jesus in a mock debate with then-presidential candidates George W. Bush and John F. Kerry. The sermon did not endorse either candidate.

Regas' suggestion that Jesus would have told Bush his preemptive war strategy in Iraq "has led to disaster" prompted a letter from the IRS in June 2005 stating that "a reasonable belief exists that you may not be a tax-exempt church."

Read the LATimes full article.

Read the controversial sermon from 10/31/04

Possible contemporary 1st world paraphrase: Mark 8:34 "If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their tax and follow me".

This weekend, Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, the president of my seminary, Chicago Theological Seminary, will give several talks at All Saints, on various topics. I'm sure an op-ed will emerge from her experiences with that community. I'll link to it when it comes about.