Sermon that has All Saints Episcopal Church in trouble with IRS

The All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, a very, very liberal church, is being investigated by the IRS to see if their tax exempt status should be removed. The LA Times has been covering this story with the church as a victim. If this had been an evangelical or fundamentalist protestant church the LA Times and the news networks IMO would have taken a different tone, but that's beside the point. For those of you that are interested in this controversy the sermon that caused this controversy is available on-line at: http://www.allsaints-pas.org/all_saints_church.htm You'll need to click on the archives link and then go to October 31, 2004 for the sermon: If Jesus Debated Senator Kerry and President Bush by Dr. George Regas, Rector Emeritus. It's in PDF format. The sermon listed on the page originally linked to called The IRS goes to Church is this churches response. It’s also in PDF Format

I decided to post this because I don’t trust the MSM to accurately cover this or provide links where you can form your own opinion. If you’re interested in this case read the sermon and make up your own mind. I’d suggest reading others sermons and the other transcript available in their archives because this church has a long history of liberal activism and one incident probably isn’t enough to lose the IRS tax exemption.

Having read the transcript, I think the IRS has a weak case. The sermon was more about Christ the pacifist, and America was not on a pacifist course, and thus not in consonance with Christ as the pastor saw Christ. I don't think the name dropping changed the equation much. Plus, apparently the pastor was a guest pastor.

Any Episcopalians out there know which Saints the Episcopal church recognizes as such? And do they still cannonize new ones?

Happily ex-Episcopalian (now Catholic) here, but I can give you the word.

The Episcopalians basically recognize all the saints that the English (i.e. Catholic) church recognized before Henry's little difficulty over Anne Boleyn.

As for new ones, the problem with the Episcopagans is that there is No Adult Leadership (which is what got them into the trouble they're in today.) So there's no central authority to recognize new saints . . . so dioceses and parishes tend to just wing it on their own.

Which is why you get St. Malcom X (EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ), St. Sojourner Truth, St. Black Elk, St. Cesar Chavez, St. John Coltrane, St. Charles Darwin, St. Ella Fitzgerald, St. Mohandas Gandhi, St. Thurgood Marshall, St. John Muir, St. Eleanor Roosevelt, and St. Rumi the Sufi

. . . . and at one Diocesan Choral Festival around MLK day we wound up singing some abominable anthem that started out, "Holy Martin, Blessed Martyr."

I almost walked out, but decided it would embarass my choirmaster and I could live with it. But I DIDN'T sing!

Adult leadership is a wonderful thing that you don't truly appreciate until you've lived without it . . .

Actually the pastor is their former pastor and is listed as emeritus status. Reading the sermon it's apparent that Kerry is only tossed in to so they might argue that it wasn't an endorsement of one side. However, any reading of the sermon shows it as an argument from the left to vote Democratic. It's also a very plain attack on the religious right.

I'm not sure how good a case the IRS has. If it's only this sermon I'd agree with you it's weak. Based upon the articles in the LA Times about the church, it's ministers and activities I suspect that they have more. Is it enough to pull their tax exempt status I doubt it. They'd have to have an iron clad open and shut case that even the liberal MSM couldn't distort.

The IRS apparently offered to drop the case, if the church admitted it sinned, and would sin no more. The church said it did not sin. I agree with the church. The IRS tax exemption should not be a strait jacket to honest homilies about the nexus of religious moral precepts with the public square. No, I don't agree with much of anything Regas said. But then I am an atheist, so even if Christ was a pacifist, I am not. If Christ was, Christ is wrong. And there you have it.

the problem with liberal ECUSA churches is not their actions as a group, but that instead of Preaching the Gospel from the lexionary, they preach timely stories about best sellers or politics. They should remmeber why people come to church and why they go to the adult classes and not mix them. - Too Late for that to take effect they are already IN THE World.

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