Above the Law

Today, I thought quickly about channeling Keith Olberman, that craze on MSNBC. I could have a post full of "HOW DARE YOU" and close-ups with my scowling, pouting face outraged about, well, you know what I could be outraged about. But that sounds exhausting.

I could just say, "caution - you are entering a no-spin zone" and start channeling Bill O'Riley. All I'd have to do is call people "pinhead". It's a lot easier than channeling Olberman.

But instead, I thought of those who believe they are above the law.

Unlike most of the world, religions in America enjoy an enormous amount of freedom. The First Amendment of the Constitution absolutely bars federal, state or local government from regulating or restricting the practice of any religion.

The first amendment is so broad, that unconventional churches are allowed to become established and thrive in America.

Religions can also enjoy tax-exempt status from monies donated to the church and stipends payed out to clergy. Not many ministers get rich on their churches. Some in the larger churches are well paid, deservedly so but that pay is a small percentage of church revenues. Those in smaller churches who own properties, luxury cars and treat themselves to new designer wardrobes every year are probably less deserving.

When it comes to the Spiritual Rights Foundation, you have to wonder: with all these crazy antics, the intermingling of private enterprise with church leadership, the use of church funds to provide for the satisfaction of the leader's desire for cars, real estate, new clothes and retirement villas, what the hell are they thinking?

One thing I noticed about SRF and other groups like it is that they tend to operate above the law. Look at the FLDS: they marry off girls as young as 11 years old but claim religious freedom to justify their actions. If those dirty old men at the FLDS were not playing hide the salami with 11 year old girls, we might have looked the other way with their spiritual marriages. But, we have this thing about our constitutional laws overriding spiritual laws, if those spiritual laws involve the actual or threatened loss of a person's life, liberty, personal safety or property.

But if you think you are not bound by the laws of the land, why not rape any 11 year old who comes near you? Why not have 4, 5, maybe 10 wives (all on welfare, because a man can make only so much, you know). And why not set up companies for yourself using church money for your capital, and why not buy properties with the church money?

For as long as I remember, Bill Duby was suspicious and even disdainful of our government and our way of life - even as he drew Social Security Disability checks every month and benefited from Medicare coverage while his followers lived hand-to-mouth and often had to rely on the public health system for medical attention.

Some of the advice I heard was somewhat sensible: you don't have to pay taxes, so pay as little as possible. Some absurd: set up a system of affiliated churches to create tax-free income among the members or "drop out" of the tax system by deleting your social security records. Of course, removing yourself from social security will have some pretty dire consequences if you retire or become disabled - you won't be able to. It makes no sense to wipe out that safety net.

But what's worse is the sense that separation of church and state entitles you to behave in ways not tolerated in the world of law and justice.

During the long and protracted disputes between a group of courageous men and women and the leadership of the Spiritual Rights Foundation, there were several behaviors brought to the light of law enforcement - things that few, if any of the membership was aware of.

One day, the Alameda District Attorney's office conducted a raid of the SRF headquarters with a complaint regarding truant children. Apparently, while we were being told that the children were "home-schooled", the children were actually not-schooled. That particular revelation drew the ire of the DA's office and caused a tremendous amount of angst within SRF.

Other things came up. Some small, such as buildings constructed without permits, a cafe operated without a license were some of the items. But dropping out from society, becoming invisible to the government, was always spoken about at SRF.

One particularly crazy scheme was that ordained ministers of SRF should each found their own SRF-affiliated church so "they can pass money back and forth and not pay taxes".

Most likely, the affiliated churches would be passing more money forth than they got back.

But the practice of "buying" cars for certain church members was also suspicious from a legal point of view. The church (in the form of the leader) would purchase a car, obtaining financing themselves and generally maintaining title to the vehicle. That vehicle would then be "given" to a member. However, the member was required to make the payments on the vehicle, pay for insurance, maintenance, fuel and anything else related that vehicle - even if that vehicle was used to conduct church business.

Most of the recipients of these gifts were in no position to afford such generosity. But that didn't stop SRF. Those cars were intended to project the image of prosperity. And these cars were not on the economy end of the line. Many were luxury cars, SUV's, sports cars. Cars that were expensive. One would need to drive a shiny new car he or she can't afford in order to become prosperous, was the thinking. I've never met anyone who became prosperous that way, have you?

That kind of practice would probably be considered vehicle leasing or re-selling and would require licensing from the DMV. It may also be considered a profit-making activity which would then allow the IRS to require the filing of detailed tax returns.

After those issues were conveyed to SRF by an attorney, the practice stopped.

Now, forcing people to buy a car is not the smartest thing to do. I really don't think that this gesture was motivated by generosity. It's control, plain and simple.

My wife and I bought new cars. We were careful to plan, save and research. Because of that effort, we both got the cars that not only fit our lives, they fit our budget and have made us very happy and satisfied. And prosperous. Those vehicles are in the higher end (they are Volvos). We afforded them easily by adhering to a savings plan, making a down payment large enough we can afford the payments on even a fourth of our income.

Of course that is not the SRF way as it's reasonable, methodical, requires advance thought and is absolutely, scrupulously legal.

But we are re-discovering those reasonable and legal ways to get through life. We don't mind paying our Social Security taxes. Income taxes are fine as long as we get a refund and like most Americans we know that the majority of our taxes go to government services like roads, hospitals and the like. It's OK with us to buy a car the usual way. It's OK with us to maintain a healthy distance between ourselves and our church.

But it's not OK with us to participate in unlawful acts - even if our church says it's OK. Or even if our church says to evade the government is to promote moral, biblical conduct.

Bill Duby was fond of saying that God is not a respecter of persons. He used that statement to justify being a scofflaw, a bully, a thief and as alleged by several persons, a child molester.

Even if the state and church remain separated, when you live in the world of man, you have to respect the laws of man. Even Bill had to admit that.