Tax resistance in the “Peace Churches” →
Mennonites / Amish →
Wendell Ressler
This is the twenty-fourth in a series of posts about war tax resistance as it
was reported in back issues of Gospel Herald, journal
of the (Old) Mennonite Church.
By war tax resistance had become commonplace
enough that I frequently saw incidental mention of it in articles about other
things. Here, I’ll stick to the mentions with more substance:
The issue included
an article on World Peace Tax Fund legislation lobbying efforts.
Apparently the Mennonite Central Committee’s
U.S. Peace Section
and D.C.
office were both busy lobbying for the bill, and the “historic peace church
taskforce on taxes” had hit on a lobbying method they called
dunamis which was described as “approach[ing] Congresspersons
in a spirit of compassion rather than confrontation.”
Forgive me; maybe I’ve been Mennonizing myself way too much lately and need to
back off for a while, but all this reminded me of William S. Burroughs’s
cynical description of weaponized Christian love (“Christ and the Museum of
Extinct Species”, Conjunctions
):
Let love squirt out like a fire hose of molasses. Give him the kiss of life.
Stick your tongue down his throat and taste what he has been eating and bless
his digestion, ooze down into his intestines and help him along with
his food. Let him know that you revere his rectum as part of an
ineffable whole. Make him know that you stand in naked awe of his
genitals as part of the Master Plan, life in all its rich variety.
Do not falter. Let your love enter in unto him and penetrate him with the
Divine Lubricant, makes K-Y and lanolin feel like sandpaper. It’s the most
mucilaginous, the slimiest, ooziest lubricant ever was or shall be, amen. It’s
known as the Greasy Ghost, will love you all over and inside out.
James Thomas, Lancaster,
Pa.; Brent Eash,
Middlebury, Ind.; and Edgar
Metzler were appointed as Mennonite Church representatives on the New Call to
Peacemaking Task Force on Taxes. The board encouraged Edgar to propose ways to
respond to current tax issues in the context of Bethlehem
, especially concerns raised at Bowling Green
. They also supported Edgar’s suggestions to
promote special prayer for peace and ways for congregations to share peace
concerns with neighboring churches.
The board endorsed the resolution proposed for consideration by the Bethlehem
General Assembly on “Conscientious Objection
to Military Taxes.” Edgar Metzler and MBCM
executive secretary Gordon Zook drafted the statement in consultation with the
members of the Council on Faith, Life, and Strategy and members of the General
Board.
About 30 marchers carried placards at the demonstration.
Clair Hochstetler wrote about a Good Friday demonstration that included some
creative war tax resistance activity, including some picturesque and
media-savvy (if somewhat haphazard) redirection:
“We are here as tax day approaches to announce our resistance to taxes which
are used for military purposes… We are here on
to commemorate the continuing
crucifixion of Jesus Christ — he is crucified again whenever individuals or
nations inflict violence on each other… We are here on
as a reminder of the
continuing foolishness of humanity — our leaders offer us the illusion of
security if we build yet another weapons system… We are offering an
alternative…”
Daryl Yoder-Bontrager, member of Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg,
Va., read a press statement
to a group assembled in front of the Internal Revenue Service building in
Staunton, Va. Approximately
30 “Christians for Peace” gathered for an unusual
public witness.
A festive atmosphere prevailed as three clowns danced their way among the
people and released five symbolic black helium-filled balloons. During the
service, they sporadically snipped the ribbons of other balloons tied to the
arms of the worshipers — lofting high into the bright sky, over $300 tied to
about 75 multicolored balloons.
Each balloon carried a five or ten dollar bill along with a signed and
addressed note from a participant who had withheld the money from his or her
federal income taxes. Over 15 members of Christians for Peace from the
Harrisonburg area contributed the symbolic cash.
The notes, written by Wendell Ressler, also of Community Mennonite Church,
read:
“About 60 percent of your income tax money this year will be used to pay for
our government’s military program. Because we are Christians who are trying to
follow the peaceful way of Jesus, we cannot support this country’s military
build-up. Instead we have chosen to waste our money in a more constructive
way.
“On we remember the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ each time one nation or individual inflicts
violence on another. On we release our money into the wind — it is not as foolish an act as
depending on weapons for our security.
“We are confident that you, the finder, will be able to use this money in a
better way than the Pentagon would have. Peace be with you![”] Signature and
address followed.
The group had gathered earlier in the day to train for appropriate responses
in case of hecklers and to ponder the message of both the foolishness and the
seriousness of their public act of resistance.
During the service, Ray Gingerich, professor at Eastern Mennonite College,
read from
Psalm 85:8–13 (the vision of a world without weapons),
Amos 5:4–15 (the plea for building a world without weapons),
and Matthew 6:24;
5:43–45;
5:3–9 (strategies for building a world without weapons).
The group, which included several children, carried thought-provoking placards
as they sang for peace. Statements included, “If you work for peace, why pay
for war?” The clowns passed out jelly beans as the balloons rose.
Barry Hart, member of Broad Street Mennonite Church, delivered a spirited
oration to the onlookers which included personnel from over a dozen
TV and radio stations.
Hart reiterated the protest against militarism while emphasizing the spirit
of hope and the sanctity of life.
“We are concerned not only for our personal survival, but for the survival of
our sisters and brothers everywhere,” he said. “We have so long been caught up
in the systematic plotting to destroy other systems that we have missed what
Christ has called us to — serving each other.”
Reporters and group members intermingled for over a half hour after the
service. Local
IRS
officials were not available for comment. Several policemen were on hand,
however, to ensure the peace and to protect the building. A group of young
hecklers had left earlier when the service began.
The idea for the witness was spawned from two Christians for Peace workshops
on war tax resistance by Yoder-Bontrager and Ressler
. Nathan and
Elaine Zook Barge contributed ideas from an earlier experience with a balloon
event in Colorado.
A secular war tax resistance organization, the National War Tax Resistance
Coordinating Committee, formed in . The
Center on Law and Pacifism was an important source of information for war tax
resisters around that time. From the issue:
New U.S. tax
legislation is making it increasingly risky for people to express their
opposition to war by refusing to pay their taxes, but more people are doing so
anyway, according to two Colorado “tax resistance” leaders.
William and Eugenia Durland, who run the Center on Law and Pacifism in
Colorado Springs, said that they have been “in touch” with some 10,000 “war tax
resisters” either through their own newsletter or through direct counseling.
The couple said there are at least twice that many who are refusing to pay
their taxes nationwide.
One indication that the figure is growing, they suggested, is the Internal
Revenue Service’s decision about a year ago to create a task force to combat
tax resisters. Added to that, they said, are new laws aimed specifically at
people who refuse to pay their taxes out of conscience.
The issue brought this news of
congregational resistance from the United Methodist Church:
A United Methodist congregation in New Haven,
Conn., backing their
pastor’s right to refuse paying federal taxes for military use, has declined
to turn over his salary to the Internal Revenue Service. Carl Lundborg, pastor
of First and Summerfield United Methodist Church, has withheld federal income
taxes in , telling the
IRS
his “obligations as a Christian and as a citizen are no longer reconcilable.
The 50 percent of my taxes that support the military I cannot pay.”
After Mr. Lundborg refused to pay
IRS the
$1,200 said to be owed for , the
IRS
served a levy on the Methodist congregations as his employer.
IRS
ordered the church to withhold the pastor’s salary until the amount was
paid. But church members voted on
to reject
IRS’s
demand in support of their pastor.
The General Conference Mennonite Church was still struggling to define its
corporate response to legal demands on one side and employees’ conscientious
objection to military taxation on the other. The Mennonite Church, and its
organ, Gospel Herald, had the luxury of being
spectators to the struggle, though they would have to deal with the same issue
soon enough.
Of more concern as issues are the less routine and less understandable
subjects… ¶ Among these one of the more troubling is the payment of taxes for
military purposes. Both the Council on Faith, Life, and Strategy and the Board
of Congregational Ministries have given attention to this issue and the
chairman of the council has acknowledged that “the Council itself reflected
the different viewpoints and could not recommend a single specific direction
for the church’s response.”
Among the resolutions for consideration by delegates at the General Conference
Mennonite Church Triennial Sessions, to be held
in Bethlehem, Pa., is a
formal action authorizing conference officers to stop withholding taxes from
the salaries of its employees as required by
U.S. law. It also
encourages Canadian Mennonites to obtain relief from the same requirement by
Revenue Canada.
The resolution is the product of more than four years of discussion about the
faithfulness and constitutionality of the church’s collecting taxes for the
state, especially in light of the use of a large portion of that money by the
state for armaments.
In at a special midtriennium conference
in Minneapolis, General Conference delegates voted in favor of urging their
General Board to “use all legal, legislative, and administrative avenues for
achieving a conscientious objector exemption from the legal requirement that
the conference withhold income taxes from the wages of its employees.” At
Estes Park, Colo., in
, a judicial test case on the issue was
okayed by a vote of 1,156 to 353.
, however, all three “avenues”
appear to have closed. A meeting with
IRS
officials in Washington in — the
administrative avenue — failed to produce any results. The World Peace Tax
Fund legislation pending in Congress — the legislative avenue — seems stalled
a long way from gaining enough support to get serious attention. The
preparation of a legal suit against the
IRS,
to be taken to the
U.S. Supreme Court,
if necessary, was put on hold when it appeared, judging from other high court
rulings, that the action would almost surely fail.
The conference’s General Board, therefore, will bring the “Resolution on
Faithful Action Toward Tax Withholding” to Bethlehem
delegates as their recommendation for
resolving the moral dilemma which church officials feel they are facing. If
approved, the resolution would take the conference one small but significant
step into the sphere of divine obedience/civil disobedience.
The Mennonite Church had its own conference, and its own war tax resistance
agenda item to deal with:
More unanimity and like-mindedness prevailed in consideration of three
resolutions before the
MC General
Assembly. In discussing them, reference was repeatedly made once again to
“what the other group is doing.”
This was particularly true in working through a resolution on “Conscientious
Objection to Military Taxes.” By the time the
MC delegates
considered the proposal, they were already aware that the General Conference
had passed by a 2-1 margin a much more radical statement authorizing
conference officers to refuse to serve as tax collectors for the
U.S. government in
cases where individual employees ask that their federal income taxes not be
withheld from their wages. This move caught the attention of the national
media and was being covered by newspapers and television by the time
MC delegates
considered their resolution.
It calls for continued study and discernment of the issue of war taxes,
pledging prayer, study, and caution in relating to the government and its
demands. The resolution asks governments to recognize peace tax funds as
alternates for conscientious objectors and affirms those “who conscientiously
withhold a portion of taxes destined for military use as one way to witness
against militarism.” Delegates passed the resolution after sending it back to
committee once for reworking.
Discussion of these resolutions was mostly affirmation, with little of the
controversy surrounding resolutions to the state characterizing some previous
General Assembly sessions. Not all were comfortable, however, with the
approach. James Hess, Lancaster,
Pa., noted these
resolutions had better be done as individuals rather than as a group since for
him this action violated the principle of the separation of church and state.
Even though we
GCs often
speak of “Old” Mennonites, I have tended to view
MCs
ahead of us in creative theologians and theological
discussion/writing; in preaching evangelists; in putting the church’s
evangelism statements to work; and in comprehensive programs for total
Christian life…
Imagine my surprise when I sensed the caution among
MCs about the
church giving up its role as a tax collector for the government.
This time we
GCs passed
good statements on tax withholding and justice. I pray we will implement them
among us.
The most intensive early discussion in these business sessions came with the
presentation of an issue which had been on the General Conference burner for
several triennials. The problem was precipitated by paid employees of the
General Conference in the
U.S. who asked that
their federal income taxes not be deducted by the conference to allow them to
deal directly with the government on taxes for war.
The discussion I heard came at the end of a long process and so I suppose it
was less impassioned than earlier in the study. The reason for the delay, I
learned, was to provide an opportunity to pursue all possible administrative
and legal avenues as solution to the problem. This had now been done with no
success and so the general board brought a resolution calling for “the
conference officers to test the constitutionality of the withholding
requirements in the United States and to assert the higher claim of Christ’s
law of love, by refusing to serve as tax collectors in cases where individual
employees have asked that their federal income taxes not be withheld from
their wages, in order that they may conscientiously refuse to pay for war
preparations.”
Duane Heffelbower, a Mennonite attorney from California, commented on the
proposal: “We could scarcely devise a softer ‘velvet glove’ to cast at the
feet of the
IRS. But
it shows in a powerful way our corporate willingness to stand with our people.
What might the government do? We don’t know.” But he observed the responses
could vary from a simple levy of the bank accounts to putting conference
officers in jail.
The resolution was discussed in a vigorous and orderly fashion. The arguments
for and against were scarcely new ones. In opposing the resolution John Voth
of Oklahoma noted that Jesus called upon us to love our enemy. Today the
government has become the enemy. Jesus, he observed, called for going the
second mile with a soldier. In support for the resolution, Lois Barrett of
Kansas asserted that in the
U.S. disobeying the
law is a time-honored way of changing the law.
After an hour’s debate, the resolution was brought to a ballot vote and passed
by approximately a 70 percent majority.
In the aftermath of the triennial, the General Conference began implementing
its war tax resistance resolution. On the General Conference stopped withholding taxes from the paychecks
of some resisting employees:
Acting on the basis of a resolution adopted by General Conference delegates at
Bethlehem ,
GC treasurer
Ted W. Stuckey on
issued the first paychecks on which federal income taxes were not withheld.
Seven employees of the denomination’s central offices made the request that
the taxes not be withheld, so that they can remit to the
IRS
personally the amount of federal taxes their consciences will allow. Several
others have indicated that they may be willing to take part in the action at a
later date.
Stuckey said that, beginning with the
paychecks, the seven will have state
and social security taxes deducted but be treated like self-employed persons
as far as federal income taxes are concerned. Under such a classification,
they would be required to submit quarterly estimated tax payments to the
IRS.
The seven plan to make a portion of those quarterly payments but put the
balance — the amount they feel they cannot voluntarily pay because of high
U.S. military
spending — into a special account at General Conference central offices.
Stuckey and general secretary Vern Preheim informed Commissioner Roscoe L.
Egger, Jr., at
IRS
headquarters in Washington by letter of the conference’s action. “We’re trying
to be completely open and above board with them about this matter,” Stuckey
said.
The pay period is the first
opportunity for the conference to implement the “Resolution on Faithful Action
Toward Tax Withholding” adopted by delegates to a churchwide convention in
Bethlehem, Pa., on
.
There, conferees voted 1,128 to 457 to “authorize the conference officers to
test the constitutionality of the withholding requirements in the United
States and to assert the higher claim of Christ’s law of love, by refusing to
serve as tax collectors in cases where individual employees have asked that
their federal income taxes not be withheld from their wages, in order that
they may conscientiously refuse to pay for war preparations.”
The statement concluded with a commitment to “surround with our prayers the
General Conference staff and government officials who will be involved in this
action and all those individuals who refuse in conscience to pay taxes for war
preparations, however costly their witness may be.”
The Bethlehem resolution is the result of
nearly eight years of work on the tax issue, and was passed only after all
legal attempts to solve the problem had been exhausted, including seeking a
simple administrative solution from the
IRS.
The Mennonite Church General Assembly
resolution on Conscientious Objection to Military Taxes includes six
“statements of intention” including praying, rendering to Caesar and to God,
obeying God rather than the state where claims conflict, appealing for legal
recognition of conscientious objection to paying taxes for the military,
affirming both conscientious payment and conscientious nonpayment of taxes for
military use, and pleading for constructive use of resources entrusted by God.
Copies are available from the Mennonite Board of Congregational Ministries…
The edition brought the
news of a war tax resister fighting back against the
IRS’s new
“frivolous filing” penalties:
A Roman Catholic pacifist has brought suit against a law under which the
U.S. Internal
Revenue Service
(IRS)
has fined her $500 for what is considered a “frivolous” request. Alice
Drefchinski, 53, a registered nurse, filed an income tax return for
under which she was to receive a $720
refund. With her return, she enclosed a letter requesting the
IRS to
deduct $1,000 from her taxes — roughly the amount that would go for defense
purposes — and give that money to humanitarian or peace groups.
Although Ms. Drefchinski did not withhold that amount from her taxes, or ask
that the money be refunded to her, the
IRS has
fined her $500 for what is considered to be a “frivolous” request.
While she would not have to pay the money, it would reduce the total of her
refund to $220. The Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU)
has filed suit on Ms. Drefchinski’s behalf in
U.S. District Court
in Lafayette, asking the court to strike down the
law under which the penalty is being levied.
Martha Kregel, executive director of the organization, said the suit asks for
a finding that the law is unconstitutional because it violates due process and
does not contain a definition of “frivolous.”
In other cases, the
IRS has
refunded money directly to taxpayers who made similar requests, and later
assessed them a $500 penalty for making “frivolous” requests.
This description of Drefchinski’s action seems misleading. She took a war tax
deduction on her tax return which reduced the amount she owed; she didn’t
merely append a letter to her return asking the
IRS to
donate some portion of her taxes to charity. In
Drefchinski v. Regan (1984)
the court slapped down multiple arguments made by her attorneys against the
frivolous filing penalty, but concluded:
Many respected Americans have engaged in civil disobedience as a form of
protest against taxation for military spending. Henry David Thoreau, for
example, refused to pay taxes that would contribute to the funding of the
Mexican-American War. See H. Thoreau,
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849). Yet this
mode of protest is not without its costs. Thoreau spent a night in the Concord
jail. Alice Drefchinski must pay a $500 civil penalty. Perhaps she can find
solace in the words written by Thoreau after his confinement: “It costs me
less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State, than it
would to obey. I should feel as if I were worth less in that case.”
Finally, this note suggests that tax resistance was catching on as an idea in
Christian circles as a possible tactic that went beyond war tax resistance:
Evangelical Christian leaders have warned of mass tax-resistance by their
churches unless Congress amends the new Social Security law which requires
religious organizations to pay into the system. The church groups issued the
warnings at a
hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, called in response to a storm of
protest over the provision in the new Social Security rescue package, which
goes into effect .
The revised law repeals the exemption on nonprofit groups, including churches,
from withholding Social Security taxes for their employees.
Forest D. Montgomery, legal counsel to the National Association of
Evangelicals, which represents 38,000 churches, called on Congress “to act to
forestall an inevitable confrontation between church and state.” He added that
many churches will simply “refuse to pay (the tax) on the basis of religious
conviction.”
This is the twenty-fifth in a series of posts about war tax resistance as it
was reported in back issues of Gospel Herald, journal
of the (Old) Mennonite Church.
The debate about war tax resistance continued at a simmer through
, and by the end of the year it was clear that
the Mennonite Church would have to have the same debate about withholding taxes
from its employees’ salaries that had occupied the General Conference Mennonite
Church .
Joel Kauffmann’s “Pontius” comic strip was a regular feature in
Gospel Herald. This example comes from the
issue.
The Center for Discipleship and the Peace Studies Program at Goshen College
will cosponsor a seminar on “Conscientious Objection to Military Taxes” on
Goshen’s campus, .
The program will feature an Internal Revenue Service representative addressing
the legalities of withholding military taxes; discussion of improved
communication between tax withholders, the government, and the church; and a
look at various patriotic and biblical objections raised by nonwithholders.
The purpose of the seminar is not to foster debate on the morality of tax
withholding; rather, persons who are already withholding taxes or who are
seeking additional information on the issue are encouraged to attend. In lieu
of a registration fee, participants will be asked to make a $10 tax-deductible
contribution.
I wonder if you could rope an
IRS
spokesperson into addressing a war tax resistance conference today.
The included an article that
summed up the state of the war tax issue in the Mennonite community. It’s the
same article that appeared in The Mennonite around
the same time and that I reproduced here when I was going through those
archives (see ♇ 4 August 2018 — search
for “Military taxes — continuing agenda in 1984”).
War tax resistance foe D.R. Yoder wrote
a commentary
for the issue in which he
argued that tax resistance was ineffective because the government can just rely
on borrowing or seigniorage if it runs out of tax money, which means ultimately
the costs not paid by war tax resisters just get shifted to other people, which
isn’t very Christian.
One stewardship issue that is seldom brought up, although one of the most
important, is how we use our tax dollars. Becky and I are comfortable in
paying local and state taxes but have come to feel that we cannot pay any of
our federal income taxes, given their use in fueling the arms race. We note
the irony that while the average Mennonite family gives the church $430 a year
for peacemaking it pays the
IRS
$1,500 for its militarism. A 4 percent tithe for the church, and a 10 percent
tithe for the government! Our response is to reduce our taxable income and
refuse to pay anything, choosing instead to use this money for serving the
kingdom. Friends of ours have taken other options such as matching their
giving to the
IRS with
their giving to the church, refusing to pay a percentage of their tax dollars,
enclosing a letter of protest with their payment. We feel that how we use our
money is a crucial test of our loyalties and commitments and must become a
stewardship issue for this generation.
Imagine with us what could happen if we Mennonites were to take the steps outlined in books like Beyond the Rat Race.
Imagine if we were to give as much to the church as we give the IRS, or if we gave our tax dollars to the work of the church, withholding them from military use?
I want to make a few comments… especially on the last part concerning the
average Mennonite family giving “a 4 percent tithe for the church, and a 10
percent tithe for the government.” I cannot understand how he can withhold all
income taxes from Uncle Sam in light of the fact the
U.S. government is
very reasonable in its demands. The government allows us to give 50 percent to
charitable causes without too many restrictions, though there are some.
Thus I ask, until we give 50 percent to charity which the government allows,
who is responsible if it is not spent right? Peters talked about the tithe for
the church. Personally I believe many of us should give much more. Just
because we feel our government does not spend all our tax money right does not
give us the right to withhold all or part of our tax money.
There was a passing mention of war tax resistance at the Bijou Community in
a article:
[Esther (Leatherman)] Kisamore, formerly of Pennsylvania, is a member of a
Christian community, called Bijou House, consisting of 13 persons. There are
four other Mennonites in this house community; the next largest group
represented is Roman Catholic. The group shares economic resources and lives
below the taxable income level as a way of avoiding the payment of war taxes.
The issue contained
a pro-taxpaying op-ed from Harold Hartzler.
Christians should pay taxes gladly, he wrote, citing Romans 13. Taxes help our
terrific government; we shouldn’t try to lower our taxes but should indeed pay
even more than is required; the government should simplify taxes and broaden
the tax base, and should increase taxes even if that makes things “unbearable.”
Alongside that commentary was this one, credited to Call to
Peacemaking:
Praying and paying: a dilemma
The question begins to sound like a cliché, we’ve heard it so often: Can we go
on praying for peace while paying for war?
But the question won’t go away. Every year in the United States we are
reminded of the reality of military preparations when the president presents
the proposed budget to congress. This year the figures reach almost beyond our
imaginations, near a trillion in total spending with more than a third for
war. A military expenditure of that enormity was once associated only with the
waging of all-out war. Now it is only preparation for war, plus minor (?)
interventions here and there.
We only need to reflect for a moment on the consequences of the kind of war
we’re preparing for to know in our hearts that the government is buying us
less security. That’s the purpose of the state? To brandish a nuclear sword
which guarantees that if used it will fulfill the prophecy of Jesus: “They who
take the sword will perish with the sword.”
Between the time the budget is unveiled and when we can no longer delay the
moment of truth with the Internal Revenue Service is usually a little less
than three months. Plenty of time to agonize whether what Caesar is demanding
to support the arms race is really what is due to Caesar.
An increasing number of concerned persons recognize the dilemma of praying and
paying and are seriously trying to decide how to resist. A leaflet, “Stages of
Conscientious Objection to Military Taxes,” by Bill Strong at the Philadelphia
Yearly Meeting of Friends and Linda Schmidt of Mennonite Central Committee
describes what some have done in response to the question of taxes for war.
The leaflet is available from New Call to Peacemaking, Box 1245, Elkhart,
IN…
Milo and Viola Stahl presented bags of groceries to a staff person at the
regional office of the Internal Revenue Service, Staunton,
Va.
Reporter Steve Shenk brought this news in the issue:
As tax season rolls around, taxpayers are faced with many facts and figures
that concern the conscience as well as the wallet. For some Christians payment
of federal income tax — the portion which goes to finance the military — is a
dilemma.
This year a group called Christians for Peace, consisting of largely
Mennonites from the Harrisonburg,
Va., area, gathered at the
regional office of the Internal Revenue Service in Staunton,
Va., on
, 1984. They came to register their concern about the amount of
income tax money which is used for military purposes. Instead of bringing
their normal checks, they came with a truckload of food for the
IRS.
The food was purchased with money that the participants withheld from their
tax payments. “We seek to follow Jesus’ call
to be peacemakers by directing our resources away from the instruments of
death and toward life,” explained Wendell Ressler, one of the organizers of
the event. “We cannot reconcile Jesus’ call to love our enemies with our
government’s call to help pay for their destruction.”
The group began the witness with a short worship service in front of the
IRS
building. There was a short mime skit entitled The Global Garden Deli which
visualized their feelings about paying for military expenditures. The theme
song, “I Am Not Willing to Buy Your Bombs, Sam,” sung to the melody “I Have
Decided to Follow Jesus,” was heard between prayers and testimony of the group
members.
Wendell Ressler then read a short statement of purpose to the small crowd of
onlookers. He explained that this action was really a pledge to reexamine the
effects of the group’s lifestyle on other people. “We do not wish to be
protected if it means others are killed in our names. We gladly pay taxes
which are used to enrich the lives of others, but it is immoral for our
government to play Russian roulette with the future of our planet.”
Christians for Peace members, Milo and Viola Stahl, then entered the
IRS
building to offer their bags of groceries in payment for the military portion
of the income tax. They were cordially received by the representative for the
regional director of the
IRS,
but told that the
IRS
could not accept the bread. When the Milo Stahls asked the representative what
the IRS
would like them to do with the food, the representative replied, “That is your
prerogative, but I cannot accept it.”
The food was then presented to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank,
Inc., a nonprofit
community organization that distributes 220,000 pounds of food each month to
hungry people in the area. Executive Director Phil Grasty was careful to note
that he did not want to take a political stand on the issue, but he was “happy
to receive the food.” Over 1,000 pounds of canned goods were donated to the
organization.
The group repeatedly tried to explain that their intention was not to harass
the IRS
personnel. Instead their goal was to represent their concern as a Christian
witness. “The reason that I am here,” said Christian for Peace member Nate
Barge, “is that for me it is an act of faith. I am trying to bring evangelism
and social action together.”
The event attracted passersby to stop and watch the demonstration. One of
them, Dave Murphy, a member of the Staunton Christian Fellowship Baptist
Church, said, “I think it is a nice effort on their part to present what they
believe about military spending… after all it is the American way to speak
out. I am particularly pleased that they are giving the food to the Food Bank
where it will do some good.”
Members of the Christians for Peace group tried to donate food to the
IRS,
but it was refused, so they turned the food over to the Blue Ridge Area Food
Bank.
Two years after Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen’s decision to withhold
half of his federal income taxes, a religious “war tax” movement is growing
rapidly. Its numbers are being swelled both by Hunthausen imitators and by
creative new forms of protest by people who are upset by the nuclear arms race
but reluctant to put themselves outside the law.
According to new Internal Revenue Service figures, the type of protest
popularized by the Seattle archbishop has increased nearly fivefold in the
last three years, while alternative forms of protest, some of them revived
from the Vietnam War era, have also become more frequent. Among the latter
protesters are people who refuse to pay a small, token amount of tax, or
withhold federal excise taxes from their monthly telephone bills. Others file
a return and write “paid under protest” on the check, or file for a refund of
military taxes already paid. Increasing charitable giving to reduce the amount
of income subject to tax, and changing one’s lifestyle to live below a taxable
income level, are also gaining acceptance. Many religious groups, in addition,
are pressing Congress for legislation that would allow “conscientious
objectors” to divert all their taxes to “peaceful” purposes.
The Mennonite Central Committee held its executive committee meeting in
:
Executive Secretary Reg Toews reported that three staff members have requested
that
MCC
no longer withhold the military portion of the federal withholding tax from
their paychecks.
Member Larry Kehler of Winnipeg,
Man., noted that "this is a
very volatile issue in our constituency." It was observed that
MCC
is in a unique position, since it represents a wide coalition of conferences,
who come to this issue with various degrees of intensity. “Just to discuss
this issue is to raise concern in many groups,” Toews said.
The executive committee stated their intention to take seriously the request
from the staff members, as well as constituency concerns. They asked
administrative staff to work on a plan, to be discussed by the committee in
, concerning how this issue should
receive broader testing.
A letter to the editor
from Steven G. Gehman ()
rejected on scriptural grounds the “witnessing” justification of war tax
resistance, but left open the possibility that it was justified on the grounds
of conscientious objection to participation in war:
I have struggled with the war tax issue and have not reached any definite
answer. I cannot feel comfortable knowing that a great portion of my taxes is
devoted to killing or creating the potential to kill, and knowing that Jesus
commands us to have no part in war. But neither am I comfortable with war tax
resistance. There are no records of Jesus opposing taxes to the Roman military
machine. In Romans 13:1–5 Paul states his view that the government bears the
sword as God’s servant. First Peter 2:13 gives us the injunction to submit to
human authority.
I do not think either or both of these passages in themselves yield a final
answer to the war tax issue. They do help to sharpen the questions. If the
government bears the sword as God’s servant, total disarmament cannot be the
goal or the reason for war tax resistance. Neither is the desire for an
effective witness to the government sufficient reason to resist payment since
we are commanded to submit to human authority.
The question of whether or not payment of war taxes is right hinges on whether
or not payment of these taxes constitutes participation in a killing machine
to an extent forbidden by the example and teachings of Jesus. What effect does
current military technology have on our response to this issue?
Michio Ohno, pastor of the Mennonite congregation in Toke outside Tokyo, told
of his pilgrimage which included being a pastor in the United Church before
becoming a Mennonite. He also made an eloquent appeal for a peace stance and
the nonpayment of military taxes.
J. Ward Shank, in a
“Update on the peace movement in the Mennonite Church”,
criticized the modern centrality of anti-war activism among Mennonites,
suggesting that it had displaced more basic Christian themes. “Peace is a fruit
of the gospel, not its basis, or necessarily the heart of it,” he wrote. The
article only mentioned war tax resistance in passing, but of course was
relevant to it. It prompted a great deal of back-and-forth in the letters to
the editor column.
The Mennonite Church’s general board’s
“council on faith, life, and strategy”
met in . It turned out that
the Mennonite Church, like its cousins the General Conference Mennonite Church,
had employees who wanted their church to stop withholding war taxes from their
paychecks. This time around, the Mennonite Church wouldn’t have the luxury
of playing spectator in the debate:
One of the stickier issues arose out of a request from a couple employed by
Mennonite Board of Missions that federal income taxes not be withheld from
their paychecks. They want to stop paying the portion of their taxes that goes
to the military. The council tried to clarify the issue by raising underlying
questions such as “Shall a church perform a function on behalf of the state,
in this instance collecting taxes?” and “Should a church institution place
employees in a position where they do not have the option to follow their
conscience on this issue?” Vigorous discussion led to two recommendations: (1)
That this question might be considered in the forthcoming Conversations on
Faith Ⅱ meeting. (2) That a task force be appointed by the General Board.
I noticed that tax resistance was on the agenda at the General Conference
Dialogue on Faith
in also, but there wasn’t
anything meaty in the article worth reprinting here.
In , two Brethren-linked groups started war tax resisters’ penalty funds, and the Annual Conference considered two queries on whether or how Brethren churches should refuse to pay the excise tax on their phone bills.
No one in the crowd offered bids for the Subaru station wagon, which was being auctioned by the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS had seized it from Stephen and Phyllis Senesi as partial payment of taxes that the couple has refused to pay.
As conscientious objectors to paying taxes that fund the US military, the Senesis have withheld about $6,500 over the past five years.
Several area peace groups had organized the nonviolent protest at the auction.
When the IRS agent called for bids on the car, the crowd responded first with silence, and then with “We choose life over death.” Phyllis Senesi is a member of Skyridge Church of the Brethren, Kalamazoo, Mich.
A letter-writer in the issue tried to turn the tables on the tax resisters, saying their refusal to pay “could mean one less defensive hour by a protective policeman. This failure to defend could result in the undefended death of some person. The person who machinated the tax resistance is an indirect killer; category, murder.” (source)
The Midland (Mich.) congregation has voted to withhold the federal excise tax on its telephone bill, saying, “We do not believe that paying for war is loving.” The money withheld will be used to buy peace literature for their library.
Since the congregation wants its action to be done publicly and submissively, the witness commission will enclose letters with the monthly payment.
And another on the same page:
Chuck Boyer, peace consultant for the denomination, is compiling a list of people willing to be contacted when someone faces grave financial need because of faithful witness to Christ.
Such instances include Brethren who suffer loss because of conscientious objection to payment of war taxes.
To join the list, write to Chuck Boyer…
My conscience of recent months has given anguish and now distress, because I do not want to pay the military part of my federal income taxes.
I am now a redirector of my war taxes to peace.
My dilemma is that I am treated as a criminal with a lien.
I am not a tax dodger or evader.
I wish to pay all my taxes for peace.
My correct amount has been reported.
The World Peace Tax Fund bill… is one way out of this dilemma.
Its goal is a law permitting people morally opposed to war to have the military part of their taxes allocated for peacemaking.…
Two Brethren-related peace organizations have begun tax resister’s penalty funds to support those who conscientiously choose to withhold war taxes.
In both cases, the fund reimburses those who have been fined by the Internal Revenue Service, and supporters of the fund share the total cost.
The two groups are the North Manchester, Ind., chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Iowa Peace Network. For more information, write…
That issue also brought a preview of coming attractions at the upcoming Annual Conference (source):
The Michigan query points out the use of the federal telephone excise tax to pay for past and present military expenditures and states that Michigan District will withhold the tax, redirecting the amount to a peace tax fund.
In commending this witness to Annual Conference for study and prayerful consideration, the district is asking for affirmation of the action.
The General Board query asks for the appointment of a committee to study and recommend how Brethren should respond to the dilemma of paying taxes for war.
Walter Fitzsimons wrote an opinion piece for the issue that talked all around the issue of war tax resistance, seemed to conclude that such resistance was futile because it would not stop the march of militarism, then took an about-face and said that even if that is true it could be a worthwhile action of persuasion, but then ended on a write-your-congressman note without taking a stand either way (source).
“Church of the Brethren student Mike Yoder (right), of Morgantown, W. Va., helps carry a ‘Bread not Bombs’ banner in a tax-time peace witness. The event was ‘an act of faith,’ said one participant. ‘I am trying to bring evangelism and social action together.’ ”
For some Christians, paying the percentage of federal income taxes that goes toward the military is a dilemma.
This year, a Harrisonburg, Va., group called Christians for Peace gathered at the regional office of the Internal Revenue Service in Staunton to register their concern.
They brought a truckload of food, bought with the money withheld from their tax payments.
“We seek to follow Jesus’ call to be peacemakers by directing our resources away from the instruments of death and toward life,” explained Wendell Ressler, one of the organizers of the event.
“We cannot reconcile Jesus’ call to love our enemies with our government’s call to help pay for our enemies’ destruction.”
In a short statement to onlookers, he said, “We gladly pay taxes which are used to enrich the lives of others, but it is immoral for our government to play Russian roulette with the future of our planet.”
IRS officials were cordial, but explained that they could not accept the food.
The bags of groceries — including more than 1,000 pounds of canned goods — were presented to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.
Another article on the same page noted that a Portland, Oregon “Peace” congregation had “voted to withhold the federal excise tax on its telephone bill as a way ‘to say no to militarism and yes to life-affirming programs.’ The money will be sent to the Brethren World Peace Academy…”
The pastor of that Peace Church, Rick Ukena, and his wife Twyla Wallace were profiled in the issue (source). Excerpt:
Just before Rick left the pastorate of Peace Church of the Brethren in Portland, Ore., he and his wife, Twyla Wallace, discussed with me their refusal to pay war taxes. “Refusing to pay that portion of our taxes that goes for military purposes is merely an extension of the decision I made in [to become a conscientious objector],” Rick says. “Paying taxes for war is no different from providing bodies for military purposes.”
Rick likens their present witness to that of past Brethren:
“Historically, the Church of the Brethren youth have been conscientious objectors to military service.
Military tax resistance is an equally important statement for peace.”
, Rick and Twyla have redirected a portion of their federal taxes as an effort to lift up their opposition to current priorities of the federal budget.
With the filing of their returns, they sent that portion to Health Help, a low-income health clinic in Portland.
“Nevertheless,” says Rick, “the IRS, during that time, has seized over $1,000 from our checking account for non-payment of taxes.”
A lien was also threatened against the Portland congregation, since the IRS ordered the church to pay Rick and Twyla’s taxes.
In a specially called members’ meeting, the IRS demand was turned down by a unanimous vote.
“We were joyed with the support that we received from the congregation as it was placed in a position of choosing between compliance with human laws aimed at destroying life and a higher order that commands us to love one another, even our enemies,” Rick says.
As mentioned above, there were two items concerning war tax resistance on the Annual Conference agenda in .
The issue tells us how they fared (source):
The delegates established a committee to study and recommend how the Brethren should respond to the dilemma of paying taxes for war.
Brought by the General Board, the query on taxation for war said that “our government continues to put its faith in weapons that can destroy all human life on our planet.”
The query also pointed out that expenses for present and past military efforts currently total about one-half of all federal expenditures.
The concern of the related query, a Michigan District resolution on telephone tax redirection, was adopted by the delegates, and the issue of telephone tax withholding was assigned to the war tax committee.
Michigan District voted in to withhold federal excise taxes on district telephone bills, and to inform the Internal Revenue Service of the action.
It’s hard to believe that at this point there was much more for yet another a committee to say on the issue, so many similar committees had been formed and had issued reports in recent years.
This committee would consist of Philip W.
Rieman, Arlene E.
May, Violet Cox, Richard O.
Buckwalter, and Gary Flory.
