Tax resistance in the “Peace Churches” → Brethren → Rick Ukena & Twyla Wallace

In 1983, Brethren churches had to make tough choices of how far to go to support their war tax resisting pastors in battles with the government. At the Annual Conference that year, the Church approved a position paper recommending that congregations consider civil disobedience in such cases.

The January issue of Messenger reported on how, in the wake of a discouraging Supreme Court decision in an unrelated case, “[t]he General Conference Mennonite Church has put on hold a war tax lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.” (source)

The following month, the magazine reported on a Brethren congregation that struggled to decide how far to go to support a war tax resisting pastor:

Church votes to comply with IRS in tax case

After agonizing debate. Prince of Peace Church of the Brethren, South Bend, Ind., voted to comply with an order to pay the Internal Revenue Service part of the wages of pastor Louise Rieman, a war tax resister. Prince of Peace is the first Church of the Brethren congregation to be faced with the tax-resistance issue.

Louise Rieman and her husband, Phil, have been withholding a percentage of their taxes to protest military spending, and have also withheld information about bank accounts from which the IRS could take tax money. When the church was asked to hand over part of her wages, the Riemans asked the church board to refuse.

The board passed a resolution that supported the Riemans and denied the IRS request. But the resolution was defeated 20 to 16 when it was sent to the church council for consideration by the entire congregation.

The debate focused on the biblical basis for and against tax resistance, the moral implications of breaking the law, and preservation of the congregation amidst the controversy.

Last summer, in response to a Northern Indiana District query, Annual Conference formed a committee to study war tax resistance. A report is expected at the 1983 conference in Baltimore.

An Oregon congregation, however, decided to take a stronger stand (from the April issue):

Church denies IRS for tax-withholding pastor

Peace Church of the Brethren, in Portland, Ore., has voted unanimously to refuse to comply with an Internal Revenue Service effort to collect war taxes owed by pastor Rick Ukena.

The congregation also voted to issue a public statement explaining the decision, and to raise funds to pay any fine arising from noncompliance with the IRS.

Ukena and his wife, Twyla Wallace, have withheld taxes since 1977, and the government has seized the money each of those years. IRS actions against war tax protesters have become speedier and more severe under the Reagan Administration, and this year a levy was imposed against the church.

After a committee explored alternatives with an attorney and with Chuck Boyer, Church of the Brethren peace consultant, a special congregational meeting was held to consider the options.

“Most inspiring was the way the church took it on without my insistence,” said Ukena. “People were really trying to discern the Spirit.”

Earlier this year, Prince of Peace church in South Bend, Ind., voted to comply with an IRS order regarding pastor Louise Rieman (see [above]).

Ukena was a conscientious objector in 1970 and says tax resistance has become a way of life for him. “I would encourage people to not take the action,” he cautioned, “unless they’re aware of what they’re doing.”

“It was a really scary decision at first,” he added. “We really prayed and talked to others and read the Bible to determine what was right. It’s nice to fear God more than the IRS.”

Shirley Whiteside wrote in to applaud the Peace Church’s stand (source):

I rejoice to see this kind of integrity supported within the church.

I hope that one day the greater church will realize our hypocrisy. To officially proclaim “All war is sin,” while we are party to war with no visible resistance, decries our loyalty to the gospel we claim.

At the Annual Conference, the Church of the Brethren decided whether or not to take a stronger stand that might include corporate civil disobedience. By a supermajority, they voted to do so:

War tax holdback recommended act

What started out at the 1982 Annual Conference as a study on war tax resistance came out of the 1983 Conference as a position paper.

The job of the study committee on war tax consultation was to answer the basic question of how an institution should respond to employees who object to payment of the part of their taxes that goes for military support, said Phillip Stone, General Board member and chairman of the committee.

In its list of recommendations, the committee suggested that “congregations and church-related institutions give consideration to a range of extra-legal options.” Included is the option of corporate civil disobedience by supporting an employee involved in war tax resistance.

Moderator Paul Hoffman said that by recommending civil disobedience the study paper became a position paper, and needed a two-thirds majority — which it did receive from the delegate body.

Preceding the listing of extra-legal options was a listing of legal means by which institutions could support employees involved in tax resistance. The committee stated that only after legal means were exhausted should an institution enter into civil disobedience.

In conclusion, the committee called on the larger church community to give support to any church-related organization involved in civil disobedience.

This statement is conspicuously absent from the Church of the Brethren Resolutions & Statements listed on the official Annual Conference website today. I’m not sure how to explain that. Maybe we’ll find out as I continue to hunt through the archives.

Dale W. Brown wrote in to the April issue:

Unite for Tax Resistance

We need to name the huge expenditures for weapons for what it is, blasphemy against the goodness of God’s creation, a sin we commit together.

In light of this reality I would like to pass on a suggestion from the New Call to Peacemaking Conference at Elizabethtown College last June: Instead of focusing on the division between those who pay and those who resist war taxes, let’s all join together in witnessing against war taxes even though we do this in different ways.

Some will witness to people in government through letters accompanying or sent concurrently with their tax payment and returns. Some will reduce their income or increase their giving in ways as to decrease or eliminate war taxes. Some who pay under protest will support by word and deed brothers and sisters who withhold a portion or all of their taxes. Some of us will continue to witness our strong concern through withholding monies in civil disobedience to the tax laws. This attitude and these actions are consistent with our Annual Conference decisions on this issue.

The October issue reported on the war tax resistance debate as it was taking place in the General Conference Mennonite Church (source), and the December issue followed up with a report of Church employees who had asked the church to stop withholding war taxes from their salaries (source).

Another news brief in the October issue described the World Peace Tax Fund as a bill that “would amend the Internal Revenue Service Code so that conscientious objectors could have their tax payments spent for nonmilitary purposes,” and reported on lobbying efforts.

The November issue gave another example of corporate tax resistance in the Church of the Brethren:

Phone tax endorsed by Michigan District

The Michigan District board has instructed its district personnel to withhold the Federal excise tax on district telephone bills. It is forwarding the resolution to the Internal Revenue Service and to congressional representatives.

The withheld funds will be redirected to a Michigan District Peace Tax Fund and used by the district witness commission.

The action was based on Annual Conference statements of 1935, 1970, and 1982. The board “commend(s) this witness to all Brethren, local congregations, the General Board, and Annual Conference for their study and prayerful consideration,” and also encourages other forms of witness, such as lobbying for the World Peace Tax Fund Bill.

A profile of Brethren Volunteer Service volunteers Steve & Sue Williams in the December issue included this detail:

Another attraction to volunteer service for the Williamses was their desire not to pay taxes for war purposes. Before they married, Steve was a tax resister, withholding a certain amount of money as a protest against the government’s using his taxes for the military. But Sue was uncomfortable with tax resistance and, after they married, they began looking for an alternative. One was simply to make a lot of donations to charity.

“Before BVS we were working full-time and giving a lot of money away,” Steve said. “We began looking for a way to give away time and not money.”

I also found this article in The Morning News of Wilmington, Delaware (25 June 1983). Excerpt:

Brethren still withholding taxes

How to protest “sin of war” is on denomination’s conference agenda

by Eileen C. Spraker
and Stephanie Whyche
Staff reporters

In 1969, the Vietnam War sparked members of the Wilmington Church of the Brethren not to pay the church’s federal telephone excise tax for a year.

Although that war is dead, tax-withholding among members of the Church of the Brethren is very much alive.

How to support Brethren institutions and individuals who choose to withhold “war taxes” will be on the denomination’s agenda during their national conference, which opens June 29 in Baltimore.

Traditionally, the denomination has held to the belief that all war is sin.

Brethren 35 years ago established the Brethren Volunteer Service for conscientious objectors as an alternative to military service.

Some members of the church, for reasons of conscience, have chosen to withhold part or all of their taxes to avoid supporting the military.

A paper to be presented at the Baltimore meeting will discuss the lawful choices available to such people, the church’s position on civil disobedience, and support for institutions and people pursuing tax resistance.

“This is one of the most timely issues we have right now,” says the Rev. Allen T. Hansell, pastor of the Wilmington Church for the Brethren.

According to Hansell, some employees of the six Brethren Colleges and employees in at least one of the Brethren retirement homes are currently involved in tax resistance efforts.

But some are less than successful because their employers are withholding taxes from their employees’ pay in accordance with regulations.

“The issue is these employees, on the basis of conscience, don’t want this money withheld. Legally, the employers are bound. That’s why this issue is coming before the conference,” Hansell said.

What’s more, Hansell said, although there’s “no war right now, the telephone excise tax continues,” even though Congress promised to discontinue it once the Vietnam war had ended.

During the Vietnam War, members of Hansell’s church, in Richardson Park, stirred up a lot of controversy because they refused to pay the church’s federal telephone-excise tax.

The action was because of their belief that part of the tax was financing the war. “Our concern was to make a witness of the issue that this money was going directly to the war effort,” Hansell said. “It was a matter of principle.”

The proposal to be presented before the conference calls upon employers of employees involved in military tax-resistance efforts to take the issue seriously and maintain open dialogue with their employees.

It does not recommend that church institutions get involved in tax resistance efforts, but if they do, it calls upon the denomination to support that effort through such methods as legal assistance.

Other recommendations will suggest that Brethren seek voluntary wage reductions, and that they work with the Mennonites and Society of Friends to bring about changes through legislation.

In 1984, 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.

The January issue brought this heartening news (source):

No one in the crowd offered bids for the 1979 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 March 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)

A news brief an that issue (source) read:

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…

Ford Secrist wrote in to the May issue with his “War Tax Dilemma”:

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.…

That issue also brought this news (source):

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 May 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).

The June issue covered a tax day protest:

Peace group pays taxes with truckload of food

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 1983 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 December 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 1970 [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.”

Since 1977, 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 1983 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 1984. The August 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 1983 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.