Doctrine, Disfellowshipping and the IRS

by OrphanCrow 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  OrphanCrow

  I watched an episode of "Lie to Me" on Netflix that piqued my curiosity.

  In the episode Truth or Consequences, a cult leader is investigated by the IRS to determine if his cult has tax exemption or not.

  One of the criteria that has to be met in order to be a legitimate 'church' or 'religion' in the eyes of the IRS is that the members have to display "genuine belief'.

  Here is the portion of the script that speaks of this:

  http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=lie-to-me&episode=s02e02

  "Here's a copy of the court order allowing us to visit your compound and conduct our research.
  It gives us 3 days to observe and interview the members of your church, and we will come and go as quietly as we can.
  So, how many disciples live on your compound? I share the property with about 150 other believers.
  Well, the IRS has had difficulty determining an exact number.
  The children born into your group don't get social security numbers.
  They don't need one to know god.
  Oh, and god-- would that be you? The supreme court is very clear.
  - The IRS cannot judge any church's religious tenets.
  - Yeah.
  Only whether your followers' beliefs are sincere and genuine.
  So that's where we come in."

  I am not familar with American tax law....however,

  .... if "whether your followers' beliefs are sincere and genuine" has been used as a litmus test by the IRA as criteria to follow in determining the legitimacy of a cult/church/religion, then it reasonably follows that the disfellowshipping rule that the Watchtower Society put in effect in 1952, is motivated by financial reasons and NOT for Biblical reasons. Disfellowshipping is an act that has been required by the Society to maintain and establish that they are not a cult and do not have to pay tax because they are able to make a claim that everyone who is a member of the JWs are genuine and sincere in their belief - shunning and removing from official record a person who expresses doubts about their belief is probably a direct consequence of the Society's relationship with the IRS.

  And continuing along that line - that doctrine and organization of the Society is directly influenced by their need to maintain 'religious' status for tax laws- I came across a small article from 2001, that makes some claims concerning doctrine and the IRS.

  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/600502/posts

  "It is now a fact that in order to get and keep the tax-exempt status a church must agree that all religions are equal. The new Application for Recognition of Exemption Form 1023 Schedule A for Churches (Rev. September 1998) demands a declaration to this effect with the following words at point #3: "Does the organization require prospective members to renounce other religious beliefs or their membership in other churches or religious orders to become members? Yes__ No__. If "Yes," describe.""

  That might explain this quote form the Awake July 2009: "No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family."

  Tax laws may also explain why the Society is still holding to the 1914 doctrine. In the Society 1914 doctrine, Christ has already returned - invisibly.

  In today's 'terrorist' climate, a "Christ yet to come" doctrine could create a problem and an invisible Christ poses no real threat. This would explain why the Society is so tied up into making sure this doctrine is prominent and portrayed 'correctly' by their r&f - the JWs can claim that Christ has already arrived.

  From the same article http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/600502/posts:

  US Government Through the IRS Outlaws Preaching on Second Coming of Christ

  One of the reasons the IRS gave to Texe Marr's Living Truth Ministries for removing their tax exempt status is as follows: "Much of the material you disseminate promises to address possible conspiracies or threats, either from individuals, groups or various agencies, against Christianity, freedom or other rights. This is evident from a review of your newsletters and order forms. The titles and promotional materials are designed to sensationalize and grab the readers attention. They usually imply that the works will expose certain prominent groups, individuals, politicians or government agencies as being part of or linked to some threat or conspiracy." One of the titles that the IRS gave as an example included "Bible Prophecy and The Conspiracy."

  Any grade school child in Sunday School knows that you can't teach or write on Bible prophecy without dealing with the second coming of Jesus Christ. But just as the Russian pastors under communism were forbidden to speak on this subject, we are now coming to the same place in our beloved land. It is obvious that if one believes in the literal return of the Lord Jesus Christ that they will be considered a domestic terrorist. In that the Lord Jesus will destroy wicked government upon His return in great glory and break the back of Gentile world rule, this message isn't popular with the in-for-hells and the high-heeled-belles that run our country today. Of course, they don't believe that He is coming, but they believe that we who do will be involved in what they call self-fulfilled prophecies and try to hasten His coming by blowing up everything in sight. Further evidence of this type of anti-Christ thinking surfaced recently when a brochure put out by the FBI in Phoenix, Arizona, named "potential domestic terrorists" that law enforcement should be aware of. One of those groups is "Doomsday/Cult-Type." Obviously, this would include all Bible believing preachers and churches in America. We not only believe that there will be a literal doomsday, we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will bring the doom when He comes (Rev. 6:12-17). It won't do any good to claim that your church is not a "cult". The IRS definition fits the average Bible believing church to a tee.

  Many have asked if we can actually show them this in the law. Our answer is no, we can't because you won't find a specific law that says that you can't preach on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in America today. That's because they don't have to write a law to gain the same effect. All Congress has to do is to give an outlaw agency like the IRS a carte blanche privilege of making up their own so-called laws as they go along. The churches agreed to this when they signed their tax-exempt contract. They said that they would obey all laws, federal, state and local, presently and in the future. But they apparently didn't read the fine print. The new churches filing for tax exemption must agree to the following: "The Corporation or organization shall have no power to take any action that would be required for a tax exemption under Internal Revenue

  Code Section 501(c)(3) and related regulations, rulings, and procedures." It is now the "procedure" of the IRS to refuse tax exempt status to those churches that will not agree that all religions are equal and who refuse to join through tax exemption, the world church. Also, preaching on Christ's coming is taboo.
• 

  FFtruther144

  Great Post.

  Thank you.
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  OrphanCrow

  Thank you ,fftruther144.

  Now that I have had time to think about this, I realize why there will never be support for the ex-jw community at the government level concerning the disfellowshipping practises of the Watchtower Society.

  It was the government's demands that the Society prove they are not a cult that created the disfellowshipping rules to begin with.
• 

  Crazyguy

  Are the JW's still teaching that all other christian religions are false and are satan organization, if not this explains why.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  I really have no doubts that the JWs qualify as a religion under the IRS Code as it stands now.

  The debate here in the US needs to be:

  Why do we give any religion a "tax break" other than for their "charitable works", just as we do any non-religious charity?

  I think almost everyone realized that there are many "bogus" religious groups who portray themselves as such only for the financial benefit is provides to them. It's time to end the favored tax free status for religion. If they provide food or housing or training or medical care for the poor and disadvantaged, then fine, that is charity. But for me to have to pay higher taxes to support their synagogue, mosque, church, cathedral is bullshit.

  Doc
• 

  OrphanCrow

  "I really have no doubts that the JWs qualify as a religion under the IRS Code as it stands now"

  The point of this post is not whether or not the WTS qualifies a religion now.

  I could care less whether it does or not but I do care that the disfellowshipping practise that has ruined and taken so many lives since it was put in place in 1952 was put in place to satisfy IRS demands and it had fuck all to do with biblical doctrine and was only put in place so that the WTS could claim that it didn't have to pay tax.

  That is the concern - the people who killed themselves, the people who dealt with terrible consequences because of disfellowshipping and it was only because of money.

  The point is that all that happened, not because of biblical principles, like the WTS claims, but so that the WTS could establish themselves as an entity that didn't have to pay tax.

  People have died over the disfellowshipping doctrine.
• 

  ABibleStudent

  Hi OrphanCrow, Very thoughtful and researched comments. Getting a bureaucracy to become proactive takes a lot of effort, unless politicians pass laws to either fund it to be proactive or penalize it for draggin its feet.

  Have you thought about contacting Congressional representatives to promote changing tax laws for non-profit organizations? Have you thought about becoming more politically active, like joining the Linkedin group Advocates for Protecting Children from Maltreatment ( www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=6784497&trk=anet_ug_hm )?

  I feel that Congress should require non-profit organizations to comply with some minimal societal requirements, such as implement effective practices to protect children from abuse and sexual abuse, to promote tolerant and inclusive behavior to members (e.g., not promote ostracising of members to members and not promote avoiding contact with non-members), and not promote nor practise acts of discrimination. It would also be good if non-profits were required to spend at least half their income on charitable activities that equally benefit non-members as well as members, and other measures to audit their finances.

  People can think - organizations can't, so I feel that tax laws can be changed to encourage the WTBTS to change its behavior of using "undue influence" to victimize JWs without violating 1st amendment rights.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
• 

  OrphanCrow

  Getting a bureaucracy to become proactive takes a lot of effort, unless politicians pass laws to either fund it to be proactive or penalize it for draggin its feet.

  Have you thought about contacting Congressional representatives to promote changing tax laws for non-profit organizations? Have you thought about becoming more politically active, like joining the Linkedin group Advocates for Protecting Children from Maltreatment

  I understand what you are saying, BibleStudent, however, I am more interested in redemption than I am in making changes in tax laws.

  Fighting tax laws are for those who think it can make a difference. The difference has to come from the WTS and unfortunately that will only happen once they have established their position as a recognized religion in all countries. Canada, for example, has a general time frame of 75 years for a religion to establish itself as legitimate before the shunning rules (which determine 'genuine belief') can be dropped. The irony is that the more a citizen protests the tax laws for churches the more that the IRS will demand these kinds of proofs of belief such as disfellowshipping.

  The damage has already been done and I am more interested in making this information known to the exJW community and then, from there, to the JWs themselves. It is more important to raise awareness within those communities themselves so that terms of retribution can be determined for those whose lives have been destroyed for the only reason of increasing the WTS' coffers.

  I wonder how many people who have lost loved ones to the disfellowshipping policy will feel once they find out that the only reason their loved ones have committed suicide or been ostracized as 'unclean' is entirely based upon the Watchtower Society's tax exemption status. I wonder how many current JWs will 'see the light' once they understand that salient point.
• 

  CaptainSchmideo

  Hey, guys, how about actually reading the tax code itself?

  Exempt Purposes - Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3)

  The exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3) are charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals. The term charitable is used in its generally accepted legal sense and includes relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged; advancement of religion; advancement of education or science; erecting or maintaining public buildings, monuments, or works; lessening the burdens of government; lessening neighborhood tensions; eliminating prejudice and discrimination; defending human and civil rights secured by law; and combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.

  http://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Churches-&-Religious-Organizations

  Nowhere in this did I see anything about being prevented from talking about the Second Coming of Christ or other paranoid fantasies.
  I would say that the Society has a real problem in the category "eliminating prejudice and discrimination" with terms like "worldly" and "apostate" in their talks and literature, and their idea of "relief to the poor, distressed and underpriveleged" is basically a Bible study and a "go in peace, be warm and well fed". I am sure that the Society has a team of tax lawyers on hand making sure they stay within what is legally (if not morally) acceptable.
• 

  Vidiot

  Whilst I do find the notion of tax exemption status as an intruiging possible component of the origins of DFing and staunchly holding on to 1914, my advice to anyone here is this...

  ...take anything you read at freerepublic.com with a huge-ass grain of salt.