THE MOOD OF AMERICA
Marine, Gene & Spiker, Larue
THE MOOD OF AMERICA Notes on the Firing of a Clergyman and the Tax Troubles of a Non-Believing Religion What's a Religion-For Tax Purposes? by GENE MARINE CAN AN organization of people who...
...by GENE MARINE CAN AN organization of people who specifically do not believe in God be called a religion...
...Deacon X would never commit himself...
...Then," the moderator turned to the other deacons, "I move that this board recommend to the congregation that the pulpit of Weaver Memorial be declared vacant...
...On the Sunday before the meeting he devoted his whole sermon to brotherhood and the events in the church's history with which they were familiar—events which had convinced him that Weaver should become a bi-racial church...
...Bitter words were spoken and feeling mounted...
...Troublesome too...
...Impossible, said Alameda County...
...Macy proposed the establishment of a new church to be interracial from its inception...
...You knew you risked splitting the church...
...Humanism is widely accepted by reputable scholars in the field of bona fide religious movement," and what's more, any decision to the contrary would violate the First Amendment, whose freedom-of-religion clause says nothing about "God as an essential deity...
...I agree with you in principle," he told the Macys later, "but you went at it in the wrong way...
...The Fellowship chose to argue the point...
...The First Amendment question attracted the attention of the eagle-eyed staff of Northern California's American Civil Liberties Union affiliate, who filed an amicus curiae brief on what they call "those portions of Horstman's contention which infringed civil liberties...
...If that isn't enough, the ACLU noted that a decision against the Fellowship would be "an arbitrary and unjustifiable discrimination in violation of the due process and equal protection guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment" as well...
...Though they don't believe in God, they do approach humanism as essentially a religious relationship...
...It is a wonderful experience...
...A little discreet phoning had assured the deacons of support from the floor, but many people had come because of the controversial nature of the recommendations the minister was going to make...
...Before many weeks new members had increased the active congregation by one-third...
...The people living in the neighborhood, half Negro and half white, are poor and subject to all the problems of urban deprivation—poor housing, congestion, high crime rates...
...The Macys are quiet people, certainly not the kind to go out looking for a fight...
...It was the answer," remarked Macy later...
...One day Deacon X suggested to Macy that they invite a number of Baptist ministers, including several Negroes, to meet and explore possible paths for integrating the activities of the churches...
...At the end of the services an angry buzz rose...
...Alameda County's District Attorney, J. F. Coakley, answered the ACLU brief, but before getting to the heart of the matter, he decided to cover all the bases by taking an extraneous swing at the ACLU, with a Nixonesque command of the imprecise accusation: "The argument...
...But somewhere along the line conscience was added to conviction, and conscience can be an unyielding thing...
...As their pastor, it is my duty to minister to their needs too...
...Whether in a burst of crusading zeal or not is unknown, but Tax Assessor Russell Horstman has appealed the case, stubbornly insisting that if it hasn't got God, it can't be a religion...
...They were unprepared for this move...
...In 1951 he entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville...
...There is no question in my mind," he told them, "that Weaver should open its doors to its Negro neighbors...
...It . . . includes . . . persons with humanist religious attitudes very similar to those of plaintiff...
...In 1955, the question finally reached the Superior Court, in one of the strangest trials held in this area in some time...
...Their membership makes Zion the first inter-racial Southern Baptist congregation in the South since the Civil War...
...Life began to stir inside the old brick walls...
...She recovered completely, but the shock of her illness set them to thinking about their way of life...
...The conscience of Macy and his wife, Charlotte, led them into the fury and hatred of their fellows, and it led them beyond to new experiences and a higher hope...
...The results of the Macys' enthusiasm were soon evident...
...When it came up again, in 1949-50, they got their application in too late...
...However, the silence didn't last long...
...The Fellowship, it was contended, held forums on current affairs, social gatherings, and "controversial" meetings...
...They are becoming acquainted with Negroes as human beings—the kind and loving, the proud and the arrogant, the brave and the indifferent...
...Then one evening in 1948 he came home from his district to find his wife in an iron lung, stricken with polio...
...Am I justified to risk splitting my church on this matter...
...The secretary had five reasons for opposing such a plan...
...This, to some of the deacons, was more reprehensible than betrayal of his God...
...However, there are a lot of people in the congregation who won't like the idea...
...Several months later the Macys and two other families from Weaver were invited to join the Zion Baptist Church, whose minister had mentioned the Great Commission so many weeks before...
...A Minister Knocks On Every Door by LaRUE SP1KER SPLITTING the church" was the cudgel with which they beat him...
...They could not...
...They affiliated with a Southern Baptist Church and were soon active lay workers...
...A conscience like Macy's can make a sizable breach in it...
...But in 1952, the tax assessor's office said "no...
...Enter the ministry, of all things...
...Macy welcomed the suggestion...
...After his graduation, the Weaver Memorial Baptist Church in Louisville invited him to be its pastor...
...Dr...
...The board of deacons always met the evening before the business meeting, and that Tuesday night Macy walked into a charged atmosphere...
...It gave two reasons...
...He began to prepare them several weeks in advance through his sermons, and finally he let it be known that he would make important recommendations at an early business meeting...
...One was that the premises were used for purposes not "solely and exclusively" religious...
...Macy tells you...
...He fought it, and his relatives and friends helped him combat the feeling...
...There is a lot of religious conviction in the South...
...Their recommendation was met with startled silence...
...The vote was tied with Deacon X abstaining...
...His plan was simple enough...
...They needn't have been so worried," Macy said later...
...It then proceeded to call a number of ministers, of other religions (or whatever), and to question them about their church socials and public forums...
...A church should seek to minister to all the needs of the people...
...Today it is surrounded by an increasing number of small industries, businesses, and dilapidated tenements...
...Now he can knock on every door...
...I realize there may be a little risk...
...yet conviction generally bows before the barriers raised against full knowledge of the Christian ethic...
...Macy is selling photographic supplies again, but he feels that his real work is not finished...
...But a religion with no God at all...
...The Rev...
...It was not an easy step...
...There were a few who remained loyal to him, and some who capitulated unwillingly to the pressures...
...There was considerable discussion—most of it unpleasant...
...To the county's no-God-no-religion, the defense countered "Who are you to say...
...Macy was called to the ministry at the age of 35...
...Several months later the Macys still sounded incredulous in describing the emotions evoked in the meeting...
...The moderator cast the deciding vote...
...He and his wife were happily preoccupied with making a home for their three children and with a satisfying social life...
...Especially for tax purposes...
...They decided they needed to do something...
...They also permitted the use of their premises for meetings by other groups, including one called the East Bay Peace Committee which may have been "left-wing...
...at other times it appears that Allah or Vishnu will do just as well...
...But religious conviction is not quite enough to account for Willard and Charlotte Macy...
...One man with whom they had a particularly warm personal relationship came to the Macys with tears in his eyes and begged them to change their position...
...Reverend Macy," the moderator began, "didn't you know that you risk splitting the church with this thing you propose...
...and cited the First Amendment...
...I couldn't go on and only knock on certain doors," Macy said later...
...The Fellowship of Humanity, it seems, emphasizes the "relation of man to man," and what's religiou* about that...
...In some of the arguments that have followed, it appears that God's name even has to be God...
...The august gentlemen who serve on the California District Court of Appeals have had some tough nuts to crack in the past, but none that required them to produce a definition of "religion...
...The Secretary could think of no other post for him...
...Their attitude on social problems was liberal, but "we didn't inconvenience ourselves about it...
...The inclination was stirring deep inside him...
...The hand extended in time of trouble was a Negro hand," Macy points out...
...For tax purposes, that is...
...Under California law, the premises of religious organizations—church buildings and grounds—are exempt from property taxes, but each organization must apply for its exemption...
...After the dismissal, he went to the local Baptist organization seeking a way that his training might be put to use...
...But the feeling grew stronger and could not be denied...
...A number of members agreed that something should be done...
...The deacons' motion carried, but there were a number of people who did not vote...
...He had been an ambitious young man, making a comfortable living as a salesman in the Louisville, Kentucky, district for a large photographic supplier...
...My recommendations would have lost by a large margin, but a lot of peopk didn't like the idea of firing me...
...We are adults and should be able to discuss the matter...
...The second reason was that a religion without God just can't be a religion...
...He wished Macy luck and said that he would pray for him...
...It "may need to put clothes on the back and food in the belly...
...The largest business meeting in the church's history convened the following night...
...He reached for his Bible and read it aloud: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth...
...Having more or less subtly told the court what he thinks of such alien elements as the ACLU, and such shameless garments as constitutional sanctity, Coakley proceeded to argue that the First Amendment prohibits prior restraints on religious practice, but doesn't forbid examination of a group's actions to see whether they are, in fact, religious...
...is an example of tactics frequently adopted in modern times by alien elements which seek to clothe unlawful conduct in the garment of constitutional sanctity...
...For the first time the white members are meeting Negroes in honest fellowship...
...He and Charlotte accepted the offer eagerly...
...The Unitarian Church," the ACLU argued, "does not demand of its members that they believe in a deity and many in fact do not...
...Church organization, which had deteriorated in the year and a half the pulpit had been vacant, was re-established...
...The Fellowship, say its officials, believes in a "non-theistic religious humanism," but they emphasize the word "religious...
...He would recommend to the congregation that they consider discussing the need for opening the church to all its neighbors regardless of color...
...Yet the Unitarian Church has traditionally been accepted as a religion in the United States...
...Not so, says the ACLU...
...The brief picks out of the appeal the statement that "religion and religious worship must include God as an essential deity...
...He told them the nature of the recommendations he would make the following Wednesday...
...He leaned forward tensely and clasped his hands between his knees...
...This interesting exercise in philosophical semantics is about to be resolved in California, not by a conclave of professors and theologians, but by the relatively prosaic methods of the District Court of Appeals...
...Willard P. Macy had betrayed his color...
...D. E. King, pastor of Zion Baptist, a large and richly appointed Negro church, studied Macy for a moment and asked softly: "What is the Great Commission...
...At any rate, they got the exemption...
...Weaver is in the center of town, where it was founded more than 100 years ago...
...It is not easy to be told you are inspired of Satan," he said huskily, "especially by people you love...
...The deacons' report was the first major item on the agenda...
...We acted out of religious conviction," Mrs...
...You've got the future of your children to think about...
...He knew then what he must do...
...Faced with curious semantic questions on one point but unassailable evidence on the other, the court upheld the exemption...
...a tax assessor might have some trouble deciding whether a Vedantist's desire to unite his Atman with the Brahman constitutes belief in "God as an essential deity," for tax purposes...
...Macy firmly believes that churches should be an integral part of their communities...
...Lay participation in church activities rose...
...The Great Commission is Matthew 28: 18-20...
...When Macy accepted the post he knew that, if the church were to fulfill its mission, it would eventually have to decide to open its doors to the whole neighborhood, Negro as well as white...
...Churches have recently tended to move into outlying districts where ministry to the spirit can be conducted in a pleasant atmosphere and bellies are comparatively comfortable...
...The barrier to communication between the two races in the South is beginning to crumble on many fronts...
...Why, I suppose there is a little risk, but there shouldn't be much...
...Then," he said bitterly, "you are inspired of Satan...
...In 1947-48, the tax assessor of Alameda County received such an application from the Fellowship of Humanity, with premises in the city of Oakland...
...More difficult religions, such as Vedanta— we have a good many religions in California—face curious questions also...
...Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world...
...Discussion is all I am asking...
...Perhaps the Unitarians might have to pay half taxes...
...Should the Fellowship of Humanity lose its exemption, the decision might well have some interesting consequences...
...It is leading me to some sort of definite work in a larger purpose...
...As Macy gave increasing spiritual leadership, older members began to suggest that he enter the ministry...
...The unusual needs of the church and its community offered scope for the intensity of their devotion...
...For sauce (or perhaps for a flavor of respectability), the ACLU threw in the information that five of our Presidents were Unitarians...
...There was some quiet individual discussion of the problem...
...Pain flicked briefly across Macy's face as he mentioned this...
...Discussion developed quickly...
Vol. 21 • May 1957 • No. 5
