l

Opinion

Editorials are posted and archved on JNOnline. corn.

Editorial

Blatant Coercive Power

ver the decades,
America has arranged a
delicate balance
between the political and the
religious. That's why a decision
by the Internal Revenue Service
to go after a California church's
tax exemption because of an
anti-war sermon is chilling. The
IRS claims the Methodist minis-
ter's talk, opposing the Iraq War
and delivered two days before
the 2004 presidential election,
amounted to an endorsement of
Democrat John Kerry.
No lightning bolt from on
high needs to inform us that the
Bush administration has made
serious mistakes in Iraq. But
that was hardly a ringing
endorsement of Kerry's stand on
the war. In fact, a good part of
the problem with his candidacy
was a failure to articulate such a
stand.
If the IRS ruling stands, how-
ever, it could mean that rabbis
who strongly urge political sup-
port for Israel from the bimah,
and Catholic priests who
instruct their parishioners to

0

oppose abortion, may be in vio-
lation. Implicit in their recom-
mendations is that the stand of
candidates on these issues
should be carefully examined.
Anyone who values free
speech and free exercise of reli-
gion should be alarmed at this
blatant use of the government's
coercive power. No matter what
your feelings may be about the
Iraq War, this is an infringement
on an important right.
According to IRS regulations,
tax-exempt groups cannot
endorse specific candidates. In
the past, it has gone after the
Christian Coalition for doing
just that for Pat Robertson in
1988.
But American clergy histori-
cally have attempted to influ-
ence secular policy from their
pulpits. The abolitionist, civil
rights and peace movements
would have run on empty had it
not been for the impetus from
religious leaders.
Even the ministers of Detroit
could be on dangerous ground.
Many of them explicitly backed

the re-election of Mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick in pre-election ser-
mons. Does the IRS propose to
shut down their churches?
The balance of the secular
and religious in American polit-
ical life does not please those
who insist that the Constitution
mandates an absolute wall
between church and state. Nor
does.it pacify those who want
prayer and creationism in the
classroom.
But it works, despite the best
efforts of zealots on both sides
to unravel it. This balance is, in
fact, a good part of how
America defines itself: as a sec-
ular state that acknowledges the
role of the Almighty in human
affairs.
The IRS would be better
advised to concentrate on the
real tax-dodgers rather than
those who advocate attachment
of timeless religious convictions
to the issues of the day. ❑

E-mail letters of no more than 150

words to letters@thejewishnews.com .

Dry Bones SWARONS RACE

WHAT A HORSE
RACE/
THE t.IKUO JOCKEY
JUMPED OFF HIS
HORSE T,'

ANC HE IS NOW
RACING 00041 THE
TRACK RUNNING
ON HIS OWN/

www.clrybonesblog.blogspot.corn

Reality Check

The Urban Reservation

ne of the most coura-
geous journalists I've
ever known is Bill
Johnson.
He is black and conservative,
and for that he was blasted as a
traitor and liar by the political
establishment in Detroit. In his
autobiography, Coleman Young
said he disagreed with many
Detroit newspaper columnists,
but there were only two he
actually disliked. One of them
was Johnson.
(Modesty should forbid me
from mentioning this, but the
other one was me. Please, hold
your applause.)
Bill is out of the newspaper
biz. Growing weary of editors
who knew jack about the city
killing his toughest columns,
he quit and took a job with the
Wayne County Board of
Commissioners.

0

are entire households,
Most of Detroit's
One of the things Bill pre-
not individuals.
.middle class work
dicted was that the Detroit of
The casinos also
the future would probably look for some branch of
tend to take dollars
a lot like an Indian reservation. government, either
from the pockets of
the city or its
It would be populated by peo-
local residents who
schools. It's a classic
ple who were either employees
can least afford to lose
example of taking
or wards of government and
George Cantor them. The idea that
money out of one
rely on gambling for its suste-
Detroit will become a
Colum nist
pocket to put it in
nance.
major tourist and con-
the other, because
I thought of this again when
vention destination when per-
their salaries come out of the
I heard a post-election radio
manent casinos and hotels are
taxes they pay.
interview with Mayor Kwame
built seems ... well, let's use a
Since city workers are now
Kilpatrick. He stated that
charitable word ... implausible.
free to live elsewhere, they are
"Detroit is changing from a
skedaddling out of town as fast Unless the showrooms bring in
manufacturing economy to a
big-name entertainment, and
as they can. According to the
casino economy."
not shlocky lounge bands.
That's quite an admission. Of U.S. Census Bureau, the city
Given all this, I don't see how
has lost fully one-third of its
course, it isn't all his fault. It
the city can stay out of
households earning between
took three decades of deter-
receivership. According to the
$75,000 and $100,000 a year
mined unwillingness to face
since 2000. Their tax dollars, of projections of Joe Harris, the
economic reality and of alien-
city's auditor general and the
course, left with them.
ating the most likely source of
most clear-sighted man in the
Almost 47 percent of the
new capital — young suburban
joint, the hammer will come
households that remain make
entrepreneurs — to arrive at
down after the first of the year.
less than $25,000 a year. Those
this pass.

tiriN

Maybe that won't be alto-
gether terrible. If a receiver
comes in, yanks the hard deci-
sions out of the hands of
politicians who have taken up
residence in dreamland and
restores some financial integri-
ty to the process — that would
be a forward step.
But the blow to Detroit's
national reputation would be
terrible. And it would affect the
entire area, because to the rest
of the world we're all Detroit.
You'd hope that when Super
Sunday comes the only
receivers around would be at
Ford Field. But if you listen
closely you can hear the distant
drumming on the
reservation.

❑

George Cantor's e-mail address is

gcantor614@aol.com .

December 15 • 2005

51