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PASTOR GENERAL' S REPORT , October 3 1 , 1 9 8 0
The Attorney General
is a man of his word.
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N SEPT. 30, 1980, Sen
ate Bi l l No. 1 493 was
signed into law by Gov.
,Jerry Brown. It provides
t hat the attorney general
of the state of California shall
haw no powers with respect
to religious corporations (ex
cept for a few spec ific areas
clearly defined I to supervise
or monitor church atfairs in
the state of California.
\\.: e u f t he World\l.
1
ide Church of (;i>d
�upp<1tted �enate HiH 1 -49:\, \Ve- wrre-
;:ind are -tirmlv convinced that it pro
\'-ides a prntec-tinn 'nadly nefodetl hy (' a\i -
forn i a 's rel iglous oq1;anria.t ions and
churches. The first ,-\mendment to the
Con:-.t i tut inn of the l '. ni tf'd State� i .;
plalnl:,. applicahli to the ,,;tates hy rea
son uf the, Fourteenth Amendment to
the Con:-:t i tut ion, but for near/v twn
years { 1Ur Church has been enj?aged i n a
legal defern<e {)f that important riiht rin
behalf d o.ur'5.t"lves and others
c,., . 1.)f;il't D-e�kme-j�<M), aHnrne:,; genera{
of the state of California, our adversan·
in the lawsuits we have been fight ing,
0ppo�€-d Senate Bi l l l .tg.1. In hls npp<w,j .
tion, he i.t.':1.te-d. he wou)d have t o dismiss
tfw \awsu\ ts a�ainst us if the new act
became law.
Senate BiH \ .\9',\ did berome law.
At tornev Genera� (�t-or�-e Oeukme)\an
has dmPped the chat'f(e;<, again.'it us as he
�: mirnl$.ed. He ls a man of his word. \.Ve
admi re him for that
In a sen-"e, though we bt>lieve he had
no legal or moral grounds for harassing
us or interfering with the Work or the
living God, we always have admired the
cons/.,tPno· roncPrmng thf' democrati(
prore.ss 1n ·thl' c·ruted .r..:rates.
i\fr. Deukmejian has not been attor
ney general for very long. His principal
background was as a member of the
l egJ.i.,Jature. There, he alwa . vs expressed
the �trongest feeling that democracy
worb best when it reflects the voice of
thE> legislature. the will of the people,
and our form of j?;Overnment sometimes
s t ravs from the path nf democracy when
th� Courts. bec:ome involved.
Hls support o( the ··us.e a gun, go to
prison" legislaclon was a prime demon .
stration of that conl.'iction.
Vr'hen Mr. Deukmejian became attar.
ney g�n-eral. he inherited the lawsuits
against us. We- were be-ing accused v.i\d
\y of bll manneT of things. Anonymous
detract ors �aid we -xere tu\t1st. \l;hate--..·e r
that means. l t was . ..a . id that our leader�
were 5iphonint otf mi l l ions of dol lars of
( 'hurch nwner A. .
...
ecret hoard of gold
hu\\ii)\l was aHeied\y hei.C\� "tockpi.\.ed i.n
.;ome hidden cache. Chu rch propertie�
were hPing sold fnr the pri\'ate enrich,
rnent of a ft>w i ndividuals- Our bonk�
and records were hein,? s\'sternar lcally
sh.redded and de�tro\'ed
A.H \hbe char�e, ,., ere fa\:,;,e , :,,.imply
nnns,ense. and we immediat€-h rt)n
\ inced jud�es t ha t the\' were a bst;rd and
grnur.dless
Hn�· e\er , \tr l)euknwjian felt he had
an at Jthori tv to conlinue wi t h thP law
su i r :-. hrm1�ht against uf.. under t he
a dm i n is1 rnt i c 1 n of hi s predere!- . "i O r .
E'l.·elle Younger, and :-.t rongly urg:ed
upon him h\ his b\lreauuacy. He had
tno much foi th in hi:-. dep1Hies, ,1nd he
e\ · ide-ndv bel ieved t ha t C.ihfornla la"' .
as it wai'. wr i 1 1 en before passage o f
Stinate Hi l l l.t9,l made churches some
rhing cal led "charitable t rusts" owned
h
..,
· the state and made churrhes answer
able ro the nttice ,,f the al tnrney gem•ral
His df'putit"s (· f>ntended t hat the law
m:od� \-:_ th-e t\iht 13.nd du.ty ,;if the
att0111ey �f'nerars ottice t o oversee the
spending nf church funds and l o monJ,
tor al l of thei r acti,. . ities
Bc1ca11se lhe .attorne).: general followed
the lr�al ad\'ire of his depulies, he tonk
it upon himself to confiscate om rec
ords.. to i nvesti�ate our Work, to search
t hrough our most private papers be
cau!'-f;.> he helleved ralifornia law made
him respon5ihle for our actions.
We di);agref'd and we resisted wi th al l
the force and vigor at our command. We
would have cont imied to resist for a.s
long as necessary,
\1r. Deukmejian opposed Senate Bill
1 49:, when it was introdu('ed into the
legislature by Sen. �icho\as Petris. He
said he befirved it was necessary t o
allow ! he attorney gen�ral authority t o
invest igate churches. H e sa.\d that
churches--partinilarl_v those organized
along hierarchical lines, as is ours and
the Roman Catholic church-would he
able to hide too mu('h. He said it would
be too easv for wrongdoing to occur if
the go•,ernffient was forbidden to Jonk at
the pr i \a 1 p p�pn5 and ti
1
1e:<. , 1 f : ' .ul'h
nr)!::an11.a\1on.;,
He admi t ted i f the hill ,,..as passprl. he
wot.l id nn longer ha\e an ."' legal right tn
im'bt i�ate u! ' . He con('ede<l that . Jt1st as
he �a-:-, (ry\
\'\
)?,: h, enfofc(l th(> f,f£-•, \\\W;,., ,.,.....
as he saw i r , now he 1,l,·ould have to ah,de
h\' the new law. whethn qr not hP
thought i t represf'nted ,..,.i�e lf'gi-.la1ion .
,\fr Dt>ukmejian is a man ofh1's- word
He ha':s dH>p�d the ,1..1,\ts a��frn.:..t \1'$.. We
are happv ahou.t t hJ.t Since \ t at.....a-..·l'
was our Cl)(l fenr ion not onl:-i, that "''e
«.'ere innncer1l of wrnnwtnin�. which we
were. h\lt that 1 he a( t \)rt1e\: ��rH•rnl had
nn ri
,g
hl lo harass u� ·in the ht!'iol p\ace-.
we fre/ 'I. indicated In t he pure�t sen�e
We pn,ved ourselves innocent earl in
�fow we ha,.-e heen prn... . ed right
Howe,.·er, 14-hile we op po!-ed t h f'
atl t1rnl"\' gene-ra\ with \'i
i:!;
Df. w e <lo share
some of his ftelings ahout the political
prore. li!i.<t
Wf' agree wi th him about t he irnp,1r
tance 1.it the le�i.slature. We airee wi th
him thal the princip\es of the l'.nited
:-itates are best protected w i t h t he vn1ce
of t he legislature. And we &l(ree wi th
him that the law. as enacted, .-.hould he
o\wved. W� alwav5. have (ihev�d th� law
w� admire Mr Deukmejian for tinaJly
dnln):: the �arne thin:i?
I , personal ly, would l i ke t o -;ay one
hnal t hing, While I have disagreed v1g
nrou�ly with \1 r . Deukmejian·s position
a�a\nst the Church, l do share his feel
ing that there is a verv impotiant ques
tion at issue here, W.-'hat ,.�· the proper
rdat1on.,,;h1p betu er>n #rWernmenl and
1'hl.arh?
'that is a hard que.'ition.
I
am as aware
as \.1r . Deukmejian is that scoundrels
sometimes hide behind the veil of
n·H
gion. They alwBys h£we. The rjgh t to
wM�hip frf'ely mu!l,t be prot�cted an',1-
wa.y l am equally aware that h()rrors
occur as in Guvana_ But. there mu.st be
/allfu l ways fo protect the inno(',e,nt
from those who wou\d prey upon them.
) intend t o cont inue to work in this
t ieId. I would like to involve �fr Deuk ·
me-jtan and nther government \eaders
who are interested ln pur-suing thi� mon,
umental question.
I
would hope that
other church leaders and civil libertttr·
ians will join us in searching for answers
Wh9t do ymJ say, Mr. Deukmejian
?
V\re
were powerful adversaries. Perhaps we
cat\ be even 'itr:o��r: associates .
STAr,,ll['t' R. RADER
Treasur�r
Worldwide Church of God
P age 4