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rights and privileges at stake will affect each of us as individuals far
more than many realize at this point. For this reason, Mr. Rader
told the press on March 1, the Church will do its best to educate
the public because we feel, and rightly so, that we have a duty to
perform. He told them, "We feel God has placed us, for His purpose
-- He works in mysterious ways -- in the vanguard fighting for
religious freedom. We will be advertising nationally -- in the press,
television and radio -- that church property has, in effect, been
confiscated in California."
He went on to explain, "Over ninety percent of our members live
outside the state of California. How would you feel if you were
living in Ohio and sending several tqousand dollars a year to the
Worldwide Church of God and then you hear that the state claims it
has control of that money and that that is a public trust belonging
to the people of Califonria. Well, this is stirring up our members
and they are involving their neighbors. And their n�ighbors are
involving their congressmen and their congressmen are involving their
governors. And this will be made a national issue."
It was announced that we have hired the finest firm of civil rights
lawyers in the country, in the opinion of Mr. Rader and others.
These people will do everything they can to see to it that our civil
rights are protected and to see that those who have conspired to
deprive us of those civil rights are made to respond in damages.
The Church very plainly must keep all of its constitutional rights,
privileges and immunities sacrosanct. This does not mean we would
not allow an examination to take place. Mr. Rade;r assured the press
that we have always, and will always, permit an examination to take
place that is a legitimate one.
The Audit Could Go On
Although the Church has steadfastly denied that the Attorney General
may conduct an examination under California Corporation Code, Section
9505, we have at all times expressed a willingness to permit a
legitimate examination of the Church's non-religious, non-ecclesias
tical affairs. A ''legitimate examination" means the kind of examina
tion which the Internal Revenue Service or any other governmental
agency normally conducts, which includes a} a prior appointment
with the entity, b) delineation of areas of inqu�ry, c) request
to examine (without copying or removing) pertinent documents, and
d) minimum interference with the conduct of the entity's normal
affairs.
Our lawyers have argued that the scope of the audit should be limited
to the scope of the complaint (lawsuit) and certainly not into every
nook and cranny of our buildings and records which will violate the
privacy of church matters we are entitled to maintain. This extra
ordinary attack on God's Church reflects a frantic effort by the
Attorney General to engage in a "fishing expedition" in the hopes
of detecting some evidence of wrongdoing to justify a claim for fees
and expenses which the law does not permit in ariy event.
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