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ATTORNEYGENERAL
DECLARES:
ALL CHURCH ASSETS
AND RECORDS ARE
PUBLIC PROPERTY
T HIS STARTLING proclama-
tion of the State of California
was recently made in court by
Deputy Attorney General Law
rence Tapper.
The declaration was made in
order to induce a judge to appoint
a receiver to enforce the State's
claim of ownership to all of the
Worldwide Church of God's
churches, administration build
inp,and contributions.
Thia intention of the State to
claim public owners hip of all
Chllttb property, was, prior to
that date, kept a secret from tbe
pub lic.
The Church has dedicated all
of ita reaOUZ'cee to oppose the
State'• intended takeover. It
a
doinc this to preserve its own
freedom to pmclaim the gO&pel
and on behalf of all churches and
individuals believing in the prin
ciple of the freedom of religion
and separation of church and
state.
The cucumstances givinc rise
to what the Church attorneys de
nounce as a confiscatory pmcla
mation are as follows:
DICTATORIAL TJIREATS
Shocked church peraonnel -re
told January 3rd lhat I, Herbert
A'ffl8U"ong, leader of the Church,
and Stanley R. Rader, my perll()nai
advieor, were fired and that the
Church was in receivership. The
State, they said,
w..
now in control
of
theChurch.
its finances, property
and penonnel. Any resistanoe by
any church employee would be met
with immediate diomiNa!.
This
terrifying
raid of
church of.
fioea-
deacribed by horrified em
� u a "1eotapo-type night.
man."
The deputieo took -ion of
,nn�ablecarlOM of Church doc
umenta. record, and confidentiaJ
material. which have not been re.
turned or accounted for.
CHURCH RIGHTS
NON-EXISTENT
C<:IIIKitutiona& atiomeya •nd church
members•like were shocked to h-, the
Sta.. ollkial1 proclaim that the W«ld.
wwle Church of God hu"no inte.-t to
�" That
"in elfect there are no
p-rivete
in1.ernt1."
That
a church is
noi.hia, m.ore than • ••ward of th•
cOtJrt." That- the church's fund.a are
. . public money." And that the church is
a trust.and the people of tbe State of
California ··are the beneficiaries."
These statements punctuated the at
tempt in court by the California Attor
ney General's office to aeiz.e control of
the Worldwide Church of God. Histori
cally. this in-cident rnarka the m01tt bt.
tant attack on individual and collective
�ligious constitutional right.Ii since the
institution of the Bill
o(
Right.
a.
In effect, the St..te claims th.at the
tit.hea and otr�rinp wnt to the Church
from aU over the world by some 100.000
memben and 300,000.co-workers, to be
used in spreading the Goepel of the
soon-cominr Kincdom ofGod. be!ong to
the State of California.
Thia gtrikea at the very heart of the
right. guaranteed by the Conatitution of
thi& ,:nat country!
STATE INVASION
On that fateful day, without notice (u
required by law), government attomeya,
investigaton and law enforcement offi
cen stormnJ Churchheadquarters. dis·
rep.rding the character of the institu
tion, the religious andsacred nature or
ii.a responaibjjjties both in the United
Sta&e1i and internationally. and its many
other cultural and charitable activitie,s.
Exploding into the e.:ecutive offieea
in an emotionally vioient takeover- of
Church property, the court-appointed
receiver- stated that I waa "fired and
out!"
The St.ate insisted that the Churt-h's
spiritual leader
fot
more than forty
yean. was no Jonge, resPonsjbJe for the
Church and demanded acceu to and
eontrol of all aspect.a of the organiza·
tion·a financial auet.1, bank recorda,
physic-al facilities, computer files and
addresaes of the Church's confidential
l00,000-perMJn membership.
Thiaunprecedented invuion was tak
en outside the bou.f'UU of th� Jaw; yet,
employees of the Church were threat
ened with jail if they did not submit to
the demanda.
ILLEGAL HEARING
The bais for this c.....,.., by tho
State ia • wit filed by tis fortner mem
hero al the Chur,,h. Supported only by
the unpl'O\led and (.ctW11ly untrue 1Ue-
11tiona concernin1 financiaJ mii.cnn
duct, these di1111identa filed th.eir tom·
plaint with t.heDeputy Attorney Gener
aJ only afte.r they had received uaur
anCff from a judp that their action
would re1ult in thf. pr1iralyt.ina: receiver
thip.
The action wnblltantly HlepJ; for at
the meeting: when the judge agreedto
sign the receivership order. the cue
against the church and it.I officials had
not even been ti.led.
E�n after the filing of the 80-cailed
"charges,"' due process of law was de,
nied the.Church, as the plaintifft &OU1ht
and nre granted mov• to place the
Church
in
receivership withoot a repre
sentative of the Church preeent at the
proceedings; the takeover of Church
property waa enactedwithout even the
four-hour notice to be civen in c&&e1 of
severe eme-rgency.
The Sta:te joined the diseidenta in
their effon to take over the control of
the Church, iu financial re110Urcea, ill
physical plan� and it.a activities world
wide-thereby nt>1aw11 it• r11!Jht& IU4r
an.tf'ed b
y
the Con11titution of th.P
United State& of A.rn•rica. 1
IRREPARABLE DAMAGE
During the t.wo monthl' term of the
r-ecetwnhip tht Church hu \oat.
SS.3
million in worldn, c.apit.-1. In addition,
normal b.nk credit lines were deuroyed
and f;l.3 million in demand not.ea were
called.
The fint si1 weelu.
uw
almmt daily
pr-., radio and TV covera,e emphasiz
ing the allegatiooa rather than the fact.I.
Thll re,.ulted in irreparable d.unqe to
the Church·s moral reputation and it.I
Clvic and legal credibility.
[n the ume period of time, neithtr
the receiver nor any of nia staff ha.1fe
been able to pTOVe. t.hl'OUlh audit or
inYe1Jtigation. any wron,doing on the
part of either Stanley Rader or m}'Nlf.
To add inau1t to injury. thereceiver
(whohad1-n admonished bythojudge
to stay out of eccleaillltical •tfain.) pn
vented the mailing of a letter fromme to
the memben. oft.heChurch.
He then aent hia own Letter to I.he
ministry of the Church around the
world sayin, anyone sending contribu
tion. directly to me would be in con-
tempt of court in California, even if the
giver lived outaide st.ate boundaries.
LOWER COURTS INSENSITIVE
HIRori<alt,, lower courta (local and
•tat.el hive been intieneitive to the con-
1titutional ritlhta of-'"·
Oneneedonly rec.JI th• monumental
efl'ort required by tho bllck -le ol
this country in their attempt to pin
equality to und.erttand the 9ituation fac
ing the Worldwide Church of God
to
day. The civil riJht& movement fou,ht
battle aft.er battle in \ocal and state
couru-buically to no avail .
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CltJI ttu•f:.OIIPOft•MI 1t1111110. Worfd!MdeChU'dl
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-und--informationon-lcanleta,y-on,.i�
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fnodombo._ in my community.
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Name
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Add...
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It wu not until the federal Supreme
Court heard their plH for civil right.I
that the American Black had theoppor
tunity to become rree and equal to nil
white brothen..
Aa the Supreme Coun wanecemary
in eatablishing the civil ri1hta of the
American Black provided. in thecomti
tution, M>, no doubt, will the federal
courta of thia land be requind to pn,·
MJ'Ye the fl"Mdom of reli&ion and the
fN>Odom ol opeech pnwidad in tho l'lnt
AmendmeeL
HOWTHIS CONCERNS YOU
The unlawful ooi,we al tho
World
wide Church ofGodby the S-ofCali
fomia could eound the death moll ol
�liciou, freedom!
Thia action cannot be allowed.. other·
wiN no r.hurch. 1ynqope or religioua
in.titut.ion Will be .tafe from the whim.
of political _,o. This ho- IDCl
illegal octlon cuta tothoboutthobaic
freedoma for which our country'• foun·
Mn fou,ht and died to-·
Such action alfectayouandyour !1111•
ily, the future o{,our relip,11udyour
otherpreciousfreedoml!
The SC.lecanno lo- hide behind
the chicaneey of ollepdfinancial mio
oonduct within a ctaaritabMo,paia-
tion. Thia action hMbeen an uaJy, vile
attempt on thepart of the SC.le Attor·
ney General of California to Ulumtpro
priet.onbip oftheChurch in directcon·
tra.wntioo oftheComtitutioa.
The attempt torac!Moify the
World
wide Church of God u a "publictruat"
and ita property • "in a se:nae, public"
ia • llqrant •ttacion tho freedomol
religion in tlu8 couotry. The etfeet ol
this ot•le-io topi-allclwrcboo
ultimately underlt&tecontn>I!
All A-...mun hecommittedto
the p...,.,.tionof the intecritY ol our
religioua institutionsandI.be freedomto
exerci8eour religioua ngbta.
How can you h.elp--what can YoU •
,1.n individual do?
Let everyone know that you • an
American will not 1taod by and allow
our freecloma to he aocalk,uoly 1ub
verted. Contact your church put.or.
write youreortfl'IIIIIDUI, writll your11n
ator, contact tho m«lla and lei your
uiftDIbe Jr,iown.'
For
mon
inf-Ionon-YQUcan
he more imoolwd irlyour OWII-uni
ty complec. the
coupon
below and NI·
tum to: Worldwlo CllurchofGod.
Bo•
111, Puadena, CA 91123.