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The effect of the actions of Mr. Tapper, the assistant attorney
general in Pasadena, California, has been to place all churches under
state control and put strict limits on how they can spend money and
acquire and dispose of property. The possibility that such precedent
setting efforts will gain some credence is heightened by the public
reaction to the tragedy of Guyana.
Such backlash effects must not be
permitted to take place.
A complete copy of Dr. Melton's statement is enclosed. Dr. Melton
is the author of two definitive works on American religious groups;
THE DIRECTORY OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN THE UNITED STATES (Garland, 1977)
and THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN RELIGIOUS (Consortium, 1978). As the
Director of ISAR, he has followed the life of the Worldwide Church of
God for many years. In 1977 he joined the newly formed Alliance for
the Preservation of Religious Liberty, which has initiated an action
program related to the infringements on religious freedom focused on the
small religious bodies of America.
The Alliance was particularly
active in opposing the process called "deprograming."
STATEMENT BY DR. J. GORDON MELTON ON THE CURRENT SITUATION
OF THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
In my capacity as Director of the Institute for the Study of American
Religion, I have been an observer of the Worldwide Church of God for many
years. During the 1970s it has continued to be controversial, strife
ridden and rent with several schisms. However, until the last two
weeks, its problems have been internal and reflective of growth, the
natural dissent that tends to arise in religious bodies over doctrines
and practices, and polemics due to the Church's distinct positions
contra mainline Christian beliefs.
In recent weeks this situation has changed drastically. Internal
dissent has been brought into the court, and based upon as yet unproven
accusations, the State of California's attorney general's office has
entered one area of church dispute on the side of a group of former
members of the
Church.
The grounds for the entrance of the office into
this ecclesiastical dispute is the unheard of opinion of Assistant
Attorney General Lawrence Tapper that the assets of religious bodies are
somehow "public" property, and in the interests of the people he may
seize and examine the church records to determine if money is being
properly spent.
The attempt to redefine the Worldwide Church of God as a "public
trust" and its property as "in a sense, public" is the most flagrant
attack on the freedom of religion and the independent status of
religious institutions in this country in many years. The intent of
Mr. Tapper's action would extend the authority of the government into
the private life of a religious institution, and in open disregard of
the Constitution, set limits upon how a Church chooses to extend its
mission, spread its message, obtain and dispose of property
and, by extention, what it blieves (since action is the natural result
of beliefs).
I personally could not be a member of the Worldwide Church of God.
It has a theocratic system of government which places all authority in
one man, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. The doctrine of the Church denies