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WHY GESTAPO-LIKE RAlOS
AREON
THE INCREASE
A recent fiurry ofwanton government raids on churches, law offices and newspapers dramatize just
how fragile our freedom has become. But why? What went wrong? What is behind the erosion of
your liberty to be f ree f rom unreasonable government intrusion?
T
he Worldwide Church of God
isn't the only group which has
had to endure the wanton,
brutal seizure of its own records over
the past few years. Sorne cases in
point:
• Recently officials from the Cali–
fornia Attorney General's Office
spent seven hours rummaging
through the files and records of a
firm of attorneys. The attorneys were
representing a religious group (the
Morningland Church of Long Beach,
California) whose headquarters were
being raided at the same time.
• One hundred thirty-four FBI
agents burst into three offices of the
Church of Scientology in Washing–
ton and California and hauled away
what one newspaper report described
as " tons of stuff." Since then,
Church of Scientology offices in Riv–
erside, California, have been raided
by local sheriffs looking for evidence
of alleged wrongdoing.
• The Supreme Court
(Zurcher v.
Stanford Daily)
has upheld the
search of newspaper files even if the
newspaper itself is not suspected of
breaking any law.
• In California, the Attorney Gen–
eral 's Office has attempted to seize
the records of yet another rel igious
group, the Faith Center Church of
Gléndale.
What these cases have in common
is a willingness on the part of the
government to seize the private prop–
erty of individuals and churches in
40
by
Stanley R. Rader
and
Jeff Calkins
order to go on a fishing expedition.
Yet until about twelve years ago this
kind of conduct would have been
struck down by the courts as blatant–
ly illegal and contrary to the Consti–
tution!
The Fourth Amendment of the
Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitu–
tion gives each person the right to be
safe against unreasonable govern–
ment searches and seizures . The
Fourth Amendment simply reads:
"The right
of
the people to be secure
in their
persons, houses, papers and
effects,
against · un reasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no warrants shall issue,
but upon probable cause, supported
by oath or affirmation, and particu–
larly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to
be seized."
The Fourth Amendment should
protect your right to privacy. And it
most assuredly does! However, there
is another aspect to the Fourth
Amendment: the Amendment also
protects your
property
from unrea–
sonable search and seizure. Law en–
forcement officers shouldn't be al–
lowed to go rummaging around your
personal possessions.
However, for the past twelve
years, American courts have failed to
emphasize that the Fourth Amend–
ment protects your property as well
as your privacy. Thus, government
officers wi ll continue-without your
di ligent defense-to violate these
constitutionally guaranteed rights.
The moral to the story seems to be
that once governments begin to disre–
gard property rights, other human
rights also are soon violated.
The Right to Property
The right to own prívate property is
part of the very Ten Commandments
of God. "Thou shalt not steal" (Exo–
dus 20: 15) and "Thou shalt not cov–
et ... any thing that is tby neigh–
bor's" (Exodus 20: 17) mean that
people must respect each other 's
property.
God's condemnation of human
governments wbich seize the proper–
ty of their citizens is poignantly
brought out in the biblical account of
Naboth and Ahab (l Kings 21 ).
Ahab the king was the sovereign of
Israel-the government , if you
please. Ahab coveted a piece of prop–
erty (a vineyard) lawfully owned by
one of bis subjects, Naboth. At first,
Ahab considered lawful procedures
for acquiring the vineyard, namely
buying it from Naboth (verse 2). Af–
ter Naboth refused to sell, Ahab's
wicked wife J ezebel appealed the
coercive powers inherent in the fact
that he controlled the government:
"And Jezebel his wife said unto him
[AhabL Dost thou now govern the
kingdom of Israel?" (Verse 7.) Jeze–
bel then brought a false indictment
against Naboth- a trumped up
charge of blasphemy (verse 10)–
and arranged for perjured testimony
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1979