Background:

On October 31st of 2004 at All Saints Church in Pasadena, Ca. Rev. Dr. George Regas delivered a sermon. It is not unusual for reverends to deliver sermons. In fact it meets our expectations. However, this sermon caused some issue for the federal government. Regas' sermon was entitled, "If Jesus Debated Sen. Kerry and President Bush." Here the timing was significant. It was a mere five or so days before a national election. Regas was attempting to make his congregation reflect on the serious issues before them before they proceeded to the ballot box. Regas says he was not advocating, only trying to convey the gravity of the situation. Typically, Jesus is seen as an ancient rhetor who came into our ancient/classical/Judaic world to show us the way to the Father. On that way, we are to beat swords into ploughshares. Kerry is thought to be Catholic; Bush is a Methodist. Both are 'Christians.'

The Problem:

The IRS is a government agency. In biblical terms we might call those associated with the IRS 'tax collectors.' According to the IRS, Regas' sermon crossed a line that reverends ought not to cross: the separation between advocacy for a political candidate and expounding moral principles and religious values. I suppose their point is that no commitment to a set of values can ever necessitate a particular candidate's election. People are free to make up their own minds. Yet when a church begins to advocate it violates a principle of separation.

The Position:

Regas performs an act of simple denial: "My sermon did not cross the line that violates the tax laws governing churches." He sought to add other elements as well:

The IRS is apparently making a subjective determination that I implicitly opposed one candidate and endorsed another.

The IRS analysis ignores the fact that I explicitly stated that I was not advising anyone how to vote.

When I was rector of ASC, we diligently enforced a policy against campaign intervention.

We are a religious community with a message, a core set of values. These are the values of Jesus, an ancient rhetor. Jesus taught. The message of Jesus is not to stay out of politics but to be engaged in the lives of people.

Judgment:
Rhetors must have a coherent message. One aspect of the rhetorical square is that a speaker must speak; he must have a message; the message must be in some form: grammatical, visual, etc; that there must be an audience capable of hearing/receiving that message. Regas gets high marks for having a message; anything less and he would be disqualified from consideration at this web site.
He gets high marks for attempting to defend his position publicly after it came out that the IRS was pursuing an investigation. He is someone capable of articulating relevant norms in a specific situation, and so we acknowledge his talent as a rhetor. He gets somewhat lower marks for thinking that anyone who listens to the phrases, 'peace on Earth,' 'good will toward men,' the sacredness of life,' and 'the fragility of the environment in a vast cosmos' might be able to refrain from yawning. He gets lower marks for translating a pulpit into a bully pulpit. Final assessment: B-

Comments:
Rhetors need the skill to articulate coherent messages. Fine. But when one has heard the same phrase over and over again for what seems now to be decades if not centuries, the terms may become cliches. Trying to turn this into a witch hunt isn't going to change the fact that Regas has not engaged our imaginations, even as he has remained faithful to a particular tradition.

MGGreer