Parishioners Weep, Awaiting U.S. Seizure of Church

Hundreds of parishioners whose church was ordered seized in a $6-million dispute with the Internal Revenue Service prayed and wept Tuesday as they awaited the arrival of federal marshals.

Experts believe the U.S. government has never before seized a church in a dispute over taxes.

Singing “Faith of our Fathers,” members and supporters of the Indianapolis Baptist Temple worshiped for what they believed would be the last time inside the church. A noon deadline for the independent Baptist congregation to vacate its property passed without any sign of marshals.

“They can take our church. They cannot take our convictions,” the church’s pastor, the Rev. Greg A. Dixon, said from the pulpit to applause and shouts of “Amen!”

Dixon and his father, the Rev. Greg J. Dixon, who was pastor of the church for 41 years, have been locked in a 16-year dispute with the government in which they have questioned the authority of the IRS.

The church, with a 1,000-member congregation, stopped withholding federal income and Social Security taxes from the paychecks of its employees in 1984. Church officials said that their duty to obey God prevailed over society’s laws, and that withholding taxes would make the church an agent of the government. The younger Dixon said the employees have paid their own taxes.

On Sept. 28, U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker ordered the surrender of the church, its school and parsonages to satisfy a lien of $6 million in back taxes, penalties and interest. The buildings could then be auctioned off.

On Tuesday, U.S. Marshal Frank Anderson would not say when the seizure will take place. He said only that the Marshals Service wants to “do it as quickly as we can.”

“We do not want to jeopardize the safety of any of the members involved. We don’t want any type of confrontation. We want to resolve this in a peaceful manner.”

The church was stripped of hymnals, icons and religious paintings in anticipation of the seizure. Only seats and the pulpit remained in the sanctuary.