Churches See Tax Rebate as a Godsend

As tax rebate checks begin arriving in the mail this week, religious leaders are campaigning with a flurry of e-mail, letters, fliers and pitches from the pulpit to persuade the faithful to earmark at least a portion of the rebate for God.

They are exhorting congregants to see the checks, which range from $300 to $600, not as a windfall but as a godsend.

“President Bush says, ‘It’s not the government’s money, it’s your money,’ ” Father Loren Weaver of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach told his congregation, echoing the president’s familiar 2000 campaign line. “And we say, ‘It’s not our money, it’s God’s. Everything is God’s.’ ”

Weaver’s goal is small: He hopes for enough money to pay the incoming rector a better salary. But a congregation near Nashville hopes to raise $450,000 to ease its debt from members who sign over their government checks directly to the church. And leaders of Judaism’s Reform movement have asked Jews to protest the tax cut, which many liberals opposed in favor of social programs, by giving their refunds to the poor.

The refunds are the first tangible products of the 10-year, $1.35-trillion tax cut plan Bush signed last month. The 92 million rebate checks, totaling $38 billion, have begun to arrive at households. But to get that money, religious organizations must muscle out other interests.

Wal-Mart is offering to cash the checks and Home Depot is handing out interest-free loans until customers’ rebates arrive.

Secular nonprofit groups are disseminating information on how far they can make those refunds stretch. The American Red Cross has produced a list showing that $300 gives one disaster victim five days of meals and motel stays. America’s Second Harvest, a hunger relief organization, tells potential donors that “for every dollar of your refund, we are able to distribute 30 pounds of food to hungry people.”

And for those adamantly opposed to the cutback, United for a Fair Economy, a Boston-based group dedicated to narrowing the gap between the upper and lower classes, allows taxpayers to give it back to the government via a Web site, https://rejecttherebate.com.

But in the race for the rebate check, faith groups have a special edge: a weekly captive audience.

On Sunday, Pastor Doug Webster will ask his congregation what to do with the found money. He plans to soften them up by scattering $1 bills throughout the temporary quarters of Mountain View Church in Mission Viejo--on chairs and the floor.

“I then will speak of the joy of found money, which prompts our hearts to do whatever we want with the money, whatever we value,” Webster said.

He’s hoping his members value the capital campaign to build a permanent home for the congregation.

Before Friday’s prayer services at the Islamic Society of Orange County, Muslim leader Haitham Bundakji urged worshipers to consider pledging their tax refund checks to help pay for their new $8-million mosque under construction in Garden Grove.

“I told them this was unbudgeted money coming to them,” Bundakji said. “The response was very, very positive. I was really pleased.”

Officials at the Presbyterian Church USA sent out a letter this week asking members of its 11,400 congregations nationwide to give 10% of their refund to mission work, a move that could bring in $50 million.

“This kind of situation doesn’t happen every year,” said Christie Neagle, a mission funding and development expert with the Presbyterian Church.

An editorial in Christian Century magazine earlier this month urged the faithful to turn the refunds over to their church or favorite charity.

“We encouraged people to think about the impact they can have,” said David Heim, executive editor. “And if you disagree with the president, all the more reason to spend the money that supports your values. We asked them to put their money where their mouth is.”

The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the national umbrella organization for Reform temples, has asked synagogues to form a Tzedakah Collective (tzedakah is Hebrew for charity), funded by the refund checks, that would give money to nonprofit organizations.

Rabbi Shelton J. Donnell said his Santa Ana synagogue won’t form a collective, but he will present his congregants with a list of groups that face budget cuts during the economic turndown. And he’ll encourage them to give the money themselves.

“I’d rather [they] take that extra step and say where the money is going,” said Donnell of Temple Beth Sholom. “I want them to have the social conscience. I’ll ask them, ‘How would God want you to use it?’ I’m interested to know how people are going to react.”

Rarely do pastors and rabbis have the opportunity to ask congregants to give a triple-digit check that doesn’t put a large dent in the pocketbook.

“This is the first time for them to really buy into the church,” said Ed Alexander, minister of finance and administration for the 5,500-member People’s Church in Franklin, Tenn., which hopes to raise $450,000 from refund checks to put its 120-acre campus on more solid financial ground.

“Most are asking [congregants] to give them the whole check,” said L.H. Coleman, a Texas-based expert in church fund-raising. “That’s a good way of getting extra money, and most churches need some extra money.”

“Personally, I’m tired of hearing myself asking for money,” said Pastor Bruce Modahl of Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Ill. The church has a $200,000 budget shortfall. “What I consider frankly as a godsend is this tax refund. If I just put it in my checkbook, the money would just disappear.”

Some clergy would not consider asking for tax refunds from the faithful.

“To ask for donations from a low-income group is unethical and undesirable,” said Gurbir Singh, a scholar at the Sikh Temple of Orange County, who said more affluent believers voluntarily and anonymously come forward with gifts. “There is nothing wrong with fund-raising, but suggesting that it comes from tax relief checks belonging to America’s honest and active workers needs rethinking.”

Clergy who have already delivered the message report little negative response.

Weaver of St. Luke’s in Long Beach said the closest he got was a parishioner lamenting, “Oh, man, why did you have to do that? I already had the money spent.”

“There is such a taboo about talking about money,” said Herb Mather, director of the Center of Christian Stewardship for the United Methodist Church. “Clergy are so gunshy. Many people are afraid of mentioning the opportunity.”

Anne Strong Graves, a 51-year member of St. Luke’s, said she was so inspired by Weaver’s sermon that she plans to throw her refund check into the collection plate.

Said Graves: “Our priest reminded us that God loves a cheerful giver, but he’ll take any kind.”