Against Harassment of Churches

Mose Durst
June 1984

In April, a group of American religious leaders wrote an open letter to President Ronald Reagan regarding government interference in church activities, referring specifically to Father's case. At right is the text of that letter and the names of those clergymen who signed it.

An Open Letter to the President of the United States

Honorable Ronald Reagan the White House
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President:

The undersigned are men and women who have devoted their adult lives to the services of their respective churches. In recent yews the government has taken a number of actions aimed at policing church activities. These actions are deeply disturbing to us.

The pending prosecution of Rev. Sun Myung Moon is an example. The government contends that income from church funds held in his name was his income. Many, churches follow the practice of holding funds in the name of an official. The practice may be wise or unwise but this should be a matter for the church itself to decide. If an official steals money or uses it for personal purposes, he must suffer the consequences like anyone else; but for the government to tell churches how they must handle their money is an unwarranted intrusion into their affairs.

Moreover, the fact that Rev. Moon was indicted when the question could have been decided on a civil basis, coupled with the government's refusal to permit him to waive trial by jury, has ugly connotations. It suggests that Rev. Moon was prosecuted because he and the Unification Church are widely disliked, and that the government sought to capitalize on public feeling against them before a jury. Government harassment of a church, large or small, orthodox or unorthodox, popular or unpopular, interferes with the freedom of the individual to accept that church or reject it. That should not be the business of government, and should not take place in the United States.

We call upon you. Mr. President to use the powers of your office to get the government out of the business of policing religious affairs, no and to take a firm public stand against such actions being taken in the future.

Dr. Balfour Brickner, Jr., Senior Rabbi, Stephen Wise Synagogue, New York, New York

Dr. Harvey G. Cox, Thomas Professor of Divinity, The Divinity School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., President, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana

Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Minister, Central United Methodist Church, Atlanta, Georgia; Chairman, National Black Leadership Forum

Rev. Eddie Osborne, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Atlanta, Georgia

Rev. Dr. Edward K. Perry, Bishop, Upper New York Synod, Lutheran Church in America, Syracuse, New York

Rev. Dr. Jon L. Regier, Executive Director, New York State Council of Churches, Syracuse, New York

Dr. Donald W. Shriver, President, Union Theological Seminary, New York, New York

Most Rev. Melvin G. Talbert, Resident Bishop, Seattle Area, United Methodist Church, Seattle, Washington

Rev. Dr. Eugene G. Turner, Synod Executive, Synod of the Northeast, Presbyterian Church USA, Syracuse, New York

Most Rev. Ernest L. Unterkoefler, Jr., S.T.L.. J.C.D., Bishop of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina

Most Rev. Joseph H. Yaekel, Resident Bishop, New York Area West, United Methodist Church, Syracuse, New York

Dr. Doris Anne Younger, General Director, Church Women United, New York, New York

(Titles for identification only.)