INDIANAPOLIS, Updated 9:10 p.m. EST December 8, 2000-- The Indianapolis Baptist Temple hasn't given up its battle against the Internal Revenue Service. The church attorney has filed new documents to try to stop federal marshals from seizing the church.
The IRS claims that the church owes $6 million in back taxes, fines and penalties.
The Baptist Temple stopped withholding federal income and Social Security taxes from its employee paychecks in 1984, saying that to do so would make the church an agent of the government. The Rev. Greg Dixon claims that his church is governed by God and that taxing a church violates the Constitutional separation of church and state.
IBT attorney Al Cunningham filed a Petition for Redress of Grievance Friday that asks that the tax judgment be rolled back. He's also sending the document to every member of Congress, the President and Gov. George W. Bush.
U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker has authorized marshals to seize the property, but that hasn't happened.
The case is being appealed.
"We have a grievance here. The court has issued an order that on its face is unconstitutional," Cunningham said.
Meanwhile, Dixon learned Thursday that the federal court case against the church now includes two new entries.
Both involve sealed documents. One is an unspecified order from Barker.
"My initial reaction is that I'm quite shocked," Dixon said. "I can't imagine what it can be."
The U.S. Attorney's office, which reportedly submitted the other sealed document, did not return a phone call Friday seeking comment.
The church building is now empty, but supporters continue to come and go.
The leaders don't believe that the marshals will move against them until after the holidays. They think that if they can hold out, a new president might order the Justice Department to drop the case.
U.S. Marshal Frank Anderson has met at least twice with temple officials in an effort to keep open the lines of communication. Both sides have said that they don't want the seizure to include violence.
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