Church of the Ecumenical Redemption International

[Hilfskreuzer Möwe]

At present the dominant anti-authority group in Canada is the Freeman-on-the-Land movement. That movement has two leading gurus: Robert-Arthur: Menard, and Dean Clifford.

However, both those leaders and the Freeman movement is predated by a less known group, the Church of the Ecumenical Redemption International [“CERI”], which historically has been largely restricted to areas in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. CERI’s dominant personality is minister Edward-Jay-Robin: Belanger, and he seems to be the only member who actively and publically promotes CERI concepts.

Both CERI and Belanger are identified and discussed in A.C.J. Rooke’s Meads v. Meads decision (2012 ABQB 571, paras. 134-139, 183-188, respectively), but neither are the subject of reported decisions.

The CERI website is here:

http://www.allcreatorsgifts.org/

It’s a bit of a mess.

“minister” Belanger now largely communicates via YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Owlmon

He is pretty active of late, adding home-recorded video rants in what are increasingly decrepit appearing surroundings. More on that later.

Conceptually, it seems Belanger and CERI are trying to escape from state authority by claiming to only be bound by Christian law, specifically the King James Bible. The CERI perspective is that Commonwealth governments are not valid where they engage in anything outside that prescribed by the Bible – this flows from the Queen’s coronation oath where she says she will uphold the Christian Bible and faith. They have other oath-related obsessions as well, particularly for judges. If something is not faith-law, then it must be commercial law, so we’re back with some well-established Sovereign Citizen concepts.

CERI also adopts the ‘double/split person’ motif, though the ‘Strawman’ is usually described as a “person”, or a “dead thing”. Interaction with a "dead thing" is, naturally, necrophilia. The usual all-capital letters name motif is identified to mean a “person”. CERI uses the A4V concept that the “person” is a method to enslave citizens for value, however it seems Belanger does not believe there is the classic A4V secret bank account. The “person” interacts with the state and its statutes, all commercial law, via contract. So far so good – this is largely familiar territory.

What I think may be the novel twist to this group is that Belanger and CERI argue that one can get escape state control by abandoning your “person” and becoming solely governed by religious law. And you really, really have to mean it – you need to restructure all your actions to follow Christian principles (generously re-defined), always cite the basis for your actions in Scripture, and defend your activities by calls to faith. And naturally don’t use postal codes.

Belanger has recently posted a set of three “how to” videos on his YouTube site which reviews his scheme, these are the April 22-23 videos with the ‘on getting agreements’ titles. That’s what has inspired me to write on Belanger, as it is probably the most complete and concise restatement of CERI’s concepts to date.

So how does one execute this? CERI members use “notice” documents to “private persons” (since they aren’t recognizing authority) that one has to rebut within a narrow timeframe or are deemed accepted. There are lots of examples of these on the CERI website, here’s just a few:

http://www.allcreatorsgifts.org/main0023.html

http://www.allcreatorsgifts.org/forumarc/108.html

http://www.allcreatorsgifts.org/dfagree.html

http://allcreatorsgifts.blogspot.ca/201 ... re-to.html

The last one is doppelled in its original format here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/46829329/Eccl ... use-Notice

As was noted by A.C.J. Rooke, CERI materials are consistently a god-awful mismash, copy-pasted and crudely hacked together. The last document, the Ecclesiastical Excuse Notice, was bulk emailed to a very large chunk of the Alberta government employee pool, and it seems to do that Belanger by hand went through government directories, extracting any email address he could find. The fellow is persistent!

So, does it work? No. While there are no court judgments that illustrate CERI’s ongoing failure, some incidents have nevertheless been documented. For example, “minister” Catherine Flamond has unsuccessfully argued she is constitutionally exempt from motor vehicle registration, licensing, and insurance obligations because her vehicle of choice, a 1994 Mercury Sable, is an “Ecclesiastical Pursuit Chariot”:

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/03/20/w ... ht-tickets

I understand that when this matter came to trial in the fall Flamond didn’t show up.

Belanger himself has had some failures. The AllCreatorsGifts homepage reports on his arrest and detention in 2010 for a mixture of motor vehicle and drug offences. Along with minister Don: Friske they suffered terribly:

Minister Donald: Friske did not drink the tap water for 5 days. We wrote a letter to the central MLA Laurie Blakeman telling her that they were being discriminated against because they believe their body is a holy sacrament for God and does not want anything dirty in it, which they have every right to have their faiths and beliefs.

Belanger has allegedly launched a tort action in the Canadian Federal Court to bring the state and errant judges to their knees. The “Plenary Statement of claim” can be viewed here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/97602634/Robi ... -of-Motion

What makes Belanger kind of interesting (beyond the peculiarity of his belief set), is that it’s pretty clear he absolutely does not believe any of the religious aspects of what he says, but has learned that he must maintain that façade with the utmost care to negate state authority. His primary focus, at least initially, was that he was a free marijuana use advocate, and claimed to be a member of the “Church of Reformed Druids”. He since has become a King James Bible literalist, presumably because then people laugh at him a bit less.

Another interest facet of this guru is that he is currently engaged in a doctrinal hissy fit with the leading Canadian Freeman-on-the-Land gurus, Robert Menard and Dean Clifford:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccd1_yBUTOY

The page upon page of comments to this video are a hoot, particularly where Clifford argues he was not photographed exposing his penis at a coffee meeting between the two.

Back to CERI; its membership does not seem to be particularly large (in the dozens or so?), and probably has been decreasing over the years. CERI members are either on welfare, assured income, and/or in subsidized housing. To say these persons are marginal is an understatement. Mental health issues appear involved. Belanger himself has noted in his videos that he receives AISH payments (Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped), which suggests he has been diagnosed with significant mental impairment. Or at least fakes it well.

I tend to view these people as old hippies who still want to ‘stick it to The Man’, and this is their vehicle for that, and to feel self-important. A.C.J. Rooke reports members of this group have attempted to disrupt court functions, and Belanger’s videos indicate the same.

It will be interesting to see whether CERI fades away now that Canadian courts have clearly identified and are responding to OPCA groups such as this. Another possibility is a resurgence since the Freeman movement is in something of a state of disorder, and perhaps Belanger can now use the Internet to reach a larger audience with his ideas. They are well adapted to any Commonwealth country, and I have seen him and CERI referenced in Australian and British Freeman circles.

SMS Möwe

[Burnaby49]

I started the Belanger videos with a bad choice. Not that they aren't all bad but this was a 53 minute monstrosity about his grievance against Rooke. His point, I think, was that Rooke was not legitimately a judge because of some issue with his oath. Belanger was rambling through a laundry list of sections from seemingly random statutes and regulations when I bailed. Maybe he was heading towards a unified point but I wasn't waiting another 45+ minutes to find out. The one where he drones on about Menard and Clifford is better, but only because of the much shorter duration.

A hint. If you are trying to impress viewers don't make the video in a shabby basement rec-room; and put the camera on a shelf at approximately face level. Don't put it on a table then stare down at it.

Anyhow, thanks for the post Möwe and we, or at least I, would like more of these. This is the side of sovereigns I only find peripherally because I focus on sovereign tax issues. And if Obadiah wants oddities from Canada these guys are certainly as odd as Pamela.

[wserra]

It’s a bit of a mess.

Gift for understatement, eh, Möwe?

The blog section of the site consists solely of the most unreadable tripe I've ever seen. Post after post of 5000-word paragraphs. I was amused to run across (March 1, 2013, entry) our OPPT friends. Not surprisingly, he likes 'em:

the Trustees framed a Trust that has a superior claim to any other – the Trust between the Creator and the “states of being” of Earth. The “states of being” of Earth are the beneficiaries of the Creator as the custodians of the Creator’s manifestations on Earth. Lawfully speaking, there can be no higher claim than that of the One People’s Public Trust… except for one made by the Creator.

"Lawfully speaking"? WTF makes this gibberish the law? Oh, it's the fact that

the Trustees lodged a complex series of filings with the UCC on behalf of its Beneficiary

This guy obviously thinks that "the UCC" is an office somewhere. I'm glad to see that your wackos have an equally tenuous grasp on reality as ours.

Oh, and Benedict resigned because he was being blackmailed by a group of male hookers who worked at a Rome sauna. I'm not kidding. And Jesus was a pothead. By some great coincidence, Belanger seems to like the weed himself.

Never know it from his site.

“minister” Belanger now largely communicates via YouTube:

Lotta wackos do now. Makes it harder to quote the nonsense and easier to hide third-grade grammar.

[Hilfskreuzer Möwe]

I started the Belanger videos with a bad choice. Not that they aren't all bad but this was a 53 minute monstrosity about his grievance against Rooke. His point, I think, was that Rooke was not legitimately a judge because of some issue with his oath. Belanger was rambling through a laundry list of sections from seemingly random statutes and regulations when I bailed. Maybe he was heading towards a unified point but I wasn't waiting another 45+ minutes to find out. The one where he drones on about Menard and Clifford is better, but only because of the much shorter duration.

minister Belanger is a little hard to take. When he goes into his cyclic "Intimidating me?! Intimidating me?!" routine I find myself drawn to the Beavis (ie. Beavis and Butthead) alternative persona of The Great Cornholio:

Are you intimidating me?! Are you intimidating me?! I am the Great Belangio! I need MJ for my bunghole... bungholio...

Ahem.

Anyhow, thanks for the post Möwe and we, or at least I, would like more of these. This is the side of sovereigns I only find peripherally because I focus on sovereign tax issues. And if Obadiah wants oddities from Canada these guys are certainly as odd as Pamela.

I am delighted to hear that! I have a number more in the magazine ready to be loaded when I have a little time to pull together the appropriate data.

SMS Möwe

[Hilfskreuzer Möwe]

... This guy obviously thinks that "the UCC" is an office somewhere. I'm glad to see that your wackos have an equally tenuous grasp on reality as ours. ...

“minister” Belanger now largely communicates via YouTube:

Lotta wackos do now. Makes it harder to quote the nonsense and easier to hide third-grade grammar.

I'd been saving this one up, but given wserra's comments I'll share it anyway. It fits. So, here's a YouTube video series with minister Belanger and a dude with a natty fez:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIHAmrE4f4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FjiRT4SEG0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwQ2-CJ-Ct8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frZ5Odg93wk

Context: Dude with Fez is Sean Henry, a.k.a. :Chief :Nanya-Shaabu: El: of the At-Sik-Hata First Nation of Yamassee Moors. He is featured as the archetypical Moorish Law subject in Meads v. Meads, 2012 ABQB 571 at paras. 189-193. :Chief :El might deserve an even more dramatic treatment - I'll later in a separate thread dig into his documentary materials that I have located online as there are some gems.

Oh heck, what's a little preview. Here :Chief :El orders the relocation of the United States of America into the middle of the Atlantic ocean for failure to pay outstanding debts to :Chief :El and His People:

https://sites.google.com/site/authenticexport/

And Canada now meets the same, sad, soggy fate:

http://jforjustice.net/download/Nanya-Shaabu/index.html

So this video series is a meeting between minister Belanger and Chief :El in which they talk shop, stroke each other's liens (no - I mean that literally - really!), and even though they have utterly incompatible belief systems, they still end up apparently having a splendid time. They have staged this most noteworthy meeting of cultures - nay civilizations! in a suitable neutral but regal setting, a food court of West Edmonton Mall.

Maybe that's a notch down from Denny's. I leave that delicate issue to the appropriate experts in such constitutional matters.

So yes, wserra, we have wackos. I think these two stand tall in any company. I'd say something witty like, Behold! Stupid meets Deranged! but they both qualify.

SMS Möwe

[Burnaby49]

In case you missed it Canada (at least in a legal sense) has already been consigned to the Oceanic realm:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8400

[Burnaby49]

Okay, time to stop kidding around and start kissing up to Nanya-Shaabu. He owns Canada! His proof is irrefutable, he used Wikipedia for legal research. And he means business, he used red ink! From his filing:

2) I have commercial Liens filed against Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor-Mountbatten MISNOMER: QUEEN ELIZABETH II /HER MAJESTY /REGINA published online which have been provided to The Edmonton Crown Prosecutor’s office with no response, thereby they give their tacit consent and agreement in accord with UCC 2-201(2) that I am in fact Secured party/Creditor-in-fact over Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor-Mountbatten MISNOMER: QUEEN ELIZABETH II /HER MAJESTY /REGINA and all her corporations sole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_sole). Further, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor-Mountbatten has had knowledge of this irrefutable and certified fact, likewise her corporations sole agents: Provincial Court of St.Albert – inclusive of the Judges,

Clerks, Sheriff’s and all other related court staff, Provincial as well as Federal Canadian Government – since February 22 2010: FILE NO. 090939596P1-01-001: http://www.scribd.com/doc/50037855/2010- 2469373-634879-U-20100729-PURACQ ; http://www.scribd.com/doc/50038417/2009-2410488- 607801-U-20090914-PUGOC - Lien on Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor-Mountbatten, of these facts.

[grixit]

Oops, incomplete name. Leaving out Saxe-Coburg and Hanover makes him the one guilty of "misnomer". That renders all of his actions without authority, cancels his trust memberships, voids his sovereignty, and reverses jurisdiction, making him an indentured part of the Buckingham Palace staff. His new job comes with a snazzy uniform though, particolored with bells and fringes.

[Burnaby49]

Oops, incomplete name. Leaving out Saxe-Coburg and Hanover makes him the one guilty of "misnomer". That renders all of his actions without authority, cancels his trust memberships, voids his sovereignty, and reverses jurisdiction, making him an indentured part of the Buckingham Palace staff. His new job comes with a snazzy uniform though, particolored with bells and fringes.

Actually, because of a little unpleasantness between Germany and Great Britain between 1914 and 1918, the British royal family thought it politically expedient to drop the Germanic part of their name. On July 17, 1917, King George V officially declared that "all descendents in the male line of Queen Victoria, who are subjects of these realms, other than female descendents who marry or who have married, shall bear the name Windsor." Since he was a direct descendant of Victoria (grandson) he also dumped Saxe-Colberg and Hanover and changed his own name to Windsor. No particular reason why he picked Windsor. Maybe he liked the sound of it.

However you do have a point. In 1960 Elizabeth expressed her wish that her children by Prince Philip, other than those in line for the throne, (Hi Princess Anne!), would bear the hyphenated name Mountbatten-Windsor. The royal family's name remained Windsor. So Nanya-Shaabu's calling the queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor-Mountbatten is incorrect since she herself does not use Mountbatten.

[Pottapaug1938]

George V picked Windsor as the new family name because all of the other alternatives suggested by his staff were just as German as Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Two of them (Wettin and Wipper) also had the disadvantage of sounding absurd (imagine a Cockney using them). Windsor was the location of a favorite royal castle, so Windsor was the choice.

[Hilfskreuzer Möwe]

In case you missed it Canada (at least in a legal sense) has already been consigned to the Oceanic realm:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8400

Thank you! I did not have that judgment in my collection - most appreciated!

SMS Möwe

[Hilfskreuzer Möwe]

I've found another Belanger video that may be entertaining to forum members:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDMfUCeNZ_E

This is an interview for some alternative/underground news radio thingie, where "Minister Robin" pulls the bedsheets off various Scooby-Do ghosts and reveals ... the entire Freeman-on-the-Land movement is a false flag operation run by the Canada Revenue Agency!

It gets particularly fun from about 47 to 52 minutes, as minister Belanger lays out the secret documentation that a thousand gurus have been hired and trained by the CRA and U.S. Treasury department to sow false information, blow the cover of freedom-minded persons, and extract taxes.

David-Kevin: Lindsay is specifically identified as clearly being one such government agent, given his 100% failure record.

There are also some amusing comments to the video, as minister Belanger comes out to converse with the heathens and ill-informed.

Enjoy!

SMS Möwe

[Hilfskreuzer Möwe]

• [Note: the material that forms the basis for this post was identified by Jargon Buster over on JREF. He gets the kill credit on this one.
  
  [And sadly, some of that source material is no longer viewable to you and I. The first part of this narrative is derived from a video posted by “minister” Belanger on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDIxIWJZhoo) to which he has now restricted access. A pity. The “minister” had such a hopeful look … that look that says ‘a better day is a’comin’…]

Ah, summer love. It is a precious yet ephemeral thing. One walks across a sandy shore, scrunching your toes and feeling the grittiness between. Close your eyes, and savour the heat of the full undiminished sun. Then as the night falls, you gaze across a bonfire at a familiar but now older, wrinkly and stubbly face, the face of one with whom you once spent long hours ‘deconstructing’ the law, and discovering a foundation for a better future, together building the proverbial City on the Hill. And those squinty, rheumy eyes stare back. You each chug another brew. After all the years of anger, unkind words, and allegations? Is it possible? Can that just … evaporate away … in this special context? In a crystalline moment?

Can there once more be the camaraderie? Cooperation? Together, raising fists in defiance and truth? Even … perhaps ... love?

And so it was, in mid July of this year, that two friends then bitter rivals became friends again. “minister” Belanger and Robert-Arthur: Menard holidayed together in “Deep Bay”, Bowser British Columbia, with an unidentified host couple. In the hopeful morning after glow, Belanger recorded a video as he wandered around the beach outside the host home, pointed at the landscape and its beauty, observed how his new young friend, Maya was running along the shore with Rob’s dog. Last night there had been raw fresh oysters, Nature's bounty, plucked from these very shores! Perhaps tomorrow – even more?

The video closes with the “minister” returning to the home wherein we see a figure seated in front of a laptop. It’s Menard, and he is scrutinizing the progress of one of his schemes (http://s23.postimg.org/nsxas8hiz/Screen ... _56_36.png).

Synergy Property Stewards (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/syner ... todos=true) - Rob is squatting in a vacant Vancouver area home, and wants other people to pay to fix it up. The goal - $10,500! Donations to date, at almost half-way through the crowd-sourcing effort? Err … $125. And of that $100 is from “smenard1”. I wonder – does this mean that 80% of this effort to date is Rob’s own cash?

Like most crowd-sourcing efforts, generous donors get “perks”!

$25
Understanding Consumer Notes

This is a compilation of the letters sent to various people concerning our right to use consumer notes to pay for consumer purchases. With this understanding, you too will be able to go to a restaurant or pub, enjoy a meal, and pay for it by properly signing and marking the bill, turning it into a 'consumer note', a specie of money suitable for paying for that meal. This is in PDF and will be emailed to you.

Estimated delivery: August 2013
1 out of 100 claimed

$100
Meads Vs Meads FIXED

Meads vs Meads is a judgment and reasons for judgment issued by an Associate Chief Justice in Alberta by the name of Rooke. Relying on neural linguistic programming techniques, he draws an ugly picture of the people who stand for their rights. By replacing key NLP words with descriptive statements, Mead VsMead FIXED is a hilarious and revealing look at the mindset of one of Canada's most notorious judges. Includes comedic commentary. THIS IS IN PDF and will be emailed to you.

Estimated delivery: August 2013
0 out of 100 claimed

With reconciliation comes revision. Those who seek out some of “minister” Belanger’s prior Youtube critiques of Menard will find them … gone! Alas, this gesture was not reciprocal, for we see here that Rob has left untouched a video of harsh, hurtful words (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GdpXNwuIuA). Does this cast a dark shadow over this melding of mighty spirits? And portend the future?

[For more examples of our protagonists prior interaction, scroll about half-way down this comments page (http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?...&v=cM_7gVN780Q). Vitrol ensues!]

A road trip follows, I suspect in the Belanger-mobile. Kelowna, Calgary, then Edmonton! In Kelowna Rob announces (http://www.facebook.com/robert.menard.5 ... 7893819628): "Made it to Kelowna! What a beautiful day for a drive too!”

Love… the love persists...

A few days later, it is Edmonton’s turn (http://www.facebook.com/robert.menard.5 ... 7553540662):

Robert Menard
July 19 at 5:53am ·
Awesome welcome in Edmonton! Those in town interested in attending a bbq let me know!
…

Yeap, we are having a little gathering and bbq and I will be speaking. Likely backin three weeks to doa larger show. …?
July 19 at 6:10am

…

Robert Menard Freeman Gathering, BBQ and Comedy show!`
Saturday July 20th
10411 129th Ave
Edmonton
5PM - 11PM
BYOB

But … but … what about your brother-in-arms, Rob? Are you not going to introduce to these fine people your long-lost kin?

But no.

Heartbreak: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUhFoP3f6k4

If only you, gentle reader, could compare the expressions of “minister” Belanger, before and now here, afterwards. A tired man. A touch bitter. He reached out and though that summer romance blossomed it is now, quite sadly, spent. Defunct.

More about my trip with Robert Menard and Maya 21 July 2013 11:57

Published on Jul 21, 2013
I traveled with Maya and Robert around Vancouver island and Kelowna attempting to make peace and share with Robert but was not received very well as Robert does not want folks to know the true meaning of the word person was very argumentative negative and aggressive twds the truth...James 2:9 explains maybe some of you can get him to review his position on the word person as it is essential if you really want to be free,,,

But I hope, in time, that pain too will pass, and “minister” Belanger will instead dwell on the brief but magical moments, the eight days two old comrades ‘travelled’ through the mountains together, in the company of that young woman, “minister Maya”, who we discover is a student of Belanger, and who will soon be flying off to Pakistan. Belanger explains that most people think you need a passport to enter another country, but that is false. “minister Maya” has a diplomatic invitation to Pakistan, so her entry is assured thanks to that country’s “come on down attitude”. And anyway, passports violate her religious beliefs that flow from the King James Bible.

[Does anyone else think this plan, if executed as described, may not work out quite so well?]

So it came down to “person”. A single word. And from that, dispute and disagreement flows.

In closing, “minister” Belanger can only express his regrets and asks you join him in prayer, for those who are lost: Robert-Arthur: Menard, and those others “that are leading folks astray and down the wrong trail, providing no wisdom and no truth”, Chief Rock Sino General, and Scott Duncan.

But the good news is that there are other truth-speakers! “minister” Belanger offers a stirring endorsement for that “benevolent fellow” “Marcus” the ex-lawyer and his necromantic SerpentKing (viewtopic.php?f=47&t=9393):

You could be in kindergarten or a Rhodes scholar and you would benefit from the ways he makes his presentation.

That is followed by an explanation of how there is no gender specific God, but only energy, a fluid. And echoing resonating brainwaves. I am, at this point, reminded of a character from a certain Stanley Kubrick motion picture, and the “purity” of “his essence”.

As a postscript, I note that some meanie appears to be trolling “minister” Belanger with a fake Robert Arthur Menard Youtube account:

Robert Arthur Menard
Spare change, brother? I only need $10,500 and I've already got $125 form my own donations. Help a bro out????

paraclete Belanger
not to teach falsehoods Robert...your reviling and obvious pain at the mention of the true meaning of person revealed your heart....not nice Robert...your will to obfuscate the scriptures and Gods admonition to stay away from respecting persons and seem to wish to keep others in the dark by spreading falsehoods and disinformation

paraclete Belanger
.exposing the definitions of person as a corporation or phony dead thing and that God is no respecter of persons.ou appear to be an actor hiding your true intent Robert as why else would you revile the true definition of the word person and not wish the group gathering to know.

paraclete Belanger
What is your motive for not wishing others to acheive consensus on the true definition of the word..Why do you wish to divide the group up to banter on about theories when the facts proving the fraud and your immunity from it are available? Why will you not answer these questions Robert? Do you expect me to fund deception?

Oh “minister” Belanger. Whenever will you learn…

SMS Möwe

[fortinbras]

Fake churches as tax dodges have LONG been in use in the US. An outfit called Life Science Church was started as a tax dodge about 40 years ago and the guy who cooked it up made a fortune from fools who believed his lies about how it would make them completely invisible to the IRS. Quite simply, the guy who started it sold, for hundreds of dollars, ordinations and charters to individuals that, he pretended, would enable them to claim that their home was church property, a parsonage, their car and their swimming pool also church property, and all their assets and income were tax exempt. The IRS never fell for this. Moreover, anyone with a typewriter and a little time on his hands could have filed the same preliminary paperwork with the state - setting up a church and calling themselves Reverend, etc. - without sending this guy any money at all; it would have been equally effective (i.e., futile) in getting immunity from the IRS.

[LaVidaRoja]

I believe it was actually called Universal Life Church. More than one of them ended up in club Fed

[fortinbras]

I stand corrected. Universal Life Church is right.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case? ... 9361238721

[AndyK]

There's a classic example of an alleged church being established solely to avoid taxes.

L. Ron Hubbard detested paying taxes and wanted to ensure his entire estate was beyond the reach of the authorities.

So, he created a church and had specific instructions that his entire estate was to go to the church -- unless it was found to not be a tax exempt entity in which case, other considerations were in place.

The church: Scientology.

[Pottapaug1938]

There's a classic example of an alleged church being established solely to avoid taxes.

L. Ron Hubbard detested paying taxes and wanted to ensure his entire estate was beyond the reach of the authorities.

So, he created a church and had specific instructions that his entire estate was to go to the church -- unless it was found to not be a tax exempt entity in which case, other considerations were in place.

The church: Scientology.

I recall that he was also pushing Dianetics as a psychological therapy. When he was told that he could not do so, he switched gears and, along with this other motivation, ensured that his doctrine would enjoy First Amendment protection.

[Arthur Rubin]

There's a classic example of an alleged church being established solely to avoid taxes.

L. Ron Hubbard detested paying taxes and wanted to ensure his entire estate was beyond the reach of the authorities.

So, he created a church and had specific instructions that his entire estate was to go to the church -- unless it was found to not be a tax exempt entity in which case, other considerations were in place.

The church: Scientology.

Wikipedia would say that this is inadequately sourced, but the story is that Hubbard, Heinlein, and a couple other science fiction writers were having a bull session, and that Hubbard said that the way to make money was to found a religion. Shortly thereafter, Scientology was ... discovered?

[Cathulhu]

Arthur, that matches the apocryphal story I heard at a con party. Heard it more than once, either at parties or lurking in bars and hallways at science fiction conventions.