As some of you all may have heard, last week Christ Church had its property tax exemption removed for Anselm House. Just a couple of comments.
I have adopted a personal policy of not answering questions posed to me by the Moscow/Pullman Daily News. This does not apply to other media outlets, and is not based on a refusal to answer questions generally. The reason for my personal policy is that by its journalistic monkeyshines the Daily News is largely responsible for creating the climate in Moscow that made these recent events possible. The paper is not simply in the position of reporting on what is occurring, the paper is a major participant in what is occurring. So nothing should be inferred from my refusal to answer any particular question from the Daily News (“Aha! Something to hide!”) because I would be happy to answer the same question from a Lewiston Morning Tribune reporter.
That said, the board of elders of Christ Church this morning made a two-fold decision on this situation. First, we will be appealing the decision against us. Second, assuming a victory on appeal, we decided to pursue donating some comparable amount to what the property tax would have been for city services, etc. Obviously, the details and mechanics of this would still need to be worked out.
In the meantime, the only other thing to say is that we are greatly heartened by all the “attention” our ministry is receiving, and are encouraged by our opportunities. Jesus said that when folks tell all sorts of stories about you, then that is the time for rejoicing. And so we do. Put in other terms, when the devil gives you a noogie, the last thing in the world we should do is get worked up about it.