God and man at Bob Jones

The New York Times is in a frenzy of righteous indignation over George W. Bush's speaking at Bob Jones University-an institution the media would have you think is overrun with slack-jawed hoodlums sporting swastikas and shaved heads, rather than gentle, earnest Christians.

For their religious convictions, which among other things, dictate a belief in their own religion (exclusionary!) and an opposition to interracial dating (racist!) Bob Jones University (BJU) has won the unbridled rage of the left for some decades now. Americans are fi-ee to believe in Sun People and Ice People, in space aliens, or in a flat earth. But if you admit to beliefs-based on your religion, no less-that many think are quirky, the government will make you pay.

The power to tax-and not tax-is the power to prefer certain behaviors over others. Some beliefs, such as baby-- killing, are favored- Others, say, opposition to interracial dating, are offensive to the "public interest." But I'm jumping ahead of myself.

Nixon Surrendered

The jihad against private Bible academies began in 1970, when civil rights groups in Mississippi sued the IRS to enjoin it from granting tax-exempt status to private schools in Mississippi that discriminated against blacks.

At first, the IRS took the factually accurate position that only Congress-not the IRS-was authorized to write laws and that Congress had not imposed a nondiscrimination requirement on institutions seeking tax-exempt status.

Soon, however, a three-judge district court wrongly ruled against the IRS. Since the private schools were not acting for the government, the Constitution was irrelevant, and the private schools should have won. (It's easy to forget, but the Constitution limits what the government can do to you, not what private individuals can do to you.)

The court smoothed over that little detail, finding that 'Vie lack of segregative purpose on the part of the government does not avoid the constitutional issue if the government action materially supports a program of school segregation." And the "material support" consisted of the government's granting tax-exempt status, which constitutes "government action" because really the government should be taking all of everyone's money and it has done you an enormous favor when it doesn't.

From there, it was a snap for the court to rule that the IRS regulations meant what they did not say, and what Congress did not enact: that the IRS had authority to deny tax exemptions. to private segregated schools.

The Nixon Administration decided not to fight the ruling. The IRS then proceeded to demand a signed letter from all the private schools in America promising not to discriminate in their admissions policies. Almost every private school did so, including private schools in the South that had no minority students at that time. Even BJU signed.

But there wasn't a massive influx of blacks into all-white private schools, and many of the Bible academies remained largely white. So in the Carter years, in response to a new lawsuit by civil rights groups, the IRS announced that private schools in the South would henceforth have to earn their tax exemption by either admitting a fixed quota of minority students, or by expending considerable funds on minority outreach programs.

There was an immense and immediate uproar from Christian schools and Bible academies-institutions that considered themselves "havens" not from integrated public schools, but from secular public schools.

These nonelitist sectarian schools were already struggling to make ends meet and were appalled at having to expend sizable funds just to recruit students who didn't particularly care to be there. This was the last straw.

What made this a big event was that the Rev Jerry Falwell, a radio evangelist little known outside his own ministry, told his listeners to write to the IRS in protest. They did-in such enormous numbers that all of Washington sat up and took notice. Two Republican activists (Paul Weyrich, who was Catholic, and Howard Phillips, who was Jewish) approached Falwell after this episode and convinced him to found a new organization-the Moral Majority, which then helped to elect Ronald Reagan and dozens of new Republican congressmen.

Stung by the protest-which triggered a congressional rebellion against IRS policy on this issue-the IRS retreated to a more modest program, requiring that all private schools sign assurances that they wouldn't do anything to make minorities feel uncomfortable, like practice any form of internal discrimination. Every school signed a form promising to be nice---except Bob Jones, which had a ban on interracial dating.

Back to the Constitution

Now we get to the good part: When Reagan came into office, the Bob Jones people got the attention of the Reagan Justice Department-hrough the intervention of Trent Lott of Mississippi, a congressman at the time. As luck would have it, a number of Reagan's top advisors were cultishly devoted to an odd legal document known as "the Constitution." Upon review of Article I of that document (which says Congress writes the laws) and the laws written pursuant thereto, it turned out, of course, that Congress had not granted the IRS authority to withhold a tax exemption from BJU.