“I’ve taken a vow of poverty, which any minister can do…And everything I have here, everything I’ve ever earned in my life, has gone straight into God’s work. So we’re not breaking any laws. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
– Florida fundie Dr. Kent “Dr. Dino,” Hovind of Creation Science Evangelism ministry
I don’t think I have a violin tiny enough for this fundamentalist blowhard. (AgapePress):
A Florida evangelist recently arrested on tax-evasion charges claims he’s been targeted by the Internal Revenue Service because he’s a creationist.
Last week a grand jury indicted Dr. Kent Hovind on 58 federal charges, including falsifying bankruptcy documents, filing a false and frivolous lawsuit and complaints against the IRS, destroying records, and threatening to harm IRS investigators. Twelve of the charges are for failing to pay employee-related taxes. The grand jury alleges Hovind failed to pay nearly half-a-million dollars in federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes on his employees at his Creation Science Evangelism ministry in Pensacola.
Hovind, who is known as “Dr. Dino,” says even though the 30 people who work for him are paid in cash, he is not a tax protestor and is not violating any laws. “Nobody’s an employee, and they all know that when they come. They come, they work,” Hovind offers as an explanation. “The laborer is worthy of his hire — we try to take the purely scriptural approach. We do the best we can with helping people with their family needs. There are no employees here.”
Hovind claims his ministry does not have to “render unto Caesar” because it is not working for the government.
According to Wikipedia, Hovind is an American Young Earth Creationist (YEC) who is offering $250K to anyone who can prove evolution “is the only possible way” that the universe and life arose. He also believes that “UFOs are apparitions of Satan.”
Hovind’s creationism theme park called Dinosaur Adventure Land (featuring exhibits that teach dinosaurs roamed the Earth just a few thousand years ago) ran aground back in April when Hovind refused to get the necessary permits, saying he didn’t have to because permits and paying fees violated his religious beliefs. (Pensacola Journal):
The judge also fined two church leaders $500 each per day for every day the building is used or occupied. If church officials continue to refuse to comply with local ordinances, the judge may decide that the building can be razed, Allen’s ruling said.
County commissioners showed no sympathy to members of the Creation Science Evangelism ministry who spoke out Thursday night at a commission meeting about the county’s actions.
“Scripture also says ‘Render unto Caesar what Caesar demands.’ And right now, Caesar demands a building permit,” County Commission Chairman Mike Whitehead said. A building permit and inspection by county authorities is vital to ensuring the theme park is safe for the thousands of people who reportedly visit the park and museum every year, Whitehead said.
…”This is pure religious persecution,” said Glen Stoll, who works closely with Hovind on legal issues.
32 Responses to “‘Creationist’ says IRS is out to get him”
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Quick, Kent! Sic your Tryannosaurus on ‘em!
Gee, wouldn’t be great if we could all use our religeous beliefs as an excuse to get out of paying for something?
That’s the best line I’ve heard all week — thanks
That’s why God created jurys. As with Clinton, I will reserve judgement until he confesses or is found guilty.
Speaking of, how’s the case against Tom DeLay going?
Uh, the guy isn’t claiming the IRS is making shit up. He’s claiming the law doesn’t apply to him because God says so. What part of judgment do we need to be reserving here, exactly?
I love fundies double standards. In an argument about evolution recently I cites carbon dating evidence and was told it was not accurate (5% either way is not acceptable it seems, after all we know God created the world in seven days, beginning at 2:36 and 41 seconds on Tuesday, March 14, 4004BC and finishing precisely on week later having knocked off the light, earth, waters, plants, birds, animals, people, houses, toast, radiators, spinning tops, bicycles, insects, George Foreman lean, mean grilling machines, sudoko puzzles, cheese and everything else)
Then as the argument went on I learned that the Zoroastrian Avesta, which is written on 200 baked clay tablets is a forgery as “out in Iran they still use clay tablets to write now on because they are not developed”; yeah, right. So they are drawing up plans for a nuclear bomb on clay tablets.
I digress however. The upshot was that I could not cite the Avesta because it is not a primary source wheras The Bible is because it was written by God.
Its not just spin with the fundies, they turn reason on its head.
FOOTNOTE:The Avesta version of the creation is quite specific, it wasn’t God that created man but man that created himself with the development of language, mathematics, art, architechture etc.
“Your Honor, beating Dr. Kent Hovind unconscious with a baseball bat is required by my religion.”
Somehow, I don’t think Hovind would support my religious practice above obediance to the law.
And I just know one of the trolls will jump all over this, so let me be clear. I do not own a baseball bat, I am incapable of beating anyone with it if I did have one, I was using this example to point out why religion does not triumph over law.
The trolls would jump all over you because they would think Ann Coulter trademarked the idea of beating up your political opponents with a baseball bat.
I cancel the local paper and miss all sorts of fun things! I wish I had pictures to share, his little “theme park” is an eyesore. I wouldn’t be suprised if there are numerous safety violations in that place.
As to claims of persecution due to his beliefs, this is the most Creationist friendly area I’ve ever been in. He’s close to PCA and not far from PCC, both schools are highly popular private Christian schools and both of them teach Creationism. Neither of those institutions have ever had any trouble with the IRS as far as I know.
It’s astoundingly easy to get 501c tax exempt status around here, all you need is a building. If he’s running a church, he should have done a little paperwork. Maybe he’s trying to build himself up as an tax martyr, look at all the local support Joe Patti got when he served for tax fraud.
saying he didn’t have to because permits and paying fees violated his religious beliefs.
Discordian, is he? That explains a lot.
poverty? why oh why couldn’t he have taken a vow of silence instead?
of course, seeing how he handles “poverty” he may very well have taken a vow of silence.
Expect more of this defense in the future.
In fact I’d say they’ve been using it for some time now.
MYOB’
.
There was an American Indian tribe that argued before the Supreme Court that the drug laws didn’t apply to them and that it was their religious right to take Mescaline….and they won.
This guy has an interesting position and it may be taken seriously even though it look ludicrous to us. We, as a society, are sensitive to religious issues He may get his day in court just as we may give a race issue some court time even though it is stupid beyone belief….simply because someone cries “RACE”.
It’s stupid, I know, but it could easily happen.
So it’s part of some actual religion to not have to get building permits, RC? Because mescaline usage is actually part of their religion, they were able to call it a religious right for them to take mescaline for their ceremonies. I have yet to hear of a religion that bases a ceremony on refusing to get proper bulding permits.
If I were a little bit nastier, I would suggest that people visiting a theme park where the adequacy of all of the electrical, plumbing and structural engineering work is supposed to be taken on faith would almost certainly lead to examples of evolution in action. But I won’t.
I’ll merely note that the “laborer worthy of his hire” apparently doesn’t include any of the police forces who keep Hovind safe, any of the county workers who built the roads they travel every day, or any of the employees of the court system which Hovind’s cronies keep trying to use to get their views forced into the public schools (for which Hovind is also apparently unwilling to pay his fair share). The people who work for him must also be taking that “lilies of the field” passage to heart, since his failure to withhold or pay social security and medicare taxes means that they will be pretty much out of luck if they live long enough to get old and sick….
There was an American Indian tribe that argued before the Supreme Court that the drug laws didn’t apply to them and that it was their religious right to take Mescaline….and they won.
In fact, they lost.
As with Clinton, I will reserve judgement until he confesses or is found guilty.
He has confessed. “Hovind claims his ministry does not have to “render unto Caesarâ€? because it is not working for the government.” It’s not that he’s saying he’s innocent, he’s simply claiming that the law doesn’t apply to him.
I’m unclear on his idea that he doesn’t have to pay taxes because he does not work for the government. So, only government employees have to pay taxes? How does that make sense? (Not that the other parts of his spiel make sense, just that this is the part that sticking in my craw.)
PZ Myers has some great links on most things Hovind, including a review of the Dinosaur Adventure Land experience from one of the local papers (I think). I read it, it sounds pretty lame. Not surprising, considering that it’s built in what amounts to his back yard.
Also, Dr. Dino may have left his ‘laborers worthy of their hire’ open to IRS penalties (as well as the Social Security and other problems alluded to above) by paying them in cash and not paying the legally required withholdings.
The court also impounded his and his family’s (his wife and maybe his son are co-defendants on most of these charges) passports, which is going to cost him some of the big speaking fees he gets (wonder if he pays taxes on those?). He was supposed to start his ‘lecture tour’ of South Africa this summer.
Utter nonsense. He is absolutely trying to have things, not just both ways, but every which way he pleases at any given moment.
These people read the law like they read the Bible; Trying to find any dodge, any tortured interpretation or moronicly simplistic reading that lets them do exactly the low, mean-spirited and stupid shit they want to do anyways while still self-righteously clutching to the mantles of God and country.
Elm: see http://evans-legal.com/dan/tpfaq.html#government
Hershele: Thanks. That’s one crazy document. “How many ways I can purposefully misconstrue the patently obvious to get out of paying money?”
I mean, how can you misunderstand the word “include” unless you’re, a) stupid, b) doing it on purpose, or, more likely, c) both?
As the panda’s thumb blog has pointed out in the past, Hovind’s $250,000 challenge is dubious: It requires explaining the creation of the universe (not a part of evolutionary theory) and there’s some question about the expertise of the independent panel he wants evolutionary claims submitted to.
I talked him about 20 years ago, and wasn’t impressed. His shtick consists of insisting “no, you’re wrong” when confronted with any evolutionary claim whatsoever (Does archeopteryx show reptilian features? No, you’re wrong!)
Stoll said Thursday that he doesn’t recognize the ruling because he was never properly served with court papers.
I’d bet this means that Stoll refused to properly accept service of any court papers, so they went through a substitute-service procedure. Stoll appears to be mad that you can’t simply avoid a lawsuit or criminal charges by saying “na na na, you can’t serve me!”
But does he refuse to accept service becaue he thinks that means it doesn’t count, or does he ostensibly refuse to accept service because he claims not to believe courts have jurisdiction over him (e.g., for any of half a dozen batshit reasons)?
Oh my god, that reminds me of this horrid argument I got into with a creationist a few years back. When he asked for an example of a transitional fossil, I brought up Archeopteryx, thinking that a fossil of a dinosaur with feathered wings would count. He said there was no proof that was a transitional fossil, at which point I began banging my head into the wall. I swear, the only thing that would have changed his mind would have been if there was a little neon sign sticking out of the fossil that said “THIS IS A TRANSITIONAL FOSSIL”, and even then I’d have my doubts.
caitlin, I think would take a million neon signs saying “USE YOUR EYES AND YOUR BRAIN, DUMBASS!” It still wouldn’t work though, because their God requires them to disconnect those pathways.
True, true…because we all know the only reason God gives us things like brains and genitals is so we can spend the rest of our lives trying NOT to use them.
But does he refuse to accept service becaue he thinks that means it doesn’t count, or does he ostensibly refuse to accept service because he claims not to believe courts have jurisdiction over him (e.g., for any of half a dozen batshit reasons)?
Probably both. I don’t really get the sense that these wingnuts have talked to an actual lawyer, or listened to one if they did.
Well in regards to the documents not being served properly everytime I have been served with any kind of documents they were not served properly, once a summons was not properly signed and another time a document was just stuck to my door one morning when I was home and at the bottom it said the server made a reasonable effort to actually directly give it to me. Anyway these are never excuses except where they actually never serve you period or like say with a notice to vacate preceeding and eviction notice that a copy of that notice must be sent certified mail if the server was unable to hand it directly to the recipient. Then they just have to redo some paperwork and send it out again properly. In a situation like this it seems unlikely any problem, not caused by Hovind, would result in improper service. If Hovind really wanted to get out of any of this he could plea insanity…everyone who can think knows he is crazy. I would love to see his little theme park get bulldozed and would love to see him get totally reamed by the IRS.
mythago:
I don’t really get the sense that these wingnuts have talked to an actual lawyer, or listened to one if they did.
Well, everyone knows that lawers automatically lose their citizenship*. It’s in the Constitution, but it was suppressed by a conspiracy of lawyers.
*Actual wackjob belief