Dear news organization,
I - marc Perkel - Founder of the Church of Reality send the following email to the membership of the church asking them to write the IRS to ask for a religious exemption to not allow our tax returns to be sold to marketers. The Church cited the Religious Freedom Restoration Act anking that its Sacred Principle of Privacy be respected. Here is the letter:
Dear Church of Reality Members,
I just read an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about an IRS plan to allow the accounting firms that do your tax returns to sell them to marketing firms. Just when you think nothing more can shock you, they take it to a new level. Here's the article, you read the story.
Thanks to dvorak.org for the link.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/14147002.htm
Disclosure of personal information such as one's tax forms is in direct violation of the Sacred Principle of Privacy and undermines the concept that we own ourselves and that our tax information is not to be marketed. Our information is something that it ours and I think I speak for everyone when I say that none of us want marketers calling our home phones while looking at our tax returns trying to scam us.
Last month the US Supreme Court upheld the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which allowed a religion to use a Schedule 1 drug in a religious ceremony. The case is /Gonzales v. O Centro. /The decision upheld that the federal government cannot impose a "substantial burden" on an individual's or group's free exercise of religion unless the burden: "(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest."
I am declaring by edict that the marketing of our Sacred Principle of Privacy and that such disclosure imposes a substantial burden on our free exercise of our religious beliefs. Such a ruling violates use to the core of our being. We also contend that the government has no compelling interest in allowing accountants to market our personal information to scammers. So, in light of the RFRA we demand an exemption for members of the Church of Reality to prohibit anyone from disclosing any of our members information to anyone.
So - here's what I want you all to do if you can find a little time. I want as many people as possible to write a letter to the IRS stating that you are a Realist and that you want them to make a ruling exempting Realists from any regulation that involved tax return disclosure. I don't know how many letters it will take but the more the better.
The other think I need done is that this message should be posted in as many places on the web as possible. I want it to reach new people who didn't realize that they were already Realists and that they are entitled to privacy.
Who does this apply to? Who is a Realist? What does it take to be a member of the Church of Reality? Well, you may already be a Realist if you accept the axiom of our religion. Do you believe in reality? are you willing to make a religious commitment to believing in reality the way it really is? Is reality important in your life? Is it so important that you often tell your friends that they should take reality into consideration when making their important life decisions? If you answered Yes to these questions then you are a Realist and welcome to the real world! You are now entitled to assert the Sacred Principle of Privacy and tell the IRS that you support the exemption.
To write the IRS send a snail mail to this address:
CC:PA:LPD:PR (REG-137243-02)
Room 5203
Internal Revenue Service, Box 7604
Ben Franklin Station, Washington, D.C. 20044
Write the letter in your own words, but feel free to use anything in this email or from the article it links to. One of you might come up with a better letter than me and these letters shouldn't be just copies of the same thing. The reason I think this will work is that the folks at the IRS probably don't want to do it either and need a good reason to say they can't. This letter gives them that good reason. This idea is so stupid that it can only come from one place.
And - spread it around the web. I think there are a lot of Realists out there who want their privact protected.
This has a good chance of making a difference. Your email worked last time with Zogby. I noticed on the last survey I get that it included Atheist/Realist/Humanist as one of the choices. We are now at least worthy of being counted.
In other news, I have significantly expanded the "Why we are Different" section.
http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/different/
And - added some new fun vocabulary, Futurism vs. Dogmatism!
http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/terminology/terminology/dogmatist.html
Made significant progress on the Self Ownership section:
http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/self_ownership/
So - feedback appreciated as always.
Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality
San Bruno California
866-666-3211
marc@perkel.com
03/21/2006