Baptist Church Seized for Tax Debt

I N D I A N A P O L I S, Feb. 13 -- Using gurneys to carry out praying congregants, federal marshals today seized a Indiana church that owed $6 million in taxes to the IRS.

Members of the Indianapolis Baptist Temple had kept up an aound-the-clock vigil since November after losing a 16-year legal fight with the government that began when church leaders stopped withholding federal income and Social Security taxes.

Marshals seized the church parsonage, where Pastor Rev. Greg J. Dixon lived, last Nov. 14.

Dixon claimed paying taxes would violate the church's religious beliefs by putting the church under the control of manmade laws.

Marshals carried Dixon out of the church on a stretcher after seizing the structure around 8:30 a.m.

From the gurney, a defiant Dixon told the Associated Press, "The purge has started."

A Three-Month Standoff Ends

Marshals knocked on the church door, and were allowed to enter by the five church members inside. Congregants had been taking turns occupying the church around the clock since Jan. 16 when the U.S. Supreme Court denied the church's final appeal of the seizure.

The marshals approached the five members, some of whom were kneeling in prayer, and asked them to leave. When they refused, all five were carried out of the run-down brick and stone building on gurneys.

While angry about the loss of their church, several members praised the marshals' "gentle" enforcement of the order. There were no arrests or physical confrontations.

Once the members were removed, marshals used dogs to sniff for explosives under the altar and chairs. Officers were also posted on the roof of the church and the nearby K-Mart.

U.S. Marshal Frank Anderson said the seizure was one of the most difficult in his 37-year career.

Somber Acceptance, and Plans to Move On

As word spread, some of the church's 1,000 members gathered somberly outside.

"This meant a lot to me," said Thelma Van Hook, an IBT member for 47 years. "I've been here so much for the last 2 years, since I lost my husband," she said.