Challenge to tax status of white supremacist's church fails in court

By The Associated Press

02.09.00

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CHICAGO — A judge has dismissed Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan's lawsuit to determine whether a church led by white supremacist Matt Hale was truly a charitable organization.

In a decision yesterday, Cook County Circuit Judge Julia Nowicki said the state's charitable-solicitation law on which the lawsuit was based is so vague that enforcing it in this case would threaten freedom of speech.

Ryan filed the lawsuit challenging the status of Hale's World Church of the Creator, based in East Peoria, following last year's Fourth of July weekend shooting rampage by church member Benjamin Smith.

Smith killed two people and wounded nine others in Illinois and Indiana. All of the victims were members of minority groups. Smith eventually killed himself.

Ryan had asked the court to determine whether the church really is the charitable organization that it claims to be. A finding by the court that it is not actually a charitable organization would force the church to pay Illinois taxes.

Hale issued a statement saying he was "happy that the witch hunt that was begun by Jim Ryan has been brought to an end."

"Our great victory today is cause not only for celebration but also for renewed commitment to even greater activism for our white race," Hale said.

Dan Curry, Ryan's spokesman, said Nowicki most likely would be asked to reconsider her decision and that the case could be taken directly to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Curry also said the lawsuit "has never been a political attack against Mr. Hale."

"This is about Attorney General Ryan doing his job, which is protecting the charitable assets of this state," he said. "The court said this morning that the law is too vague. We respectfully disagree."

The lawsuit also said if the court declared the organization a real charity, it should order the group to give an accounting of its finances as other churches do under Illinois law.