God & Taxes

For the past ten years, the Rev. Maurice McCrackin, Presbyterian pastor of Cincinnati's St. Barnabas Church, has refused to pay all of his federal income tax --since 1955 he has not even filed a return. His defense: Christian principle. As a pacifist, he declines to contribute to armaments by paying taxes. Last week the feds came for Non-Taxpayer McCrackin.

A deputy U.S. marshal and two Internal Revenue agents found him sitting in his car in front of Findlay Street Neighborhood House, a recreational center for slum children that he heads. When they told McCrackin to come along, he refused to budge. They lifted him out of his car and he refused to walk. So they carried gangling Pastor McCrackin to their own automobile, drove him to the Federal Building, carried him into the elevator (where he sat on the floor), and carried him first into the marshal's office, then into the tax commissioner's office. They carried him back to the marshal's office, where they asked him to sign a form that would enable them to release him temporarily. Again McCrackin refused to cooperate, and the arm-weary officials toted him into a detention cell, where he stretched out on a cot.

A few hours later he was ordered released anyway, pending a hearing. "You carried me in here, now carry me out," said McCrackin. "Aw, come on, man, be reasonable," said the Law. And Pacifist McCrackin got back on his feet and walked.

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