Originally published on Forbes.com Aug 13, 2013
I have been following the Kent Hovind story, since noting the Tax Court decision in the case of his wife Jo Delia Hovind. My most loyal commenter, Robert Baty had been trying to persuade me to give some coverage to the topic of Young Earth Creationism (YEC). Bob is a retired IRS appeals officer who follows the parsonage exclusion issue very closely, which is how we became acquainted, can be very persuasive, but I reserve my journeys off the tax reservation for my own obsessions. The Jo Delia Hovind decision was really fascinating and clearly within my beat, so I have since been hooked on YEC.
Counting Up Those Begats
I’m probably something of a creationist myself. I have a really hard time accepting that we are the result of random interactions involving no teleology. That probably puts me at the far left of the creationist spectrum. As you move further along, you will find that many devout Catholics, including my sister, a Pallotine nun who teaches high school science, have no trouble accepting evolution and looking at the creation account in Genesis as being metaphorical and symbolic.
Further along you might have people like my blogging buddy, Reverend William Thornton, who might have a hard time with evolution, but accepts that geologic evidence calls for a much older earth than you can get by adding up all those begats in Genesis and adding six calendar days.
You can accept scriptural inerrancy and stay out of trouble in the geology department, if you are willing to allow for a day being a lot longer than 24 hours before the Creator had everything up and running. Young Earth Creationists are unwilling to make that type of allowance. In their view, if you believe in the Bible, it is clear that the Earth is about 6,000 years old.
Six thousand years is not nearly enough time for evolution to work, so YEC will not be that popular in the biology departments of most universities. The astronomers and the geologists will also have a hard time with YEC believers. And of course, since academics sometimes stick together, they might get disciplines that don’t have a dog in the fight on their side. This accounts for YEC believers seeing such a great need for creation scientists, since establishment science, in the YEC view, is so wrong. That’s where fellows like Kent Hovind come in.
The Troubles of Doctor Dino
Kent Hovind is known as Doctor Dino. One of the implications of YEC is that people and dinosaurs must have been running around at the same time. That is why Kent Hovind opened Dinosaur Adventureland allowing for a combination of family fun, Biblical truth and sound science education (from a YEC viewpoint). The troubles at Dinosaur Advetureland led to Kent Hovind being known as Inmate 06452-017 currently resident at FCI – Berlin NH with a projected release date of 8/11/2015.
Kent Hovind has lately been claiming that his tax troubles are an early instance of the IRS targeting conservatives. Nick Lally of the Creation Hall of Fame has gathered letters from YEC supporters asking Kent to give up his fight against the IRS. Doctor Dino is made of sterner stuff:
Some shallow, short term thinkers with the sickening “Hezekiah attitude” (II Kn.20:19) say I should give up the fight and lay down and “drink the cool-aid.” That would just pass the problem on to my kids and grandkids! No thanks! I, like Shammah (II Sam 23:11) am NOT running even if everyone else does! Others may NOT see the importance of standing here and now but I do. They can run if they wish. As Patrick Henry said, “I hope their chains of slavery rest lightly upon them.” I will be GLAD to stop fighting and I WILL once we WIN and they leave me alone. I didn’t start any of this fight! I was busy preaching and winning souls and they illegally arrested me. The IRS has been “targeting” this “conservative” preacher since 1996! My daddy said if you submit to a lawless bully it only encourages him to come back over and over and steal your lunch. Win or lose you have to fight him or live in slavery and fear.
The Fight Continues
Kent Hovind’s accounts of his legal battles remind me a bit of one of my occasional tax season diversions in the eighties. My buddy Mikey and I would sometimes play chess. Mikey and I have the distinction of being the last two people to become partners in Joseph B Cohan and Associates. At any rate the games pretty much always went the same. I would play much more poorly than Mikey as he would explain to me at some length. Oddly, despite my numerous errors, I would usually win.
Hovind’s legal battles mainly concern trying to get his conviction overturned and the large tax deficiency covering the years 1998 to 2006 reversed. The Tax Court made a final determination on the deficiency on May 15th, 2013. He has asked to appeal to the 11th Circuit without paying a fee, since he is broke, being in prison and all. The 11th Circuit turned him down, because they thought he was being frivolous. He filed a motion on August 5 that appeals the whole decision of the Tax Court. The motion says that he is exempt from taxation because he is a minister and the ministry was not owned by himself and his wife. He also presents an interpretation of his “IMF” file which he indicates shows that no tax is due. I’m pretty sure there are some holes in his ministry arguments and I have never seen the ]IMF” argument work for anybody, but we’ll see. The IRS has indicated that it will not respond to his motion unless instructed to by the Court.
Hovind also has a lawsuit against prison officials for losing his records and a complaint against the judge in his case. You might want to check out his full legal update, which is here.
You can follow me on twitter @peterreillycpa.
Afternote
Comments on other platforms have indicated to me that some people have gotten the impression that I wholeheartedly embrace Young Earth Creationism. I’ve made some slight changes to hopefully clarify a few places where my love for irony created confusion.
All Hovind Tax All The Time
Doctor Dino is quite popular with my readers, but I have a lot of other things to cover. For more up to date info check out this facebook page that Bob Baty has started.