Originally published on Forbes.com Apr 9th, 2013
The release of Wesley Snipes to less restrictive custody has the supporters of Kent Hovind pining for his release, which is not due till 2015. Nick Lally of the Creation Science Hall of Fame is launching an effort to move things along and I kind of like what he is proposing.
Who Is Kent Hovind ?
Kent Hovind is one of the most prominent figures in the “Creation Science” movement. He is a “young earth creationist”. Disbelief in evolution, at least as it relates to humans, is fairly widespread in the United States with 46% of Americans believing that God created human beings pretty much as they now are less than 10,000 years ago. It may be that many people find the notion that people that they really admire are descended from apes too disturbing.
“Young earth creationists” double down on following the Genesis account super literally. This will tend to have them not just being unpopular in university biology departments but also geology, astronomy and probably a couple of others. The accounting department, on reflection, might embrace them. Luca Pacioli did his work a mere 600 years ago. That means, even with a young earth, ninety percent of human existence was without the benefit of double entry. Hard to believe.
How Did He Get In Trouble ?
Doctor Dino, as Kent Hovind is known, also embraced alternative tax theories. This is an excerpt from a website that explains why it is unjust that he is in prison
Hovind’s ministry is not an internal revenue code 501(c)(3) organization. In 1996, Hovind unsuccessfully filed for bankruptcy. The court claimed that he lied about his possessions and income. Hovind pleaded that as a minister of God everything he owns belonged to God and he should not be forced to pay illegal taxes to the United States on the money he received for doing God’s work citing US tax code §508(c)(1)(a). ….
On May 13, 1998, Hovind and his wife filled a document called “Power of Attorney and Revocation of Signature” with the Escambia County Clerk of Courts. The document reads, in part: “I/we do hereby revoke and make void… all signatures on any instruments…”. The Hovinds said they had signed government documents “due to the use of various elements of fraud and misrepresentations, duress, coercion, under perjury, mistake, ‘bankruptcy’.” In the document, the Hovinds argue that Social Security is a ponzi scheme and is not mandatory. The Hovinds described the United States Government as a “bankrupt corporate government”, and said they were renouncing their United States citizenship and Social Security numbers.
How Nick Lally Hopes To Help
People on the religious right may be slightly more vulnerable to falling into this type of nonsense, but it is far from prevalent. Thus, there appears to have been some concern among other creationists when Kent Hovind was named to the Creation Science Hall of Fame. Although you will find commentary to the effect that Hovind is being persecuted for creationism there are numerous apparently compliant not-for-profits collecting tax deductible deductions to promote creationism, including God Quest, Inc, the successor to Kent Hovind’s ministry run by his son Eric Hovind.
Nick Lally of the Creation Science Hall of Fame is hoping that Kent Hovind will give up fighting with the IRS and focus on the more important matter of promoting creationism. He is appealing to creationists to appeal to Dr. Dino. Here is his message:
Dear Creationists and Friends,Dr. Hovind is due for release on August 11, 2015, but Lord willing, the government could let him out of jail a year earlier, no different then they did for Wesley Snipes after serving his debt to society for the same conviction.We here at the Creation Science Hall of Fame want to send him a message, but we need your help:The message to Dr. Hovind from us Creationists would be simple: We want to convey to Dr. Hovind to give up his Tax Fight with the IRS and concentrate on “Creation Science” where we need him the most. If he continues his fight, he will surely end up back in jail where he is no use to the Creation Science Cause, nor to his family.Please write a short email back to creationfacts@aol.com conveying your message to Dr. Hovind. We want Kent back with us ready and willing to give an answer. We will hand deliver your emails directly to Kent Hovind as written.In Christ serving the Creationist Community,Nick Lally, Chairman, Board of Directors, Creation Science Hall of Fame
Not to be picky, but Kent Hovind was actually convicted on different charges than Wesley Snipes, but that is more of a detail. They both fell for the same sort of nonsense and got themselves in serious trouble.
Nick Lally explained this effort to me a little further:
We, Creation Science Hall of Fame, began to see the reality of Kent trying to fight his way out of jail without success. We saw a valuable asset to the Creation Community that was wasting away in jail. Lord knows that the “good fight” is tough enough. But having one of our most valuable assets in jail doesn’t help our cause. This is why we are trying to demonstrate to Dr. Hovind to give up his fight and come back to us. This time next year he would have served 90% of his sentence thereby paying his debt to society, and may be released. It’s now time for him to think about re-starting his Creation Ministry with his son, Eric at his side and forget about the IRS. This is why the CSHF is requesting letters of support directly written to Dr. Hovind by his fellow Creationists.
My own brief correspondence with Kent Hovind was not all that rewarding for either of us. His mocking me for having so few followers still stings. I probably won’t be sending him a letter myself. Also I am not a creationist. Still I applaud this effort. It will be interesting to see how it goes
You can follow me on twitter @peterreillycpa.