Religious Institute Hit with Betrayal and Tragedy in Short Order

on May 18, 2012

 

Empty bank vault
Earlier this year, the Institute’s financial problems were made known. (Photo credit:
Silverspotprice.com)

 

A Religious Left group that spearheaded a defense of the Obamacare contraception/abortifacient mandate has spent the past three months scrambling for financial support after a scandal wiped out its funds. The story took another unexpected turn last week when the former United Methodist minister responsible for the funds took his own life.

The Religious Institute claims it is owed over $400,000 after a trusted non-profit fiscal agent who handled the organization’s finances informed the group that it was out of money in late February. The Rev. Steven E. Clapp led The Christian Community Inc., an Indiana-based nonprofit that accepted donations and handled finances on behalf of the Religious Institute, which until recently did not have its own tax-exempt status. Clapp’s May 15 death was ruled suicide by a coroner.

Co-founded in 2001 by a sexologist who is also a Unitarian Universalist minister, the Religious Institute is a Connecticut-based interfaith organization that styles itself an advocate for “sexual health, education and justice.” The Religious Institute touts strong ties to homosexual advocacy organizations, as well as liberal religious groups that operate within the Mainline Protestant churches.

In an interview with the Fort Wayne JournalGazette, Religious Institute President Debra Haffner told the newspaper that the 11-year-old organization is out $424,000 plus a $100,000 loan she and her husband made to The Christian Community, Inc. A February phone call from Clapp revealed that The Christian Community Inc., was bankrupt, shuttering operations immediately, and the money it was holding on the Religious Institute’s behalf was gone. It was later revealed that the financial sponsor failed to file necessary paperwork with the IRS for five years, prompting the government agency to pull its tax-exempt status in May of 2011. A JournalGazette investigation uncovered that Clapp had served prison time for previous financial malfeasance and a clean audit of the organization was signed with the name of an apparently non-existent accountant.

The sudden loss of money, which Clapp told the JournalGazette was attributed to “bad financial decisions,” sent Haffner scrambling for emergency funds. Referring on Twitter to the first days following Religious Institute’s financial crisis as “the hardest days of my life,” Haffner enlisted the local Unitarian Church as a temporary fiscal agent while the organization pursued its own tax-exempt status as an independent nonprofit organization.

In a February 28 letter to supporters, Haffner solemnly wrote that “The Religious Institute is in the fight of our lives” and had only $3,800 in a bank account.

“In total, we must raise $425,000 in the next three months to implement the plan for 2012 activities,” Haffner appealed.

The Unitarian Universalist minister announced two “emergency” grants from the Ms. Foundation for Women and the Carpenter Foundation.

“We have done great work, changing the landscape of how denominations, faith communities, seminaries, and clergy approach sexuality issues,” Haffner trumpeted in her letter.

In March, the organization convened its first board meeting, with Haffner reporting that pursuit of tax-exempt status was underway and expected by September.

“People and organizations have been supportive beyond words and expectations,” the Unitarian minister reported in a blog update. “Within 2 days, I had raised $40,000 to cover the debts we were left and staff salary for two payrolls.”

The organization’s officials seem to have stepped away from their original plans for 2012, however, with Haffner referencing “a scaled down” 2012 budget.

Most recently, the Religious Institute has gone after the ruling body of the United Methodist Church and voters in North Carolina who approved a constitutional amendment stating that marriage between one man and one woman is the only recognized legal union.

Responding to the recent decision of the United Methodist General Conference not to change language declaring homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching,” Haffner convened officials from two dozen liberal religious organizations to endorse a statement refuting the church’s stance.

“We affirm sexual and gender diversity as gifts people offer to their congregations and communities,” the statement read. “We stand in solidarity with those United Methodists working to transform their denomination into one that celebrates sexual and gender diversity as a blessing that enriches all.”

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