Baptist group fights fine for Cuba travel.A progressive group of Baptist churches is fighting a claim by the U.S. Treasury U.S. Treasury Created in 1798, the United States Department of the Treasury is the government (Cabinet) department responsible for issuing all Treasury bonds, notes and bills. Some of the government branches operating under the U.S. Treasury umbrella include the IRS, U.S. Department that five of its member churches violated federal regulation on travel to Cuba. The Religion News Service (RNS RNS Regulatory News Service (UK stock market) RnS Rinnovamento Nello Spirito (Italian: Renewal in the Spirit) RNS Ribonukleinsäure (German: RNA) RNS Residue Number System ) reported that the Treasury Department issued a notice in early July to the Alliance of Baptists The Alliance of Baptists is a fellowship of Baptist churches and individuals espousing moderate-to-liberal theological and social stances. The Alliance was formed in 1987 by congregations in schism from the Southern Baptist Convention as a result of the 1980s that several of the group's member churches between 2003-2005 violated their Cuba travel licenses by not engaging in "full-time religious activity." The notice issued by the Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury under the auspices of the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. OFAC administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U. accused the Alliance members of abusing their travel privileges because of "sightseeing and beach time." The Department said The Alliance of Baptists faces a fine of $34,000. The Rev. Start Hastey, the group's executive director, told the RNS that Treasury's accusations were unfounded and that the group would appeal the department's notice. "We're told that they engaged in substantial tourist activities and that's simply not the case," Hastey said. "They engaged, by any reasonable definition, in programs of full-time religious activity." The action against the alliance comes at a time when the Bush administration is tightening sanctions against Cuba, including blocking humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity. from reaching the Cuban Council of Churches. |
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