Church trying to return to Cuba without a fine

Church trying to return to Cuba without a fine
Saturday, May 26, 2007
GREG GARRISON
News staff writer

Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham has applied for a new
license to travel to Cuba after its 2005 trip there drew the threat of a
federal fine, which has now been withdrawn.

"We're still trying to get back to Cuba," said Associate Pastor John
Duke, who was on the church's last trip.

Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets
Control accused Baptist Church of the Covenant and several other
churches of participating in prohibited tourist activities in Cuba. The
churches were traveling under a religious travel license granted to the
Alliance of Baptists, which was threatened with a $34,000 fine.

In a letter dated May 17, the Office of Foreign Assets Control told the
Alliance that the threat of a fine had been withdrawn.

"There's a sense of relief we were not sanctioned after all," Alliance
Executive Director Stan Hastey said.

The final letter, called a warning letter, still cited unlicensed gifts
to and importation from the Communist nation, which remains under a U.S.
trade embargo, Hastey said. One Covenant member bought Cuban cigars,
which were confiscated by U.S. Customs. That incident and an
unauthorized gift of $2,000 taken to Cuba were cited by Treasury
officials, Hastey said.

However, after an appeal, the trip overall was not viewed as violating
the terms of religious travel and the violations were not considered
serious enough for a penalty, he said.

"The Treasury Department in the end did the right thing," Hastey said.
"Although there were actionable incidents, they were still insignificant
to trigger a penalty."

Treasury Department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise declined comment,
saying the department does not discuss individual cases.

Treasury's letter notifying Hastey of the possible fine, dated July 5,
2006, mentioned four other Alliance churches accused of violations
during trips to Cuba under the license between 2003 and 2005.

Those congregations are the First Baptist churches of Washington, D.C.;
Savannah, Ga.; and Greenville, S.C.; and Glendale Baptist Church in
Nashville. All have applied for licenses to return to Cuba; the churches
in Washington, Savannah and Greenville have received their licenses,
Hastey said.

Covenant recently applied for its travel license to Cuba.

"We're working on that," Duke said. "If we are awarded a license, we'd
be very careful that we follow the guidelines. We do hope to go back.
We'd like to be able to go back and visit them again."

Boca de Muriel:

During the March 10-16, 2005, trip, Hastey traveled with five
representatives from Covenant who went to establish sister-church ties
with Baptist Church of Boca de Muriel, which also has a female pastor.
The Rev. Sarah Jackson Shelton, Covenant's pastor, did not go on the trip.

"We're happy for the Alliance; that would have been a large fine for
them," Duke said. "They were alleging our church did things that went
against the travel restrictions."

The Alliance, a small moderate Baptist group that held its annual
national meeting in Birmingham in 2006, was notified in 2005 that its
license to travel to Cuba was revoked. Treasury has been phasing out
licenses for denominations, but granting licenses for individual
churches to travel to Cuba, Hastey said.

The Alliance, headquartered in Washington, has an annual budget of
$374,000 and 117 affiliated churches.

It started as a moderate break-off from the Southern Baptist Convention
in 1987. The Alliance has since prided itself on its mission work,
including a partnership with the Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba.

E-mail: ggarrison@bhamnews.com

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