3. The Theological Position of MSIA
The following text was written by Suzan Schmekel when Executive Director of MSIA Canada, (with comment and amendment from John Roger and John Morton) as a response to questions which had been raised by Revenue Canada (now the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) during the process of obtaining registration with CRA as a charity, and recognition as a Church in Canada. It is included in this web site for it does articulate the position of the Church in modern theological argument. The text has not been updated to reflect the continuance of MSIA Canada under the Canada Not for Profit (NFP) Act in 2014, or language in Form 4031 Articles of Continuance (transition) used for a continuance from the Canada Corporations Act, Part II.
The text was written as a letter to MSIA Canada's legal counsel, Brian Forbes.
July 24, 1995
Dear Brian:
Re: Our Reply to Letter From Revenue Canada
Basically, the way we see it, Revenue Canada has misunderstood MSIA. We may not have explained ourselves in language that they understand; i.e., traditional religious language. This letter is an effort to state what we do in more traditional language. We are certain that Revenue Canada wants to make it possible for our membership to worship God in the way they have chosen to do that (through the MSIA Church) and to be able to minister to the larger community of which they are a part.
I will be discussing MSIA under five subject headings, as raised by Revenue Canada: our charitable purposes, our definition of God, our worship of a deity, the relationship of spirituality and personal awareness and our advancement of education. I believe that these were the major issues raised by Revenue Canada.
Charitable Purposes
Definition of God
Devotion in Spiritual/Mystical Church
Relationship to Personal Awareness
Advancement of Education
Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness Links
Prayer List
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