The two religious organizations that represent most of Maine’s congregations took opposite stands Tuesday on the tax cap referendum.

Citing the potential harm to the state’s poor, the Maine Council of Churches is urging voters to oppose the tax cap referendum, while the Christian Civic League of Maine is advising residents to vote yes on Question No. 1.

Tom Ewell, executive director of the council, said Tuesday that passage of the proposal would cut essential services to the most vulnerable members of society.

The league’s executive director, Michael Heath, countered that passage of the measure would “merely force the Legislature to do what it should have been doing all along.”

The tax cap referendum was initiated by a citizen petition and will be on the Nov. 2 state ballot. If it passes, it would cap property taxes at 1 percent of assessed valuation.

“With due respect for the urgent need to address the rapid increase in property taxes,” Ewell said Tuesday, “the Maine Council of Churches has concluded that the impact of the tax cap referendum will cause unacceptable hardship on Maine citizens, especially the poor and those who are dependent on state services for their safety and basic needs.

“The potential harm to many outweighs the tax relief it may provide for some.”

Heath said Tuesday in a phone interview that the tax cap would force the Legislature to curb spending and bring the state’s level of taxation more in line with national averages since the state consistently is listed as having one of the highest tax burdens in the nation.

Both the league and the council, according to Ewell and Heath, based their decisions on the same text – the Bible.

“The Bible says that citizens should render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” Heath said Tuesday. “God cannot be pleased with elderly property owners being forced to sell their homes to pay taxes. Also, he cannot be pleased with the suggestion that a tax cap on property tax will produce panic in the streets, closing firehouses, public schools and other drastic changes in essential services.

“We are sure God is as interested in good jobs for Maine citizens as he is in caring for the poor,” Heath continued. “We’re also convinced he is more interested in personal love and charity through private channels than in coerced charity by way of taxation.”

The MCC decided to oppose the tax cap after talking with sister organizations in Oregon and Colorado, states with similar provisions, Ewell said Tuesday. Reports from those states indicated that implementation of tax caps had reduced crucial and essential social services.

“The council is calling for fair, just, humane and compassionate treatment for those in society who are most vulnerable,” he said. “We believe that’s the bedrock of Jewish and Christian teaching.”

Both the council and the league are made up of individual members and congregations from throughout the state. About 700 churches, synagogues and denominations, including the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, the Episcopal Diocese of Maine, and other Protestant groups, belong to the council.

The league is made up of individual members and more than 50 evangelical churches in the state. One of the group’s goals is to bring a biblical perspective to the dialogue over public policy, according to information on its Web site.

Both organizations lobby the Legislature and take positions on issues. They took similar stands last year against a referendum that would have allowed Maine Indian tribes to construct casinos, but the groups have taken opposite stands on the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Maine Human Rights Act.

The stands announced Tuesday by the council and the league mark the second time in a week that religious organizations have issued a statement on the tax cap.

Bishop Richard Malone, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, issued a statement on Tuesday, Oct. 5, urging church members to be guided by moral principles when they go to the polls next month.

In a letter addressed to priests but intended to be shared with parishioners, Malone wrote that while he is not telling his flock how to vote on the question, Catholics are called upon to place the needs of the less fortunate above one person’s own selfish interest.