Editing Alamo Christian Foundation (section)

==History==
===Early years===
Tony and Susan Alamo founded the Alamo Christian Foundation in 1969 in [[Hollywood, California]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Keller, Larry|title=Cult Evangelist Tony Alamo Convicted On Sex Charges |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2009/07/24/cult-evangelist-tony-alamo-convicted-sex-charges|date=24 July 2009| publisher = [[Southern Poverty Law Center]]}}</ref><ref name=LewisEncyc2nd>{{cite book |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |title=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions |edition=2nd |year=2001 |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |location=[[Amherst, New York]] |isbn= 978-1-57392-888-5|pages=42–43}}</ref> The church became the subject of controversy, especially as its members were active in trying to recruit new members in Hollywood.

It was frequently criticized for its manner of [[Evangelism|evangelization]], which frequently involved requiring young members of the congregation to walk around Hollywood, inviting people to convert to Christianity. They would take them to the church in [[Agua Dulce, California|Agua Dulce]] – roughly an hour away – for evening services, consisting of a meeting and a meal. Many of these individuals chose to stay on to become [[Bible]] students and [[Lay ministry|lay ministers]].<ref name=LewisEncyc2nd/>

In 1976, the church relocated to [[Dyer, Arkansas]], where Susan Alamo had been raised. There, in the small town which is located in the western part of the state, the church grew to several hundred members. It established printing facilities, a school, and a [[Church tabernacle|tabernacle]]. It also claimed to operate a [[drug rehabilitation]] facility, but in fact it was a facility for the purpose of Christian conversion.

Members of the church developed several businesses in the [[Alma, Arkansas]] area. As the church expanded, it established other churches in [[Nashville]], [[Chicago]], [[Brooklyn]], and [[Miami Beach]].

Alamo started a business, which relied heavily on unpaid child labor, of decorating [[denim jacket]]s and [[airbrush]]ing them with bright, colorful designs. Many Hollywood celebrities were seen wearing them, including [[Michael Jackson]]. He wore a modified leather Alamo jacket on the cover of his album ''[[Bad (album)|Bad]]''.<ref name=LewisEncyc2nd/>

The church's projects included Nashville's largest [[Western wear|country and western]] clothing store.<ref name="Keating">{{cite book |author=Keating, Karl |author-link=Karl Keating |title=Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on "Romanism" by "Bible Christians" |publisher=Ignatius |year=1988 |isbn=978-0898701777 |page=[https://archive.org/details/catholicismfunda00karl/page/115 115] |url=https://archive.org/details/catholicismfunda00karl/page/115 }}</ref>

The church published religious tracts, and it also distributed tapes of sermons by the Alamos. With the help of some church members, they also produced records and tapes, and they launched a national television ministry in the 1970s.<ref name=LewisEncyc2nd/> The ministry mostly aired on low-rated, non-network, high-power television stations in major markets. Susan led the preaching aspect of the ministry, with Tony mostly staying in the background in a production role, making only occasional appearances, usually to perform an inspirational song on camera.  As the decade progressed, the criticism of their ministry grew.  In response, the ministry produced "Susan Alamo Speaks Out", an interview-based program made up of claimed converts who had been transformed by the Alamos' ministry.

===Death of Susan Alamo===
Susan Alamo died of [[breast cancer]] on April 8, 1982, after first being diagnosed with the disease in 1975.  She died 17 days short of her 57th birthday, at the [[Oral Roberts]] City of Faith Hospital in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]]. In the reported belief that she would [[Resurrection|rise from the dead]],<ref name="Tucker" /> her embalmed body was kept on display for six months.<ref name=EncycArkansas>[http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=4224 "Tony Alamo (1934–2017)"] ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture'' website, 30 August 2023</ref> It was then entombed in a [[Heart (symbol)|heart]]-shaped [[marble]] [[mausoleum]] on church property.<ref>Buchanan, Susan (March 1, 2008) [https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2008/christhiaon-coie-speaks-out-about-her-stepfather-tony-alamo "Christhiaon Coie Speaks Out About Her Stepfather, Tony Alamo"] [[Southern Poverty Law Center]]</ref>

In 1991, the federal government confiscated the property. Its agents learned that Susan's remains had been removed. Her estranged daughter, Christhiaon Coie, filed a lawsuit against Tony Alamo because he had stolen the body. Her stepfather (by an earlier marriage of her mother) obtained a court order which required Tony Alamo to return the body.<ref name=Nelson>Beverley, James A. ed. (2009) ''Nelson's Illustrated Guide to Religions''. Thomas Nelson Inc.</ref>

===Tax problems and criminal proceedings===
In 1982, the same year that Susan Alamo died,<ref name="LewisControv">{{Cite book |title=Controversial New Religions |title-link=Controversial New Religions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-515682-9 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |edition=1st |location=New York |language=en |editor-last2=Petersen |editor-first2=Jesper Aagaard |chapter=Introduction |page=8}}</ref> Alamo discontinued the foundation in their name.

He replaced it with the newly incorporated Music Square Church (MSC).<ref name=LewisEncyc2nd/> MSC had been granted [[501c]] tax-exempt status in 1981.<ref name="court">{{cite web |url=http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/federal/judicial/fed/opinions/99opinions/99-5109.html |title=Music Square Church v. United States|date=July 13, 2000|id=99-5109|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607105536/http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/FEDERAL/judicial/fed/opinions/99opinions/99-5109.html |archive-date=June 7, 2011}}</ref> After the federal government had started investigation of the entity, the [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] retroactively revoked that tax-exempt status on April 5, 1996.

The IRS Commissioner found that "MSC was so closely operated and controlled by and for the benefit of Tony Alamo that it enjoyed no substantive independent existence; that MSC was formed and operated by Tony Alamo for the principal purpose of willfully attempting to defeat or evade federal income tax; and that MSC was inseparable from Tony Alamo, and failed to operate for exclusively charitable purposes."<ref name="court"/> MSC sued and lost in the [[United States Court of Federal Claims]]. It lost on appeal to the [[United States Court of Appeals]] in 1999.<ref name="court"/>

Alamo was arrested several times throughout his life, beginning with a charge for illegally possessing a weapon in 1966, for which he served prison time before he married Susan Alamo.<ref name="LewisControv"/><ref name=LewisEncyc2nd/> He encountered increasing problems after Susan's death. Women said that he had sexually abused both them and minor children. In 2009, Alamo was convicted of 10 counts of transporting [[Minor (law)|minors]] as young as 9 across state lines for sex. Alamo received the maximum sentence for his crimes, 175 years in prison.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/24/tony.alamo.verdict.pdf|title=Federal Verdict Slip}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Not stated-->|title=Evangelist guilty of taking minors across state lines for rape|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/24/arkansas.evangelist.trial/|work=[[CNN]]|date=July 24, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author1=Buerkle, Rebecca|author2=Rues, Monika|date=July 24, 2009|title=KHTV Little Rock (Local Coverage) |url=http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=88474&catid=238 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928042643/http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=88474&catid=238 |archive-date=September 28, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="NYTimes2017"/><ref name="Time2017"/>

In June 2013, the federal government filed forfeiture and collection actions in federal court on 27 properties which were owned by members of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, in an attempt to collect $2.5 million in restitution that Alamo was ordered to pay to his victims. The U.S. Attorney's Office argued that the owners were "owners in name only" because the properties were still under Alamo's control.<ref>{{cite news|author=Abramson, Alana |title=Feds Target Jailed Evangelist Tony Alamo's Property |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|date=June 12, 2013 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/06/feds-target-jailed-evangelist-tony-alamos-property |access-date=October 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828000730/https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/06/feds-target-jailed-evangelist-tony-alamos-property/ |archive-date=August 28, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Death of Tony Alamo===
Alamo died on May 2, 2017, while he was in custody at the [[Federal Medical Center, Butner]] in [[Butner, North Carolina]].<ref name="NYTimes2017">{{cite news |title=Tony Alamo, Apocalyptic Ministry Leader Convicted of Sex Abuse, Dies at 82 |agency=Associated Press |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/obituary-tony-alamo-minister-sexual-abuse.html |date=May 3, 2017 |access-date=May 8, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Time2017">{{cite news |title=Christian Cult Leader and Child Sex Abuser Tony Alamo Dies in Federal Custody |author=Aric Jenkins |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://time.com/4766223/tony-alamo-evangelist-dead-prison/ |date=May 3, 2017 |access-date=May 8, 2017 |archive-date=May 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507143655/http://time.com/4766223/tony-alamo-evangelist-dead-prison/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>  He was 82 years old.<ref name="NYTimes2017"/><ref name="Time2017"/> The Alamo Ministries posted a notice of his death on its website's homepage, but it did not post a notice of succession nor did it state its future plans.<ref>{{cite web|author=<!--Not stated-->|title=Message regarding Pastor Alamo|url=http://www.alamoministries.com/content/english/messages/PastorAlamo.html|website=Alamo Ministries|date=10 May 2017<!--date first on Internet Archive-->|access-date= April 11, 2024}}</ref> The site, along with this notice, was still live, but it was inactive, {{As of|2025|lc=y}}. The website had made two posts about Israel and a post with a file entitled ''There is no [[Palestine]]'' or "19200.[[pdf]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alamoministries.com/Newsletters/19200.pdf|title=THERE IS NO PALESTINE|access-date=29 November 2025|website=www.alamoministries.com}}</ref>