Houston Officials in a Dirty Fight Against Area Pastors

In a move that is very close to stomping the First Amendment, city officials in Houston have issued subpoenas to  ladies barbour jacket  a group of area pastors, demanding that they hand over any sermons dealing with the topic of homosexuality, gender, or Houston’s openly lesbian mayor, Annise Parker. Should they fail to do so, they could be held in contempt of court.

Since when does a city council have this kind of authority? Where is the ACLU? Speaking in their stead is the Alliance Defending Freedom, a law firm dedicated to protecting religious liberties. A lawyer from ADF issued a harsh rebuke to the subpoenas, saying,ralph lauren jackets “The city’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented.” She went on to accuse the city council of “engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions.” ADF has filed a motion to stop the subpoenas.

These aren’t the first shots in the conflict. The trouble began with Houston’s new non-discrimination ordinance that allows men and women to use whatever restrooms they prefer. Though a petition drive gathered 50,000 signatures in support of canadagoose.ca a referendum to abolish the law, the city threw it out for “irregularities.” This inspired opponents of the discrimination law to file suit against the city, bringing us to the events of this week.

From the outside, the intent looks clear. The city council wants to wage war in the public eye, picking and choosing from sermons to paint their opponents as homophobic. This might be an acceptable strategy in some cases, but it’s wrongheaded and nearly unconstitutional when the government is involved. For their part, neither the mayor nor the city council will comment on why they want the sermons so badly.

What’s happening in Houston is an event Christians have worried about for years. The government, at long last, cracking down on what can and can’t be said in a Christian church. While Houston’s officials have not yet crossed the line into free speech suppression, these things have a way of making slow progress under our noses. Maybe this time, the Houston city council is told to pound sand. Maybe next time something like this happens, though, it slips a little further in the other direction.

We have to be honest about atheists, liberals, and their desired intentions for the future of this country. They want to remove any trace of Christianity from the land. Muslims, fine. Jews, sure. But Christians, to their eyes, are the enemy. And religious tolerance only extends to minorities.

Even if you aren’t a believer, you should be willing to stand up for the rights of Christians in this country. Regardless of what the left wants us to believe, this country was founded on Christian principles and no amount of liberal canada goose outlet toronto brainwashing is going to change that fact. It was also founded on the principles of religious freedom and the right to free expression. It’s becoming increasingly clear that liberals want control over how, when, and where those rights are exercised.