Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Progressivism and Cultural Marxism on the move: it seems that Political Correctness and sexual preferences are about to trump the First Amendment Rights of pastors and priests. This is a huge war on Religious Freedom and Free Speech (reformatted and emphasis mine):
The city of Houston has issued subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly lesbian mayor. And those ministers who fail to comply could be held in contempt of court.
This is the mark of a totalitarian – squelch anything with which is disagreeable to the current government or their identity. This is a further pushing that sexual license trumps all and anything. As Erick Erickson of RedState keeps saying “You WILL be made to care”. This is a Big Deal – and will turn out to either be the ratcheting back the attacks or it is the end. Obama has constantly waged a war on religion in changing “free exercise thereof” to “freedom of worship” meaning no religion in the public square and that religion is only to be practiced in private within the walls of your house of worship. Annise Parker wishes to decree even that out of existence.
“The city’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Christina Holcomb said in a statement. “The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions.” “Political and social commentary is not a crime,” Holcomb said. “It is protected by the First Amendment.”
And what do you do when out of control elected officials deliberately ignore our Foundational Law (the Constitution). Here is a crude example of ignore it for the sake of forcing, a demanding for, acceptance of a lifestyle that polls still have at least half the American population see as sinful. It is clear that the militant gay movement sees religion and its emphasis on timeless and absolute morality THE obstacle to achieving “acceptance”. How’s threatening to put religious leaders in jail going to engender “acceptance”? This makes the phrase “the beatings will continue until morale increases” look like a horror story come alive.
The subpoenas are just the latest twist in an ongoing saga over the Houston’s new non-discrimination ordinance. The law, among other things, would allow men to use the ladies room and vice versa. The city council approved the law in June. The Houston Chronicle reported opponents of the ordinance launched a petition drive that generated more than 50,000 signatures – far more than the 17,269 needed to put a referendum on the ballot.
However, the city threw out the petition in August over alleged irregularities. After opponents of the bathroom bill filed a lawsuit the city’s attorneys responded by issuing the subpoenas against the pastors.
Retribution via lawfare. There certainly is no Trust in this situation – only a crass effort, a childish hissy fit, for “YOU WILL OBEY”. Once again, we see the totalitarian coming out in twisting the relationship of public servant / Public Master flip end over end.
The pastors were not part of the lawsuit. However, they were part of a coalition of some 400 Houston-area churches that opposed the ordinance. The churches represent a number of faith groups – from Southern Baptist to non-denominational. “City council members are supposed to be public servants, not ‘Big Brother’ overlords who will tolerate no dissent or challenge,” said ADF attorney Erik Stanley. “This is designed to intimidate pastors.”
Mayor Parker will not explain why she wants to inspect the sermons. I contacted City Hall for a comment and received a terse reply from the mayor’s director of communications. “We don’t comment on litigation,” said Janice Evans. However, ADF attorney Stanley suspects the mayor wants to publicly shame the ministers. He said he anticipates they will hold up their sermons for public scrutiny. In other words – the city is rummaging for evidence to “out” the pastors as anti-gay bigots.
For that is the M.O. – disagree with us even over one iota, and one is immediately branded a bigot. No intellectual capacity or philosophical reasoning – just a childish tantrum of emotional words. Making the person on the other side “The Other” and not worthy of respect at all. It is what the Left does – separate, cull, and then demonize – the verbal and written steamroller. There is no compromise. Period. Again, they think this will engender “acceptance”. Freely given or forced – seemingly makes no difference.
Among those slapped with a subpoena is Steve Riggle, the senior pastor of Grace Community Church. He was ordered to produce all speeches and sermons related to Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality and gender identity. The mega-church pastor was also ordered to hand over “all communications with members of your congregation” regarding the non-discrimination law. “This is an attempt to chill pastors from speaking to the cultural issues of the day,” Riggle told me. “The mayor would like to silence our voice. She’s a bully.”
Irony. The “Bully Movement” was meant to protect gays, at least publicly. Its effect, however, is in doing what the Pastor said – it is all about silencing those that would stand in dissent. And it continues:
Rev. Dave Welch, executive director of the Texas Pastor Council, also received a subpoena. He said he will not be intimidated by the mayor. “We’re not afraid of this bully,” he said. “We’re not intimidated at all.” He accused the city of violating the law with the subpoenas and vowed to stand firm in the faith. “We are not going to yield our First Amendment rights,” Welch told me. ‘This is absolutely a complete abuse of authority.”
That’s what nascent totalitarians do: brook no dissent and their end justifies their means. Which is to shut down the churches.
Tony Perkins….This is the moment I wrote about in my book, “God Less America.” I predicted that the government would one day try to silence American pastors. I warned that under the guise of “tolerance and diversity” elected officials would attempt to deconstruct religious liberty.
It is now really out in the open.
(H/T: Fox News)
