Houston, we have a problem


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Texas mayor goes on offense, seeking to censor voices of Christian pastors

ALARMING — Mayor Annise Parker garnered national attention for her brazen attack on religious liberty. Google Images

ALARMING — Mayor Annise Parker garnered national attention for her brazen attack on religious liberty. Google Images

Even though they say everything is bigger in Texas, Annise Parker, Houston’s first openly lesbian mayor, has decided it just is not big enough for anyone’s opinion but her own, and, if you disagree, you could be held in contempt of court.

Earlier this month, Houston’s City Hall subpoenaed five local Christian pastors, demanding they turn over any sermons pertaining to homosexuality or
gender identity.

The language has since been changed, no longer including the word “sermons,” instead referring to them as “speeches.” I guess an attack on sermons was too harsh for City Attorney David Feldman. Granted, they are in the Bible Belt.

Although it must have been a while since the attorney cracked open a dictionary, since the definition of a sermon is — you guessed it — a speech.
No matter what you call it, this Texas two-step is an attempt to portray pastors preaching the Bible as homophobic bigots slashing human rights. Parker is not the first to take this position, just among the first to go on the offensive.

Whether they are “sermons” or “speeches,” nitpicking the topic list is a quick way to neuter the Church, leaving it culturally irrelevant.

Should this position become the law of the land, the rules of the game will be drastically changed, putting the Church on the defensive. This move stands in direct opposition to the freedoms outlined and solidified by the Constitution.

“This tramples on (the pastors’) First Amendment rights to free speech and the exercise of religion,” Erik Stanley, an attorney defending the pastors, said.
However, the mayor and her legal team have been very direct. From where they stand, pastoral instruction that critiques culture is out of bounds for the Church.
“If the five pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game,” Parker tweeted.

Feldman seemed flabbergasted by the mere suggestion that First Amendment rights had been challenged.

“It’s unfortunate that (the subpoenas have) been construed as some effort to infringe upon religious liberty,” Feldman said when the pastors challenged the subpoenas.

The sacred has always ruffled the secular world’s feathers. That tension is not new, nor immediately detrimental, as long as freedom to disagree remains intact.

The problem is Parker’s latest offensive has told the religious that they just need to shut up or accept the consequences.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has warned Parker and Feldman that they might not want to do that.

“No matter what public policy is at stake, government officials must exercise the utmost care when our work touches on religious matters,” Abbott wrote in a letter to Feldman. “If we err, it must be on the side of preserving the autonomy of religious institutions and the liberty of religious believers. Your aggressive and invasive subpoenas show no regard for the very serious First Amendment considerations at stake.”

This is not the first rodeo pitting religion against government. Back in Bible times, Caesar did not care much for “speeches,” either. But Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was quick to put things into perspective.

“Caesar has no jurisdiction over the pulpit,” Cruz said at a rally supporting the Houston pastors. “When you subpoena one pastor, you subpoena every pastor.”
Pastor Hernan Castano, one of the five subpoenaed leaders, believes this punch to the pulpit could set a new precedent for the United States.

“They want to intimidate the pastors of America and they want to use us five to send a message to … anyone who would oppose their way of governing,” Castano told Fox News columnist Todd Starnes in an interview. “This is very dangerous if we allow this to go on … from Houston to the rest of the nation.”

If this attack on religious freedom stretches past Texas and spreads into higher chambers of government, the United States could become a nation where wrong opinions are rewarded with court battles and prison sentences.

GOINS-PHILLIPS is the opinion editor.

9 comments

  • Jeffrey Beardsley

    She wants their speeches, send her a bible.

  • The word “wrong” in the last sentence is biased. It also denigrates the battle for free speech in this case.

  • If America doesn’t turn back to God and stand up for its religious freedom the whole nation will feel God’s wrath.

  • what happened to freedom of speech? Also, separation of church from state?

  • IF the pastors are pushed to it, there are a few parts of the Texas State constitution that would serve.

  • it is amazing how boldly they flaunt their beliefs, but want to silence us for ours!! Now is the time for us as Christians to support our fellow believers in Houston and make it known we will not accept this bullying in Texas or anywhere else in the US.

  • Great article. Love that Liberty U, and their lawschool, takes a Biblical and historically accurate view of the U.S. Constitution. Also, I made a video response: http://youtu.be/bWmShmHkPHk

  • Christian and Proud

    I just want to say thank you for this article, I hope and pray it brings to light what persecution is beginning for Bible based Christians in America. God gave us the rainbow as a symbol of the covenant that God made, that He would never again flood the entire earth and destroy all life, Genesis 9:12-17….my point being it is utterly appalling that the LGBT use the rainbow as their symbol.

  • When a pastor preaches the Bible, it is not politics, it is religion, it is morality. When we talk about abortion in church, it does not have anything to do with politics. When we talk about homosexuality in church, that does not have anything to do with politics. When we talk about not sinning, loving others, and worshipping God in church, these things have nothing to do with politics. What do all of these topics have in common? They are all topics of behavior that the Bible talks about. They aren’t political, they are moral! Does our morality help define our political stance? Of course it does…it defines us and how we believe. Because of this, our Founding Fathers knew that to stifle our belief or non-belief in these moral equations would mean stifling freedom altogether, they included this freedom into our Constitution. We must maintain these freedoms at all cost or lose America altogether.

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