How did freedom become endangered in a town named after Sam Houston?...Thanks to Republican flight, Houston has a very liberal government. So liberal that out-and-proud Mayor Annise Parker and the city council passed a gay rights ordinance that allows men with gender issues to use women’s restrooms. Well, a lot of churches – and women -- have a problem with that. So they gathered 50,000 signatures to repeal it. The Mayor, without obvious power or cause, invalidated the petition, so the group sued. In response, the city subpoenaed four pastors, demanding copies of their sermons, speeches and communications with church members, to see if they had promoted the petition. That ignited a national outcry, and the Mayor and City Attorney backed off like scalded cats. Funny how all politicians who get caught follow the same script: It was a misunderstanding! The attorneys worded it poorly! Okay, here are two simple words that even the Houston city attorneys should understand: “First Amendment.” As the President likes to say, let’s be clear. The problem wasn’t how the subpoenas were worded, it’s that anyone in government ever thought it was okay to send them at all. As Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council pointed out, these pastors weren’t even parties to the lawsuit. And if city attorneys wanted to know what they said in their sermons, they’re available on the churches’ websites. In fact, it might do them some good to listen to a few sermons. No, when government subpoenas ministers, it’s not to find out what they said in the past. It’s to intimidate them into not criticizing the government in the future. The IRS has long threatened to yank churches’ tax-exempt status to cow ministers into censoring themselves on political issues. But is that what the Founders intended? As the new movie “Unfair” points out, the American Revolution was born out of pastors denouncing the injustices of the British King from the pulpit. Today, we have government seeking to forcibly impose all manner of things that churches consider morally abhorrent, but the same government thinks it should have the power to censor ministers from speaking out on them. This month, over 1800 pastors nationwide launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday, which will last right through Election Day. They’ve vowed to preach on moral issues related to the election and dare the IRS to yank their tax-exempt status. They believe the Supreme Court would rule that neither a federal tax agency nor an out-of-control mayor has the power to overrule the First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion. So far, the IRS has yet to pick up the gauntlet. Like the mayor of Houston, they must believe they wouldn’t have a prayer of winning that fight. Sincerely, Thomas R. Waters, Jr.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 10:28:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015