Posted on 10/15/2014 3:55:41 AM PDT by Kaslin
Unreal.
We already told you earlier today that folks are willing to use the gay rights movement as a pretext to go after those who live by the Word of God. Then we were talking about some lunkhead at a Canadian tourism company. I bet you didn't think the attorneys for a major American city would ever try to subpoena pastors' sermons to see if they had dared to speak any criticisms of the city's lesbian mayor.
Well. They did. Houston, we have . . . yeah, OK, it's an overused cliche. But if it ever applied, it would be here:
Houston's embattled equal rights ordinance took another legal turn this week when it surfaced that city attorneys, in an unusual step, subpoenaed sermons given by local pastors who oppose the law and are tied to the conservative Christian activists that have sued the city.
Opponents of the equal rights ordinance are hoping to force a repeal referendum when they get their day in court in January, claiming City Attorney David Feldman wrongly determined they had not gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. City attorneys issued subpoenas last month during the case's discovery phase, seeking, among other communications, "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession."
The subpoenas were issued to several high-profile pastors and religious leaders who have been vocal in opposing the ordinance. The Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a motion on behalf of the pastors seeking to quash the subpoenas.
The back story is that in June the Houston City Council passed, and Mayor Parker signed, a "human rights ordinance" that panders in numerous ways to activists pushing for gay and "gender identity" rights, including a requirement that men be allowed to use women's bathrooms and vice versa. Not surprisingly, many local pastors opposed the ordinance, and more than 17,000 residents filed referendum petitions to get it repealed - which the city blatantly threw out alleging "irregularities".
But lest you thought Houston politicians were done playing hardball with their critics, not a chance. The subpoenas are supposedly to see if pastors had in any way violated the law by using the pulpit to preach about the law. Aside from the obvious First Amendment problems here, the pastors weren't even involved with the petition drive, so the city had no basis for issuing them subpoenas.
Not that this would stop them. The secular cultural left smells blood when it comes to gay rights, and they think they are now free to take any action - no matter how unconstitutional or illegal - against those who oppose the gay agenda because the cultural winds are blowing in their direction.
Big picture: If a city can subpoena a pastor's sermons just because the pastor preaches from the book that includes 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and other passages that call homosexuality sin, then we no longer have freedom of religion. At all. Period. Any pastor at any time could find himself in legal jeopardy if he preaches something not in agreement with the political, social or cultural orthodoxy of the moment.
It's a mistake to think the left has no god. They do. Their god is government, and specifically their own attainment of government power to use in shaping America's economic, social, cultural and political institutions to their liking. Those who preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ threaten the left's god, so no method of taking them down is off the table.
It's not just Houston that has a problem.
. 
.
sorry, we had a hard drive crash... now GSY
Sounds to me like the ‘gays’ are really after our ‘constitution’ thingy.
Simple, the church leaders should tell the City of Houston, that they won’t comply and that the city can shove the subpoenas where the sun don’t shine. We still have a first amendment and the overwhelming majority of Americans still believe in the constitution.
* such as when a lesbian mayor of Houston TX directs her minions to blatantly attack our Constitutionally protected religious freedoms ...
There’s pizza on the other side...
Should get tossed in a lawsuit, with an injunction.
Send your silly subpenas....refuse to comply. Call her out in public.
Very well said
Colorado and now et tu Houston?
Houston,YOU have a problem,over
Why are lesbians so fat? We need a government funded study.
Why are lesbians so stupid?
Could we all be controlled by our parasites and we have no free will?
Walking Stupid?
Why are liberals so full of carp?
Who knew it was the carp?
Stand up? Your kidding. Most “Christians: are only too happy to take other people’s stuff looted by the government In exchange for votes.
Should be “you’re” rather than “your”.
That must be an old pic. John Candy died years ago! lol
Are you serious?
Excellent question!
The pastors should make it known that they will not comply with the subpoena and any attempt to sieze the sermons will be met with deadly force.
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