Free Republic

. Could Ted Cruz end IRS 501-C3 Church political limits with Obama-style "Prosecutorial Discretion" such as Obama used to create Executive Amnesty for Illegal Aliens ? Could (President) Ted Cruz effectively abolish the "Johnson Amendment of 1954" through "executive action" ? ====================================== POTUS Obama has claimed "Prosecutorial Discretion" to effectively create "Executive Amnesty". The New York Times and prominent Liberals have defended Obama's actions as properly within Obama's presidential "Constitutional authority". Senator Ted Cruz, in questioning U.S. Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, asked her a couple of questions to this effect: Since Loretta Lynch and President Obama support the concept...

. 2015-04-04 Facts are facts. "Treason" is still "treason" (despite how Obama's Press Secretary Josh Earnest spins it) "Abject Defeat" is still "Abject Defeat" (despite how America's tax-exempt Christian Pastors in their beautiful Mega-Churches spin it) "Bribery" is still "Bribery" (despite how Al Sharpton and MSNBC spin it) ========================================== America's "Gay Gestapo" have virtually won the battle for America's spiritual soul. Except for a few scattered political leaders, America's Gay Gestapo is a political Juggernaunt that marches from Victory to Victory. Yes, these are occasional "minor moral victories" (Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson and the $ 825,000 donations to the Memories...

AUSTIN, Texas -- The battle over Houston's non-discrimination ordinance has moved from the ballot box to the church pulpit, as a group of pastors fights efforts by the city to subpoena their sermons and private communications with church members. The law, passed last June, was criticized because it could be used to allow men to use women's bathrooms, among other objections. Opponents to the law had collected more than 50,000 signatures to place a repeal measure on the ballot this November, far more than the 17,269 required. However, the City of Houston moved to invalidate the majority of the signatures,...

. 2014-10-15 Houston LGBT Mayor has EVERY LEGAL RIGHT to Prosecute Christian Churches for Political Activity First, I (Patton@Bastogne) am a pro-life anti-gay-marriage evangelical Christian. Second, (in today's news story reported by The Houston Chronicle, below) ... I am calling out the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and their attorney Christina Holcomb ... as "Despicable Liars". ADF attorneys KNOW FULL WELL that Churches' "voluntary" acceptance of the IRS 501-C3 "federal contract" means that Christian Churches SURRENDER their rights to ... First Admendment "Free Speech" ... when practiced behind a "tax-exempt church pulpit". Period. I openly challenge the deceptive ADF organization (and...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Houston Mayor Annise Parker has backed down from the subpoenas the City of Houston issued to several area pastors, Breitbart Texas has learned. Breitbart Texas reported earlier about the controversy, stemming from litigation challenging the city's anti-discrimination ordinance and subpoenas asking the pastors for the content of their sermons, speeches and communications with church members. Texas Senator Ted Cruz weighed in, firmly supporting the pastors in their efforts to fight the subpoenas, while Mayor Parker initially remained adamant that the city had the right to request those records. Despite posting comments on Twitter just hours before that...

Five Christian pastors will no longer have to turn their sermons over to attorneys for the city of Houston. Instead, they will be forced to turn over their speeches related to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO). I don’t mean to point out the obvious here—but what do those attorneys think a sermon is? It’s a speech. According to an amended motion filed Friday in Harris County, Texas court, the city’s attorneys will no longer demand sermons related to homosexuals, gender identity, or Mayor Annise Parker—Houston’s first openly lesbian mayor. The amended subpoenas do require the pastors to turn over...

If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game. Were instructions given on filling out anti-HERO petition?-A— Annise Parker (@AnniseParker) October 15, 2014

Quelle surprise. After news of their subpoenas for sermons given by religious leaders went viral yesterday, Houston’s mayor and city attorney backpedaled away from its “wording,” although the city attorney initially attempted to defend the demand. Later, he shifted the blame to outside legal representation: Amid outrage from religious groups, Mayor Annise Parker and City Attorney David Feldman on Wednesday appeared to back off a subpoena request for the sermons of certain ministers opposed to the city’s equal rights ordinance, with Parker calling it overly broad.The subpoenas, handed down to five pastors and religious leaders last month, came to...

Houston Mayor Annise Parker has backed down from the subpoenas the City of Houston issued to several area pastors, Breitbart Texas has learned. Breitbart Texas reported earlier about the controversy, stemming from litigation challenging the city's anti-discrimination ordinance and subpoenas asking the pastors for the content of their sermons, speeches and communications with church members. Texas Senator Ted Cruz weighed in, firmly supporting the pastors in their efforts to fight the subpoenas, while Mayor Parker initially remained adamant that the city had the right to request those records. Despite posting comments on Twitter just hours before that seemed to indicate...

In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Senator Ted Cruz says pastors being hauled off to jail by the government for preaching against homosexuality is a “real risk” in the future. ““I think that is a real risk,” Cruz tells me. “Some in the media ridicule that threat saying there is no danger of the government coming after pastors. That is the usual response.” But he adds: “The specter of government trying to determine if what pastors preach from the pulpit meets with the policy views or political correctness of the governing authorities, that prospect is real and happening...

Support for legalizing same-sex marriage dropped from 54 percent to 49 percent since February, according to a Pew Research Center poll. Analysts said they had no idea why or if it was just a random blip. I joked on Twitter that my April article “Rise of the Same-Sex Marriage Dissidents” probably was the cause. But in all seriousness, perhaps seeing the totalitarianism of extremist wings of the gay rights movement has soured some people on efforts to change marriage law — or at least given people pause about the tradeoffs involved with redefining marriage or enacting broad legislation around sexual...

I’m not gay. I get called gay all the time by Leftists who seek to disparage me when they’ve run out of their specious, illogical arguments and the full weight of common sense lands on their fetid heads and they have no other recourse but to go ad hominem on me and say, “he must be gay.” Which, like I said, I take they equate with a cut down; which is weird because, supposedly, they’re the homosexual’s champion. For what it’s worth, the only gay thing about me is, and I must confess, I did tear up a bit during...

Houston’s power-mad Mayor Annise Parker has backtracked on those subpoenas that she had the city issue to five city pastors, at taxpayer expense. The mayor made the move as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sent a letter to Parker asking that she withdraw the subpoenas “immediately.” Attorney General Greg Abbott Asks Houston City Attorney to Withdraw Subpoenas Seeking Sermons, Other Documents from Houston-area Pastors AUSTIN — Attorney General Abbott today asked that the Houston City Attorney to immediately withdraw the subpoenas sent last month to several Houston-area pastors seeking sermons, notes and other information. In his letter to the city...

HOUSTON (RNS) Recently, Houston city attorneys, acting on behalf of Mayor Annise Parker and the City Council, issued subpoenas to five area pastors requiring they hand over copies of all communication with members of their congregations about a gay rights ordinance. The subpoena asks for communications from the pastors related to the mayor, the ordinance, and “gender equality” issues. What are pastors to do when coerced by a government entity like the city of Houston? It seems to me that there are a two possible responses: one from a Christian pastor, who serves in Christ’s kingdom, and another from a...

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/oagnews/release.php?id=4880 AUSTIN -- Attorney General Abbott today asked that the Houston City Attorney to immediately withdraw the subpoenas sent last month to several Houston-area pastors seeking sermons, notes and other information. In his letter to the city attorney, Attorney General Abbott said, “Whether you intend it to be so or not, your action is a direct assault on the religious liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment. The people of Houston and their religious leaders must be absolutely secure in the knowledge that their religious affairs are beyond the reach of the government.” Mr. David Feldman City Attorney City of Houston...

Christians across the nation are mobilizing to defend a group of Houston pastors who were ordered by the city to turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity issues or Houston mayor. Their message is simple – Don’t Mess with Texas Preachers. Dave Welch, the executive director of the Texas Pastor Council, is one of the five ministers who received a subpoena. He said he will not be intimidated by Annise Parker, who is the city's first openly lesbian mayor, nor will he comply with the city’s demands. “My answer to that is – bring it on,” he said....

Christians across the nation are mobilizing to defend a group of Houston pastors who were ordered by the city to turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity issues or Houston mayor. Their message is simple – Don’t Mess with Texas Preachers.

If you dare oppose the gay agenda, you will be destroyed. Progression of the gay agenda will only become more intrusive, more tyrannical, and more Orwellian To Christians, homosexuality is an unacceptable behavior to God, as well as to Christ’s Flock. Since the dawn of the Christian Church a couple thousand years ago (and prior during the Old Testament era), homosexuality has been taught to be an affront against God. Scripture reveals that homosexuality was a part of the reason for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and a sign of the perverse evil Earth’s inhabitants had turned to during...

Five pastors in the City of Houston have been hit with a subpoena demanding copies of sermons and other pastoral communications. These pastors apparently oppose a City Ordinance which allows men to go into the ladies restroom and vice versa. A petition drive was launched against the “non-discrimination” ordinance, which over 50,000 residents signed. The City claimed there were “irregularities” in the collection of signatures and refused to put the issue on the ballot. As such a lawsuit was filed against the city, which then turned around and issued subpoenas to these pastors. Interestingly none of the pastors are parties...

Churches have received subpoenas issued by the city of Houston demanding copies of sermons. Houston is probing opposition to a ballot referendum pertaining to an ordinance proposing a local discrimination law affecting gays. (Bryan Preston posted this summary of the lawlessness taking place in Houston.) Over 50,000 petition signatures were gathered opposing the ordinance. Now the city, run by the first openly gay mayor, Annise Parker, is retaliating and demanding that churches turn over sermons. You read that correctly. This is the sort of government behavior that used to be confined to two-bit third-world regimes. The gay rights movement was...