CharlesRabb

Houston Mayor Annise Parker, the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city, has issued subpoenas requiring a group of pastors who were part of a petition drive viewed by some as anti-LGBT to turn over all of their sermons dealing with homosexuality or Parker for scrutiny. The Alliance Defending Freedom, which has filed a motion to block the subpoenas, calls the move a Big Brother-esque “inquisition” and an attempt by Parker to publicly shame the ministers and portray them as anti-gay bigots.

“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.”

“The city’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented,” said ADF attorney Christina Holcomb 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. It is protected by the First Amendment.”

The five pastors whose sermons have been subpoenaed were part of a petition drive against a “non-discrimination” ordinance passed by the city in June that includes allowing men to use the ladies room and vice versa. Though the petitioned earned over 50,000 signatures, the city tossed it out. Todd Starnes reports:

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.

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.

ADF, known nationally for taking on religious liberty cases, called the city’s actions “overboard, unduly burdensome, harassing, and vexatious.”

When Starnes attempted to contact City Hall for a comment, he says all he received was “a terse reply” from the mayor’s director of communications Janice Evans, who said, “We don’t comment on litigation.”

One of the pastors named in the subpoena, Rev. Dave Welch, insisted they would not be intimidated by the “bully” mayor: “We are not going to yield our First Amendment rights,” Welch told Starnes. ‘This is absolutely a complete abuse of authority.”

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, warned that the “obscene” actions by Houston’s mayor was a “shot across the bow of the church,” and called for unified pushback from pastors across the country.

UPDATE: Wednesday morning Mayor Parker defended her subpoena in a tweet, declaring, “If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game”:

This begs the question: why aren’t our elected officials demanding imams turn over their sermons, texts and teachings on jihad and sharia? That is sedition. Inciting to overthrow the government is treason.

cant beleve Loc: Planet Kolob

Your right Charles and we can't even monitor these hate spewing Imams let alone stop them. Come on fags,fair is fair!

Caboose Loc: South Carolina

This kind of thing didnt happen until we had a Fraud/queer president.

buffalo Loc: Texas

Mayor Parker in red smooches with wife in public

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

All is fair in love and war, haven't you heard that one? Same sex marriage is the "love" part The "war" part is the all out assault on Christians and any other group that believes in right and wrong. It is not about "hate" on the right, but the intense hate from the left.

She Wolf Loc: Currently Georgia

These pastors should challenge this is court. Followed by a large civil suit against the city. As I stated in a previous reply, everyone in our temple would go to jail before surrendering one word spoke in our house of worship.

PoppaGringo Loc: Muslim City, Mexifornia, B.R.

She, the mayor, has rescinded and denied responsibility for the subpoenas.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

Whether the demands for all the sermons and notes and communications are because of the new law that allows those of the opposite sex to use the restrooms and showers because they claim that on that particular day they feel like they are a member of the sex indicated on the sign, or whether the new law bans religion and politics to be incorporated within the churches preaching, the ordinance is interfering with religion. If those "churches" that preach black liberation theology, gay liberation theology, proscess theology, promote LaRaza in their churches, or just the black baptist churches that always incorporate religion and politics, particularly at election time are not included in the demand for all church sermon documentation then it is just an anti Christian move on the part of the LGBTQ activists, and quite the normal activity for those groups. As usual it is an attempt to intimidate those who will not go along with the very powerfully funded 3%. Yes, I know that TRDnest claims 20 % of Americans are homosexual but hasn't yet been able to say what orifice he pulled that figure out of.

Caboose Loc: South Carolina

No doubt but somebody signed them!!

PoppaGringo Loc: Muslim City, Mexifornia, B.R.

Be that as it may, her denial didn't ring true.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

Here is an updated story

Todd Starnes

By Todd Starnes
Published October 17, 2014




Pastor on sermon scandal: Houston has 'gone too far'
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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 “all speeches or presentations related to HERO” – along with 17 different categories of information.

I don’t mean to point out the obvious here – but what do those attorneys think a sermon is? It’s a speech.

The Alliance Defending Freedom is a religious liberty law firm that is representing the pastors. Attorney Erik Stanley tells me the amended subpoenas don’t solve anything.

“The city of Houston still doesn’t get it,” he said. “The subpoenas still ask for information that encompasses speeches made by the pastors and private communications with their church members.”

Stanley said the only resolution is for the city to rescind the subpoenas entirely.

“This tramples their First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion,” Stanley said. “Any inquiry into what these pastors did in standing against the ordinance passed by the city of Houston and encouraging members to sign the petition is a violation of the First Amendment.”


The subpoenas were issued in a response to a lawsuit filed related to HERO, also known as the “Bathroom Bill.” Religious groups were opposed to a provision of the law that would allow men who identify as women to use the restrooms of their choice.

The city’s attorney said the pastors were subpoenaed because they were helping to lead opposition to the Bathroom Bill.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Mayor Parker said on Friday, "We don't need to intrude on matters of faith to have equal rights in Houston, and it was never the intention of the city of Houston to intrude on any matters of faith or to get between a pastor and their parishioners."

Folks, that's a load of grade A fertilizer.

"We don't want their sermons, we want the instructions on the petition process. That's always what we wanted and, again, they knew that's what we wanted because that's the subject of the lawsuit," she said.

There's just one problem, Madam Mayor, the pastors aren't party to the lawsuit. And if you weren't looking for their sermons, why did you put that in the subpoena.

The amended subpoenas are not likely to quell growing national outrage over what many are calling an all-out assault on religious liberty.

Sen. Ted Cruz forcefully denounced the city’s actions during a Thursday rally in support of the pastors in Houston.

“Caesar has no jurisdiction over the pulpit,” Cruz said to a cheering crowd of pastors and supporters. “When you subpoena one pastor, you subpoena every pastor.”

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a blistering letter to the city attorney Wednesday night – demanding they immediately rescind the subpoenas.

He called the subpoenas “aggressive and invasive” and said they show “no regard for the very serious First Amendment considerations at stake.”

“Whether you intend it to be so or not, your action is a direct assault on the religious liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment,” Abbott wrote.

Also on Wednesday, Mayor Parker issued a defiant statement on Twitter – justifying the city’s attack on the ministers.

“If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game,” Parker tweeted.

Stanley said the mayor’s tweet revealed the city’s true intent.

“I think the mayor’s comment unmasks what the city is really after,” he said. “The city views these pastors and the communications they make with their members, their sermons, and their speeches as fair game.”

He said it was nothing more than a “strong-arm intimidation tactic to silence these pastors.”

“They are sending a message that you better not go up against City Hall on these issues,” Stanley added.

Alliance Defending Freedom said they will move forward with a request to quash the subpoenas. Regardless of the outcome, the pastors will not turn over any documents to the city.

As Senator Cruz so eloquently said, Caesar has no jurisdiction over the pulpit.