I note with cynical amusement that the Houston city government has issued subpoenas demanding that certain pastors and churches hand over "any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly lesbian mayor. And those ministers who fail to comply could be held in contempt of court".
This is, of course, a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. I can't see it being upheld on appeal. However, I have a suggestion for the subpoena'ed pastors. If I were in their shoes, I'd offer to deliver the sermons . . . in person, preached aloud to the Mayor and City Council, in the presence of TV cameras that would broadcast the proceedings live throughout the city for all to hear.
That should make Her Honor the Mayor see . . . well, not red . . . pink, perhaps?
Peter
15 comments:
I'm assuming the subpoena is to give the government something to use to embarrass the pastors in to changing their tune. I suspect I would disagree with those churches stances on homosexuality, but am stunned by the attempt at thought control by the blatant and open violation of the first amendment.
So I would suggest that the pastors turn the tables and respond by saying that their sermons are not written ahead of time. Then invite the Mayor and government officials to come to the services and listen for themselves. The sight of "church police" will not play well in the news.
There's a few on Sermonaudio, free for the download. If that isn't clear enough, they can take it from The Bible, which is crystal clear. Now I wonder how all those 501c3 collaborators/compromisors are going to handle this? Either ditch the "tax-free" nonsense, or follow the Partei-line.
I love both of those ideas. They want the sermons? They can have 'em - delivered in the form in which they were meant to be delivered!
Randy,
I wouldn't say that they are going to embarrass the pastors, that's far too generous. I'd guess it would be more like a big stick: Nice church you have there, you wouldn't want to have your tax exempt status revoked/property seized because you are 'putting politics in your sermons', would you?
And I offer the photographer, cake decorator, wedding hall owner, etc as examples of how it would work.
Steve
The mayor and assortment of interested parties can pound dust in my opinion.
Since Government is now the state sponsored religion, I would think some of the other amendments might be altered pretty soon.
Hm. Interesting subpoena, that. (Found a text at http://www.adfmedia.org/files/WoodfillSubpoenaRequest.pdf )
Since one of the listed things is any material related to or discussing civil rights ...and other language seems to define as anything that the plaintiffs or their affiliates have a right to get a copy of... well.
In the general case, churches may happen to have fairly large numbers of "affiliates" around the world, after all.
And at least around here, theologicians regularly refer to works originally written in languages such as Greek, Latin, Aramaic or whatever. And training materials were another thing included...
Houston is apparently trying to establish a comprehensive theological/ethical/legal library larger than any assembled in the world until now.
Oh well, it's in Texas, they should have enough room to build such a thing.
Note too that were not any demands to the local Muslim Imams to hand to hand over any of *their* sermons...
The right thing would of course be, that everyone, all over the world, send over any spare copies of public-domain works that even slightly refer to any civil rights, sexual identity, restroom access, etc... that are available in any public library anywhere.
Or any publicly accessible electronic copies.
In/from any country, in any language, no matter how relevant or dated.
Someone produce a letterhead that can be attached to electronic communications, so that the good folks at the appropriate legal office know that they are intended for this purpose? Especially for us foreigners that would like to help with our local-language publicly-available documents...?
I would state that I don't write my sermons down, but I do have the book that they come from.
Then send the mayor a Bible.
Since I reside 30 miles NNE of Houston ................. and, have many friends of 'alternative lifestyles' in this rural area - who, to their credit, do NOT try to force upon me the "realization" that THEIR way is the ONLY way ................. I'm rather bemused by Annise Parker's actions; while Houston wouldn't qualify as 'San Francisco South' yet, I've generally NOT run into too much animosity toward gays.
One of my {gay} friends, when I asked HER about transgender issues, admitted that she was as confused by them as I - and that most 'regular' gay people are unsure how to deal with transgenders.
The main problem raised is that, {male} sexual predators would dress as women, in order to have access to women's restrooms / locker rooms / showers, and, at the very least, provide themselves with titillating memories; at worst, that they would subject women/girls to their ............. "attentions" .............. gonna be interesting, as I know I'm not the only woman with her CCW / CHL .............. nevermind hairspray / perfume / loose powder - plus, with the hairspray, lighters are a GOOD THING ...........
Semper Fi'
DM
Oy, gevalt!
DM, you just gave me a vivid mental picture of what's going to happen the first time an unrelated man walks into the women's changing room at a swim event where a mother is shepherding her 6-12 year old daughters into their swim suits.
The mayor, she has no daughters, does she? And no close friends with children.
Pure political intimidation, plain and simple. Its been pointed out the mayor can see the sermons online, and has been invited to church to hear them personally!
Thought Miss D. {yes, you are correct to the best of my knowledge, Annise Parker has no children - no idea about friends with kids} might appreciate this, just posted it at WND:
I just had a thought - what will be the outcome, when people dressed as transgendered, enter a restroom in, say, a lesbian venue ? Or, a gay bar ? Guy dresses as a woman, goes into the restroom at a lesbian bar {yes, they really are that self-segregated} ? Conversely, a woman dressed as a man, goes into the restroom at a gay bar ? Who's side will Øbama & Co., be on in THAT evolution ?
Never mind Annise Parker - she's small potatoes ............................ ;-)
Semper Fi'
DM
I noted above (10-15 @ 12:39pm) that there would be a big stick to enforce the Gay Agenda on pastors, well here it comes:
You remember all that talk about how legalizing gay marriage wouldn’t require priests, ministers, or rabbis to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies in violation of their religious beliefs. There wasn’t going to be any slippery slope, or so we were told.
Two ministers in Idaho are facing up to 6 months in jail and up to $1000 in fines for each day that they continue to refuse to perform a same-sex wedding that a gay couple requested last Friday.
http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/9364
H/T http://hogewash.com/2014/10/19/slip-sliding-away-2/
-- Steve
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