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Houston, We Have a Problem – Texas City Demands Pastors turn Over Sermons

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Published on: October 15, 2014

In what can only be called a case of the mentally ill vetting the righteous, open Lesbian Houston Mayor Annise Parker and officials with the city of Houston, Texas are now demanding to see the sermons of several pastors in the area following the cities attempts to allow men to use women’s restrooms. A lawsuit arose because of the measure put forward by the Houston City Council. The issue at stake is a legal one, but the larger problem is that the city is looking to involve pastors who are not involved in a lawsuit against the city, according to Alliance Defending Freedom.

In June of 2014, the Houston City Council passed their version of the “bathroom bill.” As a result, a citizen initiative took place in which there was a demand that the City Council either repeal the bill or put it on the ballot in November to allow the voters to decide.

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The initiative responded with more than three times (more than 55,000) the necessary number of valid signatures (17, 269) to move forward. These signatures were even certified by the city secretary, Anna Russell, but rejected by Parker and the city’s attorney. In essence, these lawless people thumbed their nose not only at the people, but at the law.

When that took place, the supporters of the initiative filed a lawsuit (Woodfill v. Parker). As a result, the city’s attorney’s subpoenaed sermons from a large number of pastors in the area. They wanted to see what they preach and look at their communications with their church members.

According to ADF, city officials “are upset over a voter lawsuit filed after the city council rejected valid petitions to repeal a law that allows members of the opposite sex into each other’s restrooms.”

ADF attorneys say the city is “illegitimately demanding that the pastors, who are not party to the lawsuit, turn over their constitutionally protected sermons and other communications simply so the city can see if the pastors have ever opposed or criticized the city.”

“City council members are supposed to be public servants, not ‘Big Brother’ overlords who will tolerate no dissent or challenge,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. “In this case, they have embarked upon a witch hunt, and we are asking the court to put a stop to it.”

“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,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Christiana Holcomb.

ADF has sought to quash the subpoena, writing in their motion that the “discovery requests,” which are part of legal procedure, are “overbroad, unduly burdensome, harassing, and vexatious,” irrelevant to the lawsuit, and will have a profoundly negative effect on free speech and the electoral process should they be allowed to move forward.

In other words, ADF is not stating that the city is trying to oversee sermons, but rather is attempting to simply throw a dragnet out to see whatever they can get, even from pastors who aren’t tied to the lawsuit or anyone in the lawsuit.

It is a common practice to do such things in legal procedures, Dr. Joel McDurmon points out, “…when you file a lawsuit… You open up yourself and your relevant friends to discovery.”

“Are the correspondences between these pastors and the Christian parties who filed the suit relevant to the case?” asks McDurmon. “It is possible that a judge could determine this is the case. That is what this subpoena is about.”

McDurmon doesn’t believe that the subpoena will be entirely quashed, but he does believe the scope of the subpoena will be narrower. “I doubt these pastors will ultimately be required to submit anything anywhere near what the defense demanded, if anything.”

Whatever the case may be, this should make things clear that here is more evidence of the lawlessness of the homosexual mindset. The people of Houston followed the law and the sodomites and those that seek to harm our children ignore the law.

While seventeen states have embraced what’s been termed as the “transsexual agenda” and gender confusion as some sort of expression that should be protected rather than corrected, the good news in all of this is that in Montana, Missouri, North Dakota and New York have refused it out of hand.

The more telling question that should be asked here is, should the court uphold the subpoena in full or limit it, would the attorneys, the lawless mayor and the city council find enough law and gospel in those sermons and communications to actually convert them to Christ and bring about repentance? One would hope so, but after the latest Barna results, one has to wonder.

UPDATE: Texas Pastor’s speak out.

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