In Houston last summer, the Democrat-run government passed an “anti-discrimination” ordinance which, like most such ordinances, did little about discrimination but did sodomize freedom of association. It was opposed by a variety of religious groups, for a variety of reasons.
But that was just the warmup.
Perhaps inspired by Barack Obama’s siccing of the IRS against dissenters, Houston’s Democrat-run city government is looking for payback against dissenters; it’s subpoenaing ministers’ sermons from the run-up to the vote for the ordinance.
That’s subpoenaing; not just sternly asking:
The city of Houston has issued subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn 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.
“The city’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Christina Holcomb said in a statement. “The city council and its attorneys are engaging in an inquisition designed to stifle any critique of its actions.”
ADF, a nationally-known law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, is representing five Houston pastors. They filed a motion in Harris County court to stop the subpoenas arguing they are “overbroad, unduly burdensome, harassing, and vexatious.”
Dear Wisconsin “Jon Doe” prosecutors; I take it back. You are no longer the most corrupt pettifoggers south of the Fed.
And this is not an aberration. This is every Democrat, everywhere in the country. Oh, they make nice noises about “liberties” like making dung statues of the Virgin Mary and waving their genitals around in public; but when it comes to the real ones, speech (by people not favored by the ACLU’s ministrations, meaning people from flyoverland in general), assembly, association, the fruits of ones labor, self-defense, self-determination?
If your local Democrats haven’t sicced the IRS, or a prosecutor, or their county attorney, on you yet, it’s just that they haven’t had a clear opportunity yet.
All eggs to be broken to make the state omelet.
PS: Don’t you dare say there’s a war on religion.
They wouldn’t be so quick to subpoena if there was a threat of beheading.
It strikes me as somewhat odd that the courts issued the subpoenas. Shouldn’t they require a probable, legal reason to issue them? And maybe, just maybe, shouldn’t the judge say something like “you’re going to have to convince me that the 1st Amendment does not apply here.”?
And maybe, just maybe, the Mayor’s attorneys ought to have taken her aside and explained to her that if they (the “Andy Taylor” law office, ironically) went forward with this motion, they were risking losing their license to practice law?
One final note; there are two million people plus in Houston. They mayor was elected with only 97,000 votes in 2013. If right-thinking people had gotten off their rear ends and put forward a real, electable candidate, this woman would be in the private sector where she belongs. The Southern Baptists ALONE could have prevented this travesty.
(lesson for anyone throwing their vote away with the IP or libertarians, ahem)
I want to preface this by saying that I am not saying the left is HItler and wants to set up death camps for peoples of faith. I just want to make a point.
There is that famous quote by a holocaust survivor. He says that when someone says he wants to kill you, you should believe him.
The Democrat left has been saying for years how much they hate Christians and would like to do away with us. It starts with things like banning Christmas, or removing war memorials because they contain a cross. Its trying to destroy the LIttle Sisters of the Poor. Or declaring war on Hobby Lobby owners and bakers and wedding photographers.
The Democrat left says they want to remove the tax exempt status for churches. Minnesota Democrats say they want to repeal the federal law protecting religous rights.
In some ciites and areas in the US, Atheism is the largest religion (Seattle, Vermont). It may seem crazy now to say that the gov’t will attack religion, but not once people of faith become the minority and bigots become the majority.
To finish my thought……this isn’t a scare thing. I am only saying what the Democrat left is saying right now. They say that they hate us Christians and wish we weren’t here. When someone says that about me, I will believe him (and her).
Go to the Houston Chronicle and take a look at the comment thread. Nobody seems to grasp the concept that the Bill of Rights places limitations on the Government instead of the people and institutions like Churches.
I was hoping Houston would be saner than Minneapolis but, sadly I guess it isn’t.
Mitch:
While Houston is bad lets remember they aren’t the most corrupt prosecutors in Texas. Lets remember Austin County:
* Charged Governor Perry with a crime for doing his job.
* Charged him with a crime because he was trying to stop them from getting money.
* And charged him with a crime since Perry was trying to get rid of the person who rad Austin county’s DA office.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
While I generally have no use for protestors, I hope those of faith and their supporters don’t respond to this quietly, regardless of response.
I think/ hope that the sight of full-time persons of faith (priests, rabbis, imams, nuns, etc.) getting arrested for disobeying such a subpoena, particularly in one large diverse group, would inspire, or maybe chill, any level-headed American witnessing the spectacle, regardless of their views on faith.
A modern day parallel to the Fugs’ classic, “Kill for Peace.””
Chuck is right. If you are a conservative, they want you to die. They have a big project going and no opposition to this project will be tolerated. Your Latin American replacements are lined up and waiting.
This story gets more fun. The mayor criticizes the subpoena’s. Good for her! That’s the right thing to do. She did not issue them (she says). Then she blames them on the pro bono attorneys who were working on the case. She further throws them under the bus saying even the city attorney was not aware.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/10/15/houston-mayor-criticizes-city-lawyers-subpoenas-of-sermons/
The city attorney, David Feldman, says that the mayor was not involved or even informed about the subpoenas but he defends them. He was just doing his job.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/15/pastors-to-mayor-dont-mess-with-texas-pulpits/
Is bullying in the city attorney’s job description?
Passout…you mean she pulled a Dayton?? Used the “I wasn’t aware” argument?
I assume that she was, at least, audibly coherent…
City attorney didn’t read the subpoenas written on behalf of the city? Can we say “disbar”? And “pro bono” attorneys submitted subpoenas without conferring with the people they were working for? That violated the 1st & 4th Amendments, completely misrepresented IRS law on nonprofits, and ignored the city’s lack of standing under that law to initiate anything?
Again, grounds for disciplinary action. If you think there are too many lawyers, the ADF could help us out a lot here by filing some complaints.
And it also occurs to me that lawyers are not dumb people, and they most likely knew this. Hence, what is the ulterior motive? To bleed churches and the ADF dry through needless interaction with the DOJ and IRS at the same time the ADF needs the resources in the litigation over the contraceptive mandate?
Might be worth a couple of FOIA requests to find out.
It is all about intimidation without representation.
I would love to know who these “pro bono” attorneys were. Were they paid with tax payer dollars? Who, exactly was their client? It seems odd that anyone would represent the city pro bono.
We need the name and affiliation of the attorneys who wrote the subpoenas.