Houston Subpoenas Pastors’ Sermons To Look For Anti-Gay Talk.

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THEY WOULDN’T DO THIS IF THEY FEARED BEHEADINGS: Violence WORKS



Houston Subpoenas Pastors’ Sermons To Look For Anti-Gay Talk.
 
City of Houston demands pastors turn over sermons




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.”
 
Why the subpoena? Why couldn't they just attend the service and make a transcript themselves?

Ooohhh!!! I'm sorry. That would violate separation of church and state. :eek:
 
THEY WOULDN’T DO THIS IF THEY FEARED BEHEADINGS: Violence WORKS



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Witch Hunt in Houston: City Subpoenas Pastors’ Sermons to Protect Lesbian Mayor

Houston-Mayor-Annise-Parker-600x400.jpeg


Annise ParkerMy how times have changed. We have been reporting a lot about how those who speak from the pulpit are scared to tell the truth and how our Pastors may no longer be our friends.

Recently a group of atheists even went so far as to demand that sermons be monitored and, of course, the IRS will be complying with those demands.

In America do we no longer have a right to have a dissenting opinion that might happen to come from a Christian perspective?

These are controversial topics but they must be discussed because the reality is that these are no longer your grandparents’ churches. America’s churches are now largely under Big Brother’s control.

So what happens when a Pastor ignores the suggested script and preaches the truth? Those emboldened to preach the gospel are not exempt from the same intimidation and overreach that the American people now experience on a daily basis.

Todd Starnes reports that the City of Houston is trying to protect its openly gay Mayor and making sure that local Pastors are not rocking the boat:


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.”

“Political and social commentary is not a crime,” Holcomb said. “It is protected by the First Amendment.”

The subpoenas are just the latest twist in an ongoing saga over the Houston’s new non-discrimination ordinance. The law, among other things, would allow men to use the ladies room and vice versa. The city council approved the law in June.

Have you ever noticed that those who sound the false cry of “separation of Church and State” only seem to do so when they feel that the Church is making progress? They have no problem with “the state” using unconstitutional and immoral control to smother “the church.”

Where were those who sought to confiscate Obama’s files when he made comments about Americans using religion as a crutch?

The City of Houston has no understanding of Free Speech, as protected by the First Amendment, and no regard for the U.S. Constitution.

This action is so far over the line that one does not even know where to begin dissecting such a gross display of overreach.

Yet this is the new paradigm in America. There is a Witch Hunt in Houston but, make no mistake, this time it is the “witches” who are doing the hunting.

If you do not agree with the establishment you are now an enemy of the state. If a Pastor is an enemy of the state then that should tell you something. The state has become an enemy of God.

Let that soak in for awhile. There are no more justifications for this. There are no more excuses to be made.

Wake up.
 
THEY WOULDN’T DO THIS IF THEY FEARED BEHEADINGS: Violence WORKS



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Does the First Amendment Apply in Houston?



Attorneys for the City of Houston have subpoenaed the sermons of pastors who belong to a group of clergy and others opposed to an ordinance recently enacted by the city. The ordinance prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among other things, sexual orientation and trans-gendered status.

The Houston Chronicle reports that opponents of the ordinance collected more than enough signatures for a petition to place a referendum repealing the ordinance on the ballot, but the city rejected the petition, maintaining a number of the signatures were invalid. The pastors, in turn, sued the city.

As part of the lawsuit, the city’s attorneys issued subpoenas to the pastors seeking all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to the ordinance, the petition, the mayor of Houston (the leading proponent of the ordinance), homosexuality, or gender identity prepared, delivered, or approved by the pastor. The subpoenas went not just to pastors who were party to the lawsuit, but also to those part of a 400-member religious coalition supporting the repeal petition.

As reported, this is astonishing. Setting aside the merits of the ordinance and the petition, the subpoena is overbroad and impinges on First Amendment rights. The city maintains that it is seeking evidence that the churches were engaged in electioneering in violation of their tax-exempt status. (If so, isn’t this best left to the IRS? Oh, yes. Never mind). This is unadulterated nonsense. Although the city arguably may seek sermons related to the petition, referendum, or the mayor — presuming those sermons amount to electioneering — seeking sermons related to homosexuality and gender identity unequivocally chills and intrudes upon the pastors’ First Amendment rights.

Furthermore, the subpoenas directed to pastors not part of the lawsuit appear overbroad and calculated to deter any opposition to, or criticism of, the ordinance. And Houston seems quite selective in its concern about electioneering in churches. There are no reports the city is at all interested in the overt and unabashed political appeals by Democrats that occur in black churches throughout Houston and the rest of America every election cycle.

A recent hearing before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights indicates that the increasing tension between anti-discrimination law and religious liberty is the civil-rights issue of the next decade. Depending on how that issue is resolved, religious “freedom” could very well be subject to governmental restraints never imagined in the first two centuries of the country’s existence.

Challenges to religious liberties are multiplying rapidly. Houston is just the tip of the iceberg
 
they wouldnt

do it

to

a

Moxque

The Islamic "faith" also opposes any homosexual advocacy right? I wonder if their "sermons" are also part of this subpoena? Either way, they wouldn't be brought on charges because they only submit to Sharia Law. :mad:
 
The Islamic "faith" also opposes any homosexual advocacy right? I wonder if their "sermons" are also part of this subpoena? Either way, they wouldn't be brought on charges because they only submit to Sharia Law. :mad:

because they would BEHEAD anyone that AXES for it
 
THEY WOULDN’T DO THIS IF THEY FEARED BEHEADINGS: Violence WORKS


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Queer Houston Mayor Stands Down on Subpoena after Her Lawlessness gets National Exposure

Posted by Tim Brown


Annise ParkerJust two days after it was reported that city of Houston Lesbian Mayor Annise Parker and her city council had subpoenaed the sermons and communications of area pastors following the city ignoring the law regarding a citizens’ initiative against their lawless “bathroom bill,” the Mayor has stood down on her subpoena.

KTRH reports:


Houston Mayor Annise Parker is doing damage control after national media picked up on her subpoenas targeting local clergy who protested her equal rights ordinance.

The mayor says the subpoenas were too broad, and should not have included actual sermons.

“It’s not about what did you preach on last Sunday,” Parker told reporters Wednesday. “It should have been clarified, it will be clarified.”



Parker wasn’t the only one doing damage control. City Attorney David Feldman was also in damage control mode.

Feldman attempted to tell Fox News’ Todd Starnes that Parker knew nothing of the subpoenas until Starnes broke the story. He made no mention about not knowing about the subpoenas himself.

Yet, according to the KTRH report, Feldman says he didn’t review the subpoenas before they were issued.

“When I looked at it I felt it was overly broad, I would not have worded it that way myself,” Feldman said. “It’s unfortunate that it has been construed as some effort to infringe upon religious liberty.”

Feldman is talking out of both sides of his mouth. Before he made the above statements, he told Starnes, “They are not party plaintiffs, but they certainly appeared before council repeatedly regarding the ordinance and the petition.”

“This petition was organized at the churches,” he added. “That’s where the organizing drive took place. That’s where rallies were held. That’s where signing parties were held.”

There is no question that Feldman is trying to deflect from the obvious national attention this story has brought on the city of Houston and the lawless actions of the city council and the mentally ill mayor.

As was reported yesterday, area pastors openly blasted the Parker administration and the city council over what they believe are unconstitutional overreaches against them. As Bryan Fischer has pointed out, the subpoena was clearly an attempt to intimidate and interfere with the religious consciences of the pastors, who were not even a part of the lawsuit against the city. He went on to demonstrate how it was a clear abuse of power by the city in violation of the Texas Constitution.

However, their backing down from their earlier subpoena (and don’t tell me that Feldman and Parker didn’t know what was in the subpoena), doesn’t mean they are through with their attacks. They are merely regrouping for another round.

“It should have been clarified, it will be clarified,” Parker said.

Keep in mind that Parker tweeted out her threats against the pastors on Wednesday:



Actually, they aren’t fair game Ms. Parker, but the lawless actions of your city council are. Following the tweet, she said that she had changed her mind.

It would be a bit comical for the pastors to throw the often touted myth of “Separation of Church and State” in the face of these liberals.

I’m anxious to see what the pulpits in Houston declare this coming Sunday. Hopefully, the spirit of the Black Robed Regiment will once again be raised and the Word of God will be proclaimed boldly and without apology.

Tim Brown is the Editor of Freedom Outpost.
 
Pastors Launch Offensive Strike: Flood Houston Lesbian Mayor’s Office with Bibles and Sermons

Annise ParkerA report is out, in the wake of the city of Houston’s demands that area pastors hand over their sermons and communication with their members, saying that there is a national movement of American pastors who are going on the offensive. These pastors are banding together in a theme reminiscent of the Star Wars’ saga’s “The Empire Strikes Back.” Their movement is called, “The Pastors Strike Back.”

Pastors from across the fruited plain have decided to come together and voluntarily send Bibles and sermons to Mayor Annise Parker’s office.

Former Governor Mike Huckabee called on every pastor in America to do this recently.

“I hope she gets thousands and thousands of sermons and Bibles,” said Huckabee on his Fox News show Saturday.



Author Eric Metaxas also did the same thing. He told David Brody, “Never in our history has religious freedom been so brazenly defied. A bold red line has been crossed. The Houston mayor’s inexcusable demand to see the sermons of pastors is an outrageous and shocking affront to all Americans and to liberty itself. If the American church does not rise up and stand against this, there is no American church.”



Brody also was able to acquire a home video of Brad Atkins, pastor of Powersville First Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina as he sent his sermon off to Parker.



Apparently though, this issue that has been stirred up by the sodomite mayor and her administration has fired up pastors around the world. According to Brody, reports are the pastors from Australia, Germany and Canada will also be sending their sermons and Bibles to the Mayor.

“On November 2nd, The Family Research council is hosting a huge simulcast event in Houston at a big church,” wrote Brody. “Guests will include Mike Huckabee, Phil Robertson, the Benham brothers, Dr. Ronnie Floyd and others. In South Carolina, the South Carolina Pastors Alliance is staging an event called, “The Stand” to be held on the statehouse grounds.”

This is exactly what needs to be done on a number of fronts. Americans need to come together to defeat the tyranny that is growing in our society. These pastors get my support for their willingness to stand up and launch an offensive on behalf of their brothers in Texas.

The city of Houston did take a step back from their larger subpoena that demanded sermons and communications of pastors to removing sermons from the request. However, that didn’t fly with senior legal counsel Erik Stanley from Alliance Defending Freedom.

Stanley said, “The city of Houston still doesn’t get it. It thinks that by changing nothing in its subpoenas other than to remove the word ‘sermons’ that it has solved the problem. That solves nothing. They must be rescinded entirely.”

No doubt, this is what has provoked the pastors to take this initiative.

There comes a time when men must take a hard stand and that time is now. Texas preachers have already taken a stand. While I’m not sure that sending all those Bibles and sermons in will actually do anything, I do think it at least sends the message that Christians are not going to back down simply because there is intimidation by those elected to office who ignore the law and then attempt to impose immoral legislation on their citizens like Houston’s “bathroom bill.”
 
Houston Changes Story in Battle with Pastors – Claims Petition never Validated



Here is where you begin to see the level of the corruption going on. This is where the cockroaches run and hide as they are exposed to the light. After the city had demanded the sermons and communications from pastors to their congregations, area pastors became very vocal in opposition to city’s demands. Following the offensive measure by American (and pastors throughout the world) to send lesbian mayor Annise Parker sermons and Bibles, the city not only stepped back from their previous subpoena, but is changing its version of the story. Now, the city attorney is claiming that the citizens’ initiative that challenged their wicked “bathroom bill” was never “validated.”

The first thing that shows they are openly lying is the fact that the city secretary gave sworn testimony to the contrary. Why is that important? As we reported previously, the city secretary, Anna Russell, who has served Houston for more than 40 years, is the one the validated the signatures to determine that the petition had met the legal requirements, which it did. In fact, it got three times more signatures than required.

In a deposition of Ms. Russell by Andy Taylor, the attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, she said her understanding was that “that the [city] charter provides that the city secretary determine the number of qualified voters who sign the petition.”

“And based on that understanding, you did that, and the result of your work was that 17,846 signatures had been validated,” asked Taylor. “And that was more than the minimum number necessary, correct?”

“That’s correct,” she answered.

However, did the city mayor, council, or city attorney David Feldman come out and claim there was no validation? Absolutely not. Instead, they attempted to discredit over 2/3s of the signatures to get them under the required number and demand that five Houston area pastors turnover their sermons and communications with members.

WND conducted an interview with Taylor. He said that the city’s latest filing was a “‘head fake’ to try to keep the state Supreme Court from intervening and ordering the city to follow its charter and act on the petition.”

According to WND:


He said the city essentially brought up three points – that the Supreme Court doesn’t have jurisdiction because a trial is scheduled in January, that there are disagreements a trial judge needs to decide first and the case needs to run its course through the system because of arguments of time, signatures and other issues.

But, he said, the charter requires immediate action on such petitions, not a leisurely trip through the court system.

He said the violations are ongoing and need to be addressed.

And he said there are no real issues to decide, since the city secretary, as required in the city charter, ruled there were enough signatures on the petition.

In fact, she noted that she only looked through about one-third of the signatures submitted, because the minimum already had been reached, and there was no point in spending more time.

It wasn’t until after she had prepared her report, she said in the deposition, that the city attorney came to her and told her that he had invalidated most of the signatures and that she ultimately revised her report to add that statement.

Taylor told WND that Russell also, in a memo about the dispute, had used the word “certify” regarding the petition signatures.

“She did her job,” he said.

Taylor said the mayor and city attorney “ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

“Our clients have a constitutional right of free speech, of freedom of religion, freedom to petition government for redress,” he said. “It’s absolutely unbelievable that the mayor in her zeal to defend a ‘gay-lesbian’ ordinance would trample the voting rights of over a million people in Houston.”

In her official report about the petition, Russell said, “As of July 27, 2014, the number of qualified city of Houston voters who signed the petition had been verified with a margin of error.”


It wasn’t until after Russell had verified the signatures that city Attorney David Feldman tried to get her to alter her findings by adding to her report the following:

“According to the city attorney’s office and reviewed by the city secretary the analysis of the city attorney’s office, 2,750 pages containing 16,010 signatures do not contain sufficient acknowledgment as required by the charter. Therefore, according to the city attorney’s office only 2,449 pages containing 15,249 signatures can lawfully be considered toward the signatures required.”

Additionally, in all of her years of service to the city of Houston, she never had one incident of a city attorney attempting to interfere with her duties.

“She also confirmed she had nothing to do with the affidavit section of the petition and that the scrutiny applied to it was entirely the work of Feldman.”

In the meantime, while city hall is conducting its lawlessness, Christians and Christian pastors, as well as many who are not Christian are standing up and being very vocal about the tyrannical actions of Mayor Parker’s administration, the city council and the city attorney.

Perhaps you are looking to “do something.” Well, how about sending Ms. Parker a response to the city’s lawlessness and actions against its citizens. Here’s her contact information.

Mayor Annise D. Parker
City of Houston
P.O. Box 1562 Houston, Texas 77251
Phone: (713) 837-0311
Email: mayor@houstontx.gov
 
All GAZE and LEZ BOOZ, lie and play the VICTIM game

Houston’s Gay Dem Mayor Caught In Lie Claiming Daughter Was Denied Driver’s License Test Because Birth Cert Listed Two Moms…


Houston Mayor Annise Parker

This is the same mayor who recently tried to subpoena sermons from local pastors to see if they opposed city’s transgender bathroom law.

Via Inquisitr:


Controversial Houston mayor Annise Parker has claimed that her daughter was denied the chance to take the test for her Texas driver’s license because her birth certificate says she has two mothers, a claim that a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) official is flatly denying, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

On Thursday, Parker — who is the only openly-gay mayor of a major U.S. city — sent out a tweet alleging that her 16-year-old daughter, who is unnamed, went to DPS to take her test for her driver’s license, but was denied because her birth certificate lists two mothers: Parker, and her wife, Kathy Hubbard. [...]

Parker claimed that it took the involvement of an understanding DPS clerk, and her supervisor, to convince DPS to give her daughter a driver’s license.

However, DPS official Tom Vinger says that Parker’s claims of discrimination against her daughter don’t add up:

“All individuals applying for their first Texas driver’s license must provide a variety of documents to prove their identity, Social Security number, U.S. citizenship or lawful presence status, and Texas residency. In this case, the adult applicant did not initially present sufficient documentation to prove residency. Once she provided the required documentation, she was able to complete the transaction.”
 
This isn't even the POINT

The CUNT would NEVER ever dare to have done the same to MUSLIMS


BREAKING: Houston’s Gay Gestapo Mayor Withdraws Subpoenas Demanding Pastors Hand Over Sermons…




Chalk one up for the bitter clingers.
 
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