Category: Religious Freedom

Houston Subpoenas Sermons of Pastors Who are Not Suing City

Yesterday we wrote about troubling developments in Houston, Texas. The city issued subpoenas demanding some local pastors turn over all sermons and pastoral communications dealing with Houston’s controversial “nondiscrimination” ordinance, the city’s mayor, homosexuality, and the effort to repeal the city ordinance.

Some of the news stations who picked up the story reported the pastors served with the subpoena are part of a lawsuit against the city. Unfortunately that is not the case.

The actual lawsuit over the city ordinance lists Jared Woodfill, Steven F. Hotze, F.N. Williams, Sr., and Max Miller as plaintiffs. As near as we can tell, at least two of these plaintiffs (Mr. Miller and Mr. Williams) appear to be pastors. These four are the ones suing the city. However when it issued its subpoena, the city demanded five people who are not part of the lawsuit turn over their sermons and other documents as well: Ms. Magda Hermida and Pastors Hernan Castano, Khan Huynh, Steve Riggle, and David Welch.

Why would the city try to subpoena documents from people who are not suing the city? As far as I can tell, the only connection these five individuals have to the case is they opposed the ordinance at the center of the lawsuit.

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Houston Mayor Subpoenas Church Sermons

Increasingly, I find myself telling people, “If you don’t believe religious liberty is under attack, try exercising it sometime. You’ll see what happens.”

We have written repeatedly about the so-called “nondiscrimination” ordinance passed in Fayetteville a few weeks ago and its unintended consequences. The ordinance creates special legal provisions for certain people based on sexual orientation and gender-identity at the expense of religious freedom and sound public policy. Fayetteville voters will have an opportunity to decide whether or not to repeal the ordinance at a special election on December 9 thanks to a petition drive carried out by local residents and church leaders.

However, nothing in Fayetteville compares to what Houston ministers are facing right now as a result of their city’s efforts to pass new “nondiscrimination” legislation. In a bizarre series of twists and turns, Houston city officials have ordered several local pastors to turn over sermons and other pastoral communications. Any pastor who fails to comply could face “fine or confinement, or both.”

In other words, the city is telling ministers they could be fined and imprisoned if they fail to turn over their sermons.

How did this happen? Isn’t this America? Doesn’t the First Amendment recognize and protect the freedom of speech and the exercise of religion?

According to different news sources, the Houston City Council, in the face of much opposition, passed a “nondiscrimination” ordinance last summer that, among other things, permits men to use the women’s restrooms and vice versa. To bring the ordinance up for citywide vote, local citizens began collecting petition signatures. They needed about 17,000 signatures; they collected more than 50,000. However, the city disqualified the petitions due to alleged inconsistencies.

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