Calling Christians to Contact the City of Houston

Religious Freedom, , , ,

Eric Metaxas has released a call to action asking Christians all over America to contact the City of Houston over its attempt to intimidate local pastors who stand against the city’s new so-called “nondiscrimination” ordinance.

Metaxas asks Christians to send Houston’s mayor a Bible, sermon, or scripture. He writes,

“Won’t you please join us and send a sermon or a Bible or even a card with a scripture verse to Mayor Parker? Pray over it and send it in love. Pray that God would show Mayor Parker and every politician in America that religious freedom is sacred and we cannot allow the State to trample upon it — and by God’s grace, we won’t.

“As I’ve said, the church has to answer this mayor’s outrageous and deeply un-American action. We’ve got to forcefully remind those in government that the church in America has been free since 1776—and the Founders intended it to stay that way. And we do too.”

If you would like to contact Houston’s mayor, you can use the following address:

Mayor Parker
City Hall
901 Bagby Street
Houston, TX 77002

You can listen to Metaxas’ full call to action below.

[audio:http://bit.ly/1vIfKbk|titles=Eric Metaxas – A Line Has Been Crossed]

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Idaho “Nondiscrimination” Ordinance Could Land Couple in Jail

Religious Freedom, , ,

We have written before about the unintended consequences of so-called “nondiscrimination” ordinances like the one recently passed in Fayetteville. These types of city ordinances actually make it a crime to discriminate on the basis of sexual-orientation and gender-identity–meaning violators can be hit with jail time instead of simply a lawsuit. However, the ordinances are written so broadly that relatively benign actions qualify as “discrimination” under the law.

Case in point, a husband and wife in Idaho now face the prospect of expensive fines and jail time simply for declining to officiate a same-sex wedding.

According to the Daily Signal, (more…)

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Houston to Pastors: Hand Over Your “Speeches,” not “Sermons”

Religious Freedom, , , ,

After initially defending the bizarre subpoena demanding Houston pastors hand over all sermons and pastoral communication related to homosexuality, gender-identity, Houston’s mayor, and Houston’s “nondiscrimination” ordinance, city officials admitted their requests were overly-broad and needed to be narrowed.

Last Friday, Houston officials amended their request: They no longer want pastors’ sermons. Now they just want pastors’ “speeches.”

As Todd Starnes writes, “I don’t mean to point out the obvious here – but what do those attorneys think a sermon is? It’s a speech.”

To be fair, the amended subpoena filed by the city’s lawyers strikes the request for any and all sermons related to homosexuality, gender-identity, and the city’s mayor. However, the subpoena still demands, “all speeches or presentations” regarding the city ordinance and the effort to repeal the ordinance, and the subpoena still insists ministers turn over 16 other types of documents besides their sermons–including pastoral communications with church members.

And, as we wrote last week, the subpoena is directed at five ministers who are not even part of the lawsuit over the city ordinance.

At this point it seems the City of Houston is simply playing word games. They want to go after some of the pastors who opposed the city’s ordinance, and they’re hijacking the judicial system to do it.

You can read the city’s original subpoena here.

You can read the city’s amendment to the subpoena here.

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