Huston city coucil subpoena pastors sermons

[r3020]

This should be interesting. Most pastors speak without notes. No record of their sermons. How long before all churches have someone monitor what is being said? Doubt there has been much discussion of the restrooms from the pulpits.

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Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys have filed a motion in a Texas court to stop an attempt by the city of Houston to subpoena sermons and other communications belonging to several area pastors in a lawsuit in which the pastors are not even involved.

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’s subpoena of sermons and other pastoral communications is both needless and unprecedented,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Christiana Holcomb. “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.”

In June, the Houston City Council passed its “bathroom bill,” which sparked a citizen initiative to have the council either repeal the bill or place it on the ballot for voters to decide. The public submitted more than three times the legally required number of valid signatures, which the city secretary, who is entrusted by law to examine and certify petitions, certified as sufficient. The mayor and city attorney defied the law and rejected the certification.

http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/9349

[NewAgJudge]

Opponents claimed to have gathered and verified 31,000 names, but City Attorney David Feldman said Friday many of the more than 5,000 pages fall short of legal requirements set out in the city charter. The final tally likely will be closer than many expected to the minimum threshold of 17,269 signatures, Feldman said. "There's an issue there with respect to the validity of pages," Feldman said. "But right now I don't know what the final count is."

. Many names on valid pages also did not belong to registered Houston voters, Feldman said, and some signatures were gathered before June 3, when the ordinance was published and the petition drive could begin

When the Houston Area Pastors Council turned in 7 boxes of petitions to the City on July 3rd, they boasted of gathering more than 31,000 valid signatures. An independent group of concerned citizens has spent the last three weeks independently reviewing each page of that repeal petition in an effort to provide additional accountability to the referendum process. This was a grass-roots effort involving more than 100 volunteers who communicated via social media and participated in a crowd-sourced effort that uncovered fatal flaws with what was turned in. Having finished this exhaustive review, the HERO Petition Review Working Group concluded that the petitioners did not, in fact, turn in enough valid signatures in order to place this issue on the ballot.

The petition rules are really quite simple: - Petitions must be properly notarized.

- Petitions must have been signed & notarized between June 3rd and July 3rd.

- Petition signers must be registered City of Houston voters. - Petition circulators must be identifiable and registered City of Houston voters.

- Petition circulators must have signed the petition, not just the notary affirmation, sometime between June 3rd and July 3rd. Based on these simple criteria, this independent review showed only 16,499 valid signatures were turned in.  

When you are afraid your social/sexual/religious superiority is in jeopardy, you will do anything. Even go so crazy you don't "cross your i's or dot your t's." This is the panic before you lose. ...and BIG THANKS to the checkers.

[schnurrbart]

Oh but Judge, THAT would be persecution of Christians.  This particular bunch here don't think they have to do anything that the Bible doesn't tell them to do and if you deny them anything, you are persecuting them!!!

[r3020]

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@schnurrbart wrote:

Oh but Judge, THAT would be persecution of Christians.  This particular bunch here don't think they have to do anything that the Bible doesn't tell them to do and if you deny them anything, you are persecuting them!!!

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Let's think about this for a minute Bart. This is about getting enough signatures to get this on the ballot for the people of Houston to decide. I'm calling BS on Judge's source. He fails to post a link and I think there are more than enough mothers in Houston that would be willing to sign a petition that would force a vote on whether or not some dirty old man has the right to be in the restroom with their daughter. Do you have daughters or granddaughters Bart? Do you want men in the same restroom they are in? Would you sign a petition bringing it to a vote?

[NewAgJudge]

I have NEVER provided a link on anything, you do plenty of that of that your own from biased sources, so feel free to use the google.

I watched the live feed of the debates in front of Houston City Council all summer long. The entertainment value exceeded the education value 🙂

The opposition were preachers and breitbart.com types ( like you and the other clowns here ) . All ( Every One )  of their arguments wer found to be invalid.

Other cities have passed the same ordinance and no woman has been molested in a bathroom

This ordinance was more about public accomodation as the state of Texas has no protection clause.

Meaning:  a poor white German can't be refused an Apt because the Hispanic Owners don't like they way he talks.

It protects EVERYONE  !

[r3020]

I wouldn't like guys like this in the same restroom as my daughters.

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A Florida man today took a stuffed animal off a Walmart shelf and then used the toy to **bleep** before returning the ejaculate-covered item to a store shelf, police report.

The repulsive episode occurred around 3 PM at a Walmart in Brooksville, a city 50 miles north of Tampa.

According to a police report, Sean Johnson, 19, “selected a brown, tan, and red stuffed horse from the clearance shelf in the garden department.” He then went to the comforter aisle in the housewares section, “proceeded to pull out his genitals,” and “proceeded to hump the stuffed horse utilizing short fast movements.” The lewd act was captured by surveillance cameras.

After Johnson “achieved an orgasm and ejaculated on the stuffed horse’s chest area,” he placed the “soiled stuffed horse on top of a bed in a bag (comforter set) contaminating that property also.”

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/florida/walmart-stuffed-animal-defiler-657903

[NewAgJudge]

Me either, but what does this possibly have to do with the ordinance ?

I wouldn't want Larry ( Wide Stance )  Craig near any child no matter what restroom he uses.

[r3020]

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@NewAgJudge wrote:

Me either, but what does this possibly have to do with the ordinance ?

I wouldn't want Larry ( Wide Stance )  Craig near any child no matter what restroom he uses.

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What give the city council the right to demand the pastors sermons?

[NewAgJudge]

I am glad you asked 🙂

Because when the tax free churches try to influence public policy they should forgo any special exemptions they think they have.

Pastors made their sermons relevant to the case by using the pulpit to do political organizing. That included encouraging congregation members ( many of whom were not local to the area ) to sign petitions and help gather signatures for equal rights ordinance foes

[r3020]

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@NewAgJudge wrote:

I am glad you asked 🙂

Because when the tax free churches try to influence public policy they should forgo any special exemptions they think they have.

Pastors made their sermons relevant to the case by using the pulpit to do political organizing. That included encouraging congregation members ( many of whom were not local to the area ) to sign petitions and help gather signatures for equal rights ordinance foes

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The pastors are not part of the lawsuit. The city council has no right to demand anything from them. Separation of church and state.