The Texas Pastors Council, following the recent subpoenas for the contents of various sermons and other communications, issued a sort of call to arms to other pastors and Christians all over the country. “Who will stand?” they asked. “Who will speak the Word, though it land them in newspapers, in court, or even in jail?”
The response was both quick and broad. Pastors from many denominations, both local to Houston and not so local, wrote letters to Mayor Annise Parker. They popped up on nationwide talk radio shows. And they spoke not only to the specific issue at hand, but also to the broader effects of the actions taken by the City of Houston.
On the Lutheran radio program Issues Etc, LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod), Texas Pastor Dr. Scott Murray spoke with fellow Pastor (and host) Todd Wilken. The question was posed to him: “If it had been you, your church, that had been the recipient of such subpoenas, what would your reaction be?”
I would print out as many sermons as I could. As many emails, as many transcripts, as many communications as I could find. I would print them all out, and I would tie them up with a big red bow. I would walk them down to City Hall myself, hand them to the clerk, and ask that the Mayor please read them. This is an unprecedented opportunity to put the Word of God, the message of Christ, into the hands of those who might not otherwise see it.
From the pastor of Houston NW Church, Dr. Steve Bezner, came an open letter. He spoke of the virtues of Houston as a wonderfully diverse city with as many different opinions and points of view as it has people. He spoke of the community work his church was doing and of the positive changes he felt that the church and the city government could work together to achieve. He finished with a call to action and an admonition of the recent actions taken by the city:
Remove the sermons of the five pastors from your subpoena as a measure of good faith and out of respect for religious freedom… I hope that you and your team will find another way to think about this topic. Progress is not always won through power; if you must exercise power, you may not have as much as you perceive.
Mayor Parker's recent move to walk back the subpoenas and feign victimhood herself (“they're attacking me, so I guess it's just another day at the office”) suggests that Dr. Bezner may have been accurate in his assessment.
My own Pastor, Michael Walther (of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, also LCMS), spoke to me regarding the broader issues of religious liberty and freedom of speech.
The church must be prepared for persecution. After all, our Constitution is only as strong as the people who believe in it, who are willing to protect it. Historically persecution comes in three stages: Libel, litigation, and loss (of liberty mainly, but in some cases, life as well). And as most of us are well aware, these stages are already underway. For example: we get called intolerant, bigots and racists for saying that homosexuality is sinful. Those malicious words are libel. The Johnson Amendment, passed in 1954, represents the beginning of the litigation phase.
The Johnson Amendment restricts political speech in the church, barring pastors from speaking about candidates either to endorse or condemn them from the pulpit. Political speech in the church was fairly commonplace up to that point, as pastors often preached on social and political issues of the day. But if one considers how the “Interstate Commerce Clause” has over time been twisted to allow Congress power over things that are neither interstate nor commerce, it is easy to see how it could be used to stifle religious speech in regard to political issues. For example, at what point does a call from the pulpit to protect life – specifically the unborn – become designated a de facto endorsement for the only pro-life candidate in a particular race? And as such, if the government makes it punishable by confiscation of money or property, how many will stand?
The libel is already rampant. Look at the public backlash against corporations like Chik Fil A or Kroger when their founders or even employees speak out in support of things like traditional marriage or Second Amendment rights. The litigation, as hard as it may be to believe, is just beginning. Legislating photographers and bakers out of business because they refuse to be a part of a same sex wedding is just the tip of the iceberg.
Actions like the one reported in Houston show that the mask is coming off liberalism. It can no longer be disguised as a simple difference of opinion on economics or foreign policy, and the two sides can no longer work cooperatively to get things done. That was modernism – an era during which both sides agreed that there were absolute truths that provided parameters for political action. This is post-modernism, and it's all about power – the power of individuals or of specific demographics to enforce their will upon everyone else. – Pastor Michael Walther
