First, they insisted they didn’t want all the rights and benefits of marriage, they just wanted the right to visit their loved one in the hospital.
Turns out that wasn’t true.
Then they said they didn’t want to redefine marriage, they just wanted all the rights and benefits of marriage. After all, fair is fair.
Guess that wasn’t true either.
Next they told us they didn’t want to tell anyone else what they could or couldn’t do, they just wanted the right to be married to the person they love.
Because of the stories of florists, bakers, photographers, and print shops owners, now we all know better.
All the while, they assured us that they respected diversity and religious freedom. They wouldn’t dream of interfering with a church’s teaching.
Yesterday, we learned that wasn’t true either.
In an unprecedented maneuver, the Mayor of Houston, Annise Parker, issued a subpoena for the sermons of five pastors.
The controversy surrounds the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) pushed by the Mayor that would allow men dressed as women to enter women’s bathrooms. A petition has been launched to overturn the new law and the Mayor is concerned that pastors addressed that issue from the pulpit.
According to a statement from her Twitter account, “If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game.”
Here we are folks. This is happening in good ‘ole America. Texas, in fact.
Those elected to “serve” us believe they have the right to regulate speech inside a church and (presumably) punish speech they deem inappropriate.
When talking about the tactics of the left, analogies to the SS and the brown shirts used to seem alarmist. But…if the shoe fits.
Soon we will likely start hearing assurances that they would never put a pastor in jail for the things they say, just revoke their tax-exempt status.
The sad part is, there’s a bunch of people who will believe them.
So that’s the bad news.
The good news is that all of this is entirely fixable.
A study by George Barna recently found that while 90% of pastors believe the Bible addresses the current issues of the day, less than 10% say they will speak to it. By default, the churches that are now being targeted have created a culture in which the people inside those churches are powerless and have no idea how to respond.
Churches simply need to decide if they would rather be free to preach the gospel and minister to their community or be commended for their “spirit of cooperation” by people who hate everything they claim to stand for.
President Obama was elected by the vote of 65 million people. That seems like a lot, until you remember that there are 320 million people in the country. Only twenty percent of the country actually voted for him. Many of the state legislative races that will be decided in the next few weeks will be decided by fewer than 1,000 votes.
Yes, the country and the culture have changed. But we are not being governed by an overwhelming majority of people who disagree with us.
We are being governed by those who care the most about their beliefs.
If you like the prospect of the government regulating the content of your pastor’s sermon; if you like the fact that grandmothers who own floral shops are being sued because of their beliefs about marriage; if you like the idea of men being allowed to join your daughter in the restroom by putting a dress on, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing.
However, if you think a change of direction is in order and you’re willing to make a modest investment toward that end, the future can look different than the present. In a good way.
Educate yourself and your friends about who to vote for.
Find out if they voted and remind them if they have not.
There’s an election in a few days. If we all handle our business and care more about the condition of the world 50 years from now than the condition of our reputation 50 seconds from now this could be the start of something really good.
The frog is starting to notice that it’s getting hot in here. Jump already. Jump!
