Quote:
Originally Posted by Reader
That isn't the point. If the churches stated anything, for instance, about voting the mayor out, then they would be doing something not allowed by their 501c3 status.
|
In the Brief filed by Alliance Defending Freedom, it states:
12. The TWELFTH Request – All Sermons and Speeches Related to ERO and Other Topics – Should be Quashed.
The Twelfth Request for Production seeks “[a]ll speeches, presentations, or sermons related to” ERO, “the [ERO] Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession.” But the content of sermons, presentations, and speeches proponents of referendum petitions make or give, if any, is not one of the criteria the Charter specifies for certifying referendum petitions. Neither the City Secretary nor any other official is directed by the Charter to examine referendum petition proponents’ “speeches, presentations, or sermons” before certifying the signatures on referendum petitions and declaring the petitions valid and legally binding. This request is thus not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. It should be quashed.
Additionally, an evaluation of the content of pastors’ sermons and other religious presentations could not be a criteria for the acceptance of a referendum petition without violating the First Amendment. “The door of the Free Exercise Clause stands tightly closed against any governmental regulation of religious beliefs as such.” Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398, 402 (1963). Significantly, the “[g]overnment may neither compel affirmation of a repugnant belief, nor penalize or discriminate against individuals or groups because they hold religious views abhorrent to the authorities[.]” Id. (citations and quotations omitted). Rather, the government—including the courts—is not allowed by the Constitution “to approve, disapprove, classify, regulate, or in any manner control sermons delivered at religious meetings.” Fowler v. State of R.I., 345 U.S. 67, 70 (1953). The City of Houston is thus constitutionally forbidden from creating a religious test to determine who may submit a referendum petition, or from making the contents of a pastor’s sermons a criteria for whether his or her petition is capable of being certified as legally binding."
http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/9349
Hybrid Mode
