Earlier today, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill that prevents religious sermons from being subpoenaed and also prohibits religious leaders from being forced to testify about their religious sermons. The impetus for the law originates from conservative churches that ferociously opposed equality/anti-discrimination ordinances/actions and were pushed to hand over and testify about their religious sermons. While I couldn’t disagree more with the hate speech that these pastors were spewing in their pulpits, I believe that such teachings should always be protected by the separation of church and state. I don’t see how a follower of Jesus could be a proponent of state control over religious sermons. If you don’t think that such procurement amounts to state control, imagine how limited in their teachings most pastors would be if they knew their words were discoverable and they could be subpoenaed for the words they speak at any time. Religious teachers should be able to teach whatever they want. There is no quicker way to silence pastors than to allow our government to harass/oppress them for what they are teaching. I want to make something very clear, I will go to jail before I surrender my teachings or testify about my teachings. Today, I thank Governor Abbott for protecting me. The government is not my God and I will never allow my teachings to be subject to any law.
Even though I often compare Governor Abbott to Darth Vader, I have to give credit where credit is due. This new law is very protects people of all faiths. Many of my colleagues don’t think so. I guess they want the government controlling all of our teachings. Repeatedly on social media, I saw progressive Christians put out post after post bemoaning the new law. I think they’re all full of shit. They would oppose anything this Governor did. I don’t feel that way. When God works in mysterious ways, I like to sit back and enjoy it. For my colleagues, if you want your teachings oppressed then start asking the government what you should teach about. As for me, I’m thankful that people of every religious perspective in Texas can now teach whatever they want. I hope that my colleagues will use this expansion of religious freedom for more than bullshit. I hope that we will see more moral courage from our religious teachers to speak out against injustice and oppression. Regardless of what you think about the new law…don’t worry…I can assure you that it won’t be long before we’re all back together to fight Darth Vader again.
Amen.
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