Where Did Religious Freedom Go?
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, November 18, 2016 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
For years, large sections of the United States, including the state of Georgia, were known as the Bible Belt, but things are a-changin’ and religious freedom has been targeted for extinction, even in the Bible Belt.
On Monday, October 3rd, Henry County teachers at East Lake Elementary School received this memo: “You are hereby directed to remove all items which contain religious symbols, such as crosses, printed Bibles, angels, Bible verses, printed prayers, and biblical quotations from the common areas, hallways, classrooms, and office of East Lake Elementary School.”
A Henry County Schools spokesman defending those instructions said, “That is a federal law that we’re abiding by. We just sent out these reminders and things to be aware of and we’ve been doing that for the past two decades.” Since all the prohibited symbols are Christian and the prohibited quotations are from the Bible, parents in Henry County should require the local school board to amend the memo to prohibit other religious symbols, such as hijabs, burkas, and prayer rugs and quotes from the Quran, or rescind the prohibition against Christian symbols.
On October 26th, a press conference was held at the Georgia capitol to announce that Dr. Eric Walsh would not hand over his sermons to the state that had served him with legal papers demanding that he give state officials copies of his sermon notes and transcripts. Soon after the press conference, the state rescinded the demand that should never have been issued.Background: Despite constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom, the personal beliefs of Dr. Walsh, recently, became an issue with his employer, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) that hired him May 7, 2014. His impressive credentials included service on the President’s HIV/AIDS Advisory Board and his quality of work at DPH was not in question. He was fired in 2016 for preaching in his church about his Christian views on marriage.
His attorney said this, “No one in this country should be fired from their jobs for something that was said in a church from a pulpit during a sermon. If the government is allowed to fine someone over what is said in a sermon, they can come after any of us for our beliefs on anything. The state has no business snooping around in a pastor’s study looking for sermons.”
According to the lawsuit, DPH officials spent hours going over Dr. Walsh’s sermons and public statements, including everything available online, while taking notes about his religious beliefs and personal viewpoints that have nothing to do with his job.
A Houston pastor spoke of a similar situation in 2014, when the Houston mayor subpoenaed sermons from clergy about a transgender bathroom ordinance. Voters overturned that ordinance in November 2015. Religious freedom is under attack in our state and across the country. Will you help defend it? For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.