“First they came for the socialists….”

The Latest Targets of Sexual Radicalism

By Stephen Baskerville

Two incidents involving basic constitutional freedoms—not closely associated with one another in the media or by those involved—highlight the growing power of sexual radicalism in our society. Radical sexual ideology in a broad sense has not generally been recognized as a political phenomenon worthy of attention. But we can see in these developments—both of which are eliciting outrage from different defenders of the Bill of Rights—that politicized sexuality transcends particular controversies such as same-sex marriage or abortion. It can be seen as a true political ideology, akin to earlier radicalisms like socialism and nationalism and equally threatening to freedom.

In Houston, the lesbian mayor recently demanded that pastors opposed to the city’s “bathroom bill”—an “anti-discrimination” ordinance that would allow people to choose public washrooms according to “gender identity”—surrender their sermons and other documents to city officials. The subpoenas have been withdrawn following public outrage, but the very idea that government officials should claim the power to examine—and therefore pass judgement upon—expressions of political opinion by any citizens, religious or secular, is disturbing in a free society.

“If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game,” declared Mayor Annise Parker, as if speech about “politics” is not protected by the First Amendment. Indeed, that is precisely what City Attorney Dave Feldman stated: If pastors discuss what he judges to be “political speech,” then their First Amendment right to freedom of expression “is not going to be protected.”

“It’s a shocking thing,” declares author Eric Metaxas, adding that “everyone in America should be freaking out.”

If we tolerate this kind of abrogation of religious freedom in this nation, all of our liberties will be unraveled. … It is that serious. America needs to wake up. The church, especially, needs to know that this is a huge trampling of something that the Founders said was at the heart of all of our liberties.

Yet the same people who express shock about this intimidation ignore equally, if not more, dangerous measures against innocent citizens, also promoted by sexual radicals.

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