Mike Huckabee, conservative Fox News talk show host and talked-about Republican candidate for president in 2016, said pastors around the nation ought to rally against Houston’s mayor and send “thousands and thousands” of Bibles to her as a message in support of free speech.
Mayor Annise Parker recently demanded the city’s pastors turn over their sermons for preview, to make sure they didn’t contain any language that violated the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance — particularly anti-gay language. The city faces a challenge from Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed a motion arguing that sermons are protected and that the city was off base in demanding them.
In the meantime, Mr. Huckabee said the nation’s pastors and those with First Amendment concerns about the city’s actions ought to send a message.
“I hope she gets thousands and thousands of sermons and Bibles,” the ordained Southern Baptist minister said on his Fox News show over the weekend.
“It ought to make you mad that the mayor thinks she can turn in her pastors,” Mr. Huckabee went on, Newsmax reported. “And so I got an idea. If she wants a sermon, here is my suggestion. I would like to ask every pastor in America, not only the ones in Houston, to send her your sermons and go ahead. Obviously, she could use a few. And everybody watching the show ought to send her a Bible.”
Ms. Parker is the city’s first openly gay mayor, Newsmax said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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