Atlanta, GA – The State of Georgia has served a “Request for Production of Documents” to pastor and former Georgia District Health Director Dr. Eric Walsh, requiring him to surrender copies of his sermons under threat of law. First Liberty Institute is representing him against this violation of his First Amendment rights.
Penny Nance, CEO & President of Concerned Women for America (CWA), the largest public policy organization for women in the country, issued this warning:
The words of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” still reverberate today – especially as we witness the “Gestapo-like” tactics of his native state. The state of Georgia’s blatant attack on religious freedom, as they discriminate against another pastor, Dr. Eric Walsh, is indeed a threat to every American, whatever our religious beliefs.
Can there be a clearer violation of our First Amendment right to religious freedom than for the state to monitor, examine, and retaliate against a person because of the sermons they share?
Let it be clear that the hundreds of thousands of members of Concerned Women for America are committed to stand squarely against this invidious discrimination and will do everything in our power to fight this injustice and intolerance with all the resources at our disposal.
CWA of Georgia State Director Tanya Ditty had this to say:
The time to speak up is now. The state’s actions in this case do not happen in a vacuum; they are, unfortunately, part of a troubling pattern that is very dangerous.
Georgia is better than this. Here is an issue that is beyond political affiliation. We all know that no one should be fired from their job over their religious beliefs or over something they said in their church.
Can anyone seriously defend the state’s intrusion into sermon writing?
The state’s actions in this case are reminiscent of the sort of “monitoring” the great German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer experienced in his time. CWA of Georgia demands an immediate end to this type of anti-religious bigotry on the part of state authorities.
For an interview with Penny Nance contact Janae Stracke at jstracke@cwfa.org or 712-269-1724.