No doubt you have heard about the Houston pastors who were told by the mayor that they had to send their speeches and sermons to the city for inspection. After lots of publicity, the city backed down a little, but the intimidation remains.

The controversy began because Mayor Annise Parker worked to pass an anti-discrimination law that would allow a transgendered person to file complaints if they were denied access to a bathroom. The citizens in Houston mounted a petition drive to put the question on the ballot. The city secretary examined and certified the petitions. But then the mayor and city attorney threw out the petitions in an act that many have described as a lawless act.

If that was not enough, the mayor decided to go after pastors and any of their records. The subpoena was for “all speeches, presentations, or sermons” related to the ordinance and anything related to the mayor, homosexuality or gender identity. The message from the city: turn over your sermons or face contempt of court charges and perhaps even jail time.

Senator Ted Cruz, along with Houston pastors like Ed Young and Greg Mott, held a press conference with lawyers Kelly Shackelford and Erik Stanley. Senator Cruz reminded the audience that: “Caesar has no jurisdiction over the pulpit.” He observed that this was a “stunning, undeniable, unconstitutional, abuse of government power by a city administrator.”

Why did the mayor go after Houston pastors? She believed some of them were behind the petition effort. Even if some of them were involved in the petition effort, why did she think she could subpoena every pastor’s sermons? We don’t need to guess. Mayor Parker in one Twitter post argued that: “If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game.”

Demanding the sermons of pastors is “fair game?” This demand sounds more like the intimidation that takes place in secular, totalitarian countries. Hopefully the voters in Houston remember this when they go to the polls this year and subsequent years.