An online petition on behalf of a Georgia lay minister who was ordered to hand over his sermons has garnered widespread support. Organized by the Family Research Council, the petition had more than 20,000 signatures at press time.
Seventh-day Adventist lay minister Eric Walsh is a leading health expert who was previously appointed to President Barack Obama’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, The Christian Post reported.
Walsh’s employment was rescinded by Georgia’s Department of Public Health after it investigated his Christian views on marriage, according to The Post. He filed discrimination charges in 2014 and received the order for his sermons shortly after.
The petition to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal reads: “I stand with Dr. Eric Walsh’s freedom to believe and live according to his deeply held beliefs. The demand that he hand over his sermons, sermon notes and all pastoral documents including his Bible represents a government intrusion into the sanctity of the church, pastor’s study and pulpit.
“Heavy-handed tactics like this have the effect of intimidating and silencing people of faith everywhere. Such targeting of the pulpit by the government is unconscionable, and I urge you to use all means of your authority to correct this egregious overreach of the state into church affairs.” (TAB)
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