Well, here we are. This is what it means to be a Christian preacher today. Count the cost, and then get to work, but don’t mistake what this means – this means we are winning.
Bi-vocational pastors be warned – what you say from the pulpit on Sunday could get you fired from your public sector job on Monday.
Dr. Eric Walsh, a renowned public health expert who also serves as a lay minister, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Public Health alleging he was terminated for delivering sermons on issues ranging from homosexuality to evolution.
“No one in this country should be fired from their job for something that was said in a church or from a pulpit during a sermon,” said First Liberty attorney Jeremy Dys.
First Liberty, one of the nation’s largest law firms defending religious liberty, is representing the Seventh Day Adventist lay minister.
They contend that the Georgia Department of Public Health assigned workers to investigate sermons Dr. Walsh delivered on health, marriage, sexuality, world religions, science and creationism. He also preached on what the Bible says about homosexuality.
“He was fired for something he said in a sermon,” Dys said. “If the government is allowed to fire someone over what he said in his sermons, they can come after any of us for our beliefs on anything.”
