Vietnamese Pastor on Subpeonas: This Shouldn't Happen in US

Vietnamese Pastor on Subpeonas: This Shouldn't Happen in US

Khanh Huynh, the Senior Pastor of the Vietnamese Baptist Church in Houston, and one of the pastors whose communications were subpoenaed said that never thought something like this would happen in the United States during an appearance on Saturday’s “Huckabee” on the Fox News Channel. 

Huynh, who escaped Communism in Vietnam as one of the “boat people” stated “never, in my entire wildest dreams thought this would happen to us here in America.”

Huynh added that he would turn over his sermon because the church’s sermons are put online anyway, but declared, “to demand that I turn in my sermon and communication, correspondence it violates what this nation is for, it’s freedom of speech and freedom of religion.”

He also said that he believed that Houston officials are trying to send a message of “you speak up, you pay.”

Erik Stanley, an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom argued “this is an unprecedented attack on the religious liberty of pastors. In fact, when I got the subpoena, I literally was shocked to see the amount and breadth of what the city of Houston was asking of these pastors. 17 different categories of communications, including their speeches and sermons, and also including private communications with congregation members, which could be covered by the clergy confidentiality statutes.”

Stanley added that an amendment of the subpoena to remove references to “sermons” was a meaningless change, and that the amended subpoena was still a massive overreach.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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