I have been following the story all week as my friend Todd Starnes has been reporting of pastors in the city of Houston that have been asked to turn over sermons that they did on homosexuality, the openly lesbian mayor and other items.

Fortunately, the city has now backed off from asking for that.  Still, you wonder how we got here.

We live in a nation where we are blessed with freedom of speech.  In all truth, it is a right that we have and not something that the government affords us.  So how did we get to the point of trying to censor speech in this country?

I know there are certain things that are politically incorrect and they tend to be challenged in public, fairly or otherwise.  Still, when you believe something, you are afforded the right to speak.  In addition, people of faith have the right to believe as they do without fear of the government coming along and telling them otherwise.  The first amendment is powerful and full of enough rights to protect us all from a government that likes to overreach on a regular basis these days.

Todd has offered us a look at an extreme.  This is what happens when we don’t pay attention.  People of faith get censored because of their beliefs.  People who want to speak get their rights violated because someone gets offended.  I will admit that it’s been a while since I read through the Constitution, but I don’t seem to remember an amendment that says anything about people having a right not to be offended.

For people who live in America, we need to remember that we will be offended on a daily basis.  There will always be someone that wants to say something that you don’t agree with.  Let’s just all remember that our rights are what makes this country great.  Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are sacred and need to stay that way.  Tarring and feathering of people for their beliefs or their speech is not something that any of us should easily put up with.

And for those that are offended by speech, you do have the right to turn and listen to something else.  And in this nation in this day and age, there are a lot of other things that we can listen to.