Government Sermon Scrutiny Strikes in Georgia
A Seventh-day Adventist lay minister who says he was fired by Georgia's Department of Public Health after officials were assigned to watch and review the content of his sermons, says he will not comply with the state's request that he hand over his sermons for review by state attorneys.
As previously reported, Dr. Eric Walsh, a leading health expert who was appointed to President Obama's Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDs, was hired by the state agency in early May 2014 and was scheduled to begin working in June 2016.
However, when officials at the DPH learned that Walsh's conservative views on marriage had been met with protests from LGBT activists when he was selected as a commencement speaker at Pasadena City College, the agency decided to launch an investigation into Walsh's preaching and a week later, DPH asked Walsh to submit copies of his sermons.