Missouri AG Josh Hawley Joins Tony Perkins on Radio to Promote Pulpit Free Speech

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley appeared on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, a national radio show which airs on more than 240 stations across the country. On the show, AG Hawley discussed the backlash he's received from the Left for remarks he recently made at a pastors event hosted by Family Research Council. In his address he discussed his opposition to the Johnson Amendment and how it violates pastors' religious liberty and freedom of speech.

In the interview with Tony, AG Josh Hawley commented, "The Johnson Amendment is an attempt to silence pastors and silence churches from preaching and living their convictions. It is unconstitutional – I've said that for years." AG Hawley continued, "These are the fights that I have been fighting and I'm going to go on fighting them for the people of my state."

He went on to respond to critics who accused him of violating the "separation of church and state."  "The 'separation of church and state' – that phrase of course doesn't appear anywhere in the United States Constitution," noted Hawley.  "But, what the first amendment does say – there is a separation you bet – and the separation is that the Government cannot tell churches how to run their church and they cannot tell them what to preach. So, if anything, the Johnson Amendment blatantly violates the true constitutional rights of separation that the First Amendment gives to our churches and our pastors," added Hawley.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, and host of Washington Watch, added, "The press and the Left is acting like they caught you whispering secret plans behind closed doors to these pastors... they caught you defending the Constitution." He continued, "If there is this metaphorical 'separation of church and state' that they talk about, it has been crossed. That line has been breached but it wasn't by the church, it was the state that is meddling in the business of the church."

To listen to the full interview, click this link:  https://soundcloud.com/family-research-council/attorney-general-josh-hawley

SOURCE Family Research Council