Republican Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett issued a dire warning to Americans, and in particular religious Americans, about using their free speech before they do not have it to use anymore.

The representative appeared on “Timcast” with host Tim Pool where he told a story about getting into a confrontation with some preachers who were “too busy” to fight for the right of their churches to stay open.

“So there was a bill. I can’t remember. It was three or four years ago. And I’m a Christian. I’m not a very good one. I’m on the forgiven end. But I’m a born-again Christian,” he said.

“And so I called the head of the Southern Baptist Convention. And I went through the rigmarole. Finally found is this guy down in Texas. It was a few years back. And there was a bill out that I thought put into place. I’m not a lawyer, but I heard enough talking of this chess game.

“It put it into place where it could set a precedent. Or say a preacher was saying something that they could label as hate speech. Well, they could go in, take their tax-exempt status, deadbolt. That’s what I think they’re up to eventually. Well, I called the head of Southern Baptist Convention. I explained this to him,” the representative said.

“And I live in Knoxville, Tennessee, dude. I am — remember big cowboy belt buckles. You know, they got a big center, a big piece of turquoise right in the center. I’m in the turquoise of that. I live in the Bible Belt. You know, there’s probably 80 or 90 Baptist churches in my county in the surrounding area.

“So I called the head of Southern Baptist Convention. I say, hey, this is going on. I did not ever hear from a single Baptist minister, anybody on this thing. And he said to me, said, Tim, that happened, you know, in like around November or December. And honestly, that’s our busy time of the year. You know, Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he said.

last night @timburchett told his story on @Timcast about how he contacted the head of the SBC a few years back about a bill that would have labeled sermons as hate speech. According to Burchett, SBC leadership said they were too busy at the time to address the bill. What is… pic.twitter.com/2n09kzCOda

— Connor B (Forge and Anvil) (@ForgeandA) July 10, 2024

“I said, preacher. I said, you’re not going to be busy when the government comes and puts a deadbolt on that dadgum door because that’s where it’s headed. You know, and I said, you guys, that’s no excuse,” he said.

Burchett then relayed a story from his college days to emphasize the importance of speaking truth to power.

“You know, I used to in college, I was in college in the 80s and the Reagan Revolution. And I had a psychology professor and I would argue with her every day because she was always attacking Reagan. She’s always and I know her name and I’ve Googled where she’s at now. She’s at some do-gooder private school. But and I would walk out of there and every day somebody would say, ‘Man, I’m really glad you you took it to her, man,'” said the Tennessee Republican. “‘I really agree with you.'”

I was like, ‘dude, girl, why didn’t you help me? You know, why didn’t you jump in?’ Well, you know, I just didn’t want to. I’m a little shy, you know, and that that’s the way we are, man. And good folks. Honestly, they’re too busy. They’re raising their kids. They’re taking them to soccer practice. They’re taking them to football practice, whatever. They’re cheerleading or whatever. And they’re too busy to get involved. And that’s why we lose these elections,” he concluded.