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Thursday, December 19, 2013

Stand with Phil And Support Free Speech

America used to be a free country. It was a nation in which religious liberty was so foundational to our nation's fabric that faith was an important principle embedded in the very first amendment in our Bill of Rights. It was all so simple: the GOVERNMENT could NOT prefer or prohibit an expression of religion. Religion was free to express; government was NOT free to infringe.

In recent days, a small, but vocal and militant group of same-sex marriage advocates have co-opted religious liberty to force industry and government to go beyond tolerating homosexuality, but to APPROVE it. Any deviation from Biblical and traditional marriage is to be embraced, but there is no deviation tolerated from those who want to force acceptance, approval, and activism of same sex marriage. 

A&E network found a successful formula to save it financially from its original goal of "Arts and Entertainment." Reality shows have turned it into a cash cow, but none of its shows has ever rocketed it to the stratosphere of green and gold like its most popular show ever, "Duck Dynasty." While the elites have never understood its popularity in "fly over" country, those of us who live in the part of America where we actually practice tolerance, but not totalitarianism, Duck Dynasty was never about the beards or the hunting, but the strongly knit sense of family that the Robertson clan embodied. They live life with a free-wheeling joy. They are not straight-laced snobs or Puritans, but people who laugh, play, and yes, who pray. They reflect a family who loves each other. And they also reflect a view of marriage that is common to many who haven't found the Bible to be a "do it yourself" journal where one writes in a view that fits a lifestyle rather than to accept the Bible as a standard for life.

For this network to toss Phil Robertson off of TV because he believed something and said what he believed, this network is insulting and snobbing the millions of Americans who hold the same view, albeit perhaps expressed in less graphic terms.

Why is it that Muslims are not ostracized or banned from the public square when their views are far more harsh and intolerant of homosexuality? Most Christians I know (including me) are respectful and tolerant of those who are homosexual and engage in friendship with, employment with, and social interaction with people who are openly gay. Is it no longer possible to accept people and love them as friends, but not love a behavior? I have friends who accept me and love me, but think I'm a religious nut for believing the Bible and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Are the militant homosexuals so insecure so they are incapable of accepting that not everyone finds same sex marriage to be actual marriage.

Let's stand up FOR free speech and FOR freedom of faith. If we don't, we will one day be told by the government what we can and can't say or believe. It starts in the marketplace. It ends when it gets enforced by the state. We're getting close. I stand for free speech. Do you?
 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

yet another example of how liberals are all for free speech until you say something that they don't agree with