By David Limbaugh
Friday, December 20, 2013
I must admit I've never watched "Duck Dynasty,"
but this brouhaha over A&E's suspension of the show's star, Phil Robertson,
for his remarks on homosexual behavior in an interview with GQ has little to do
with "gay" issues and everything to do with thought and speech
control -- and the left's intolerance.
Robertson first expressed, in admittedly vulgar terms,
his incredulity that some men find other men more attractive than women. Fine.
Call him insensitive, but it's hardly a debatable point that heterosexuals
don't quite grasp the allure of homosexuality.
But that doesn't seem to be his offending statement. When
he identified homosexual behavior as a sin, he might as well have robbed a bank
on live television. But when he cited the New Testament book of 1st Corinthians
as including homosexuality in a list of sins, he had past the point of no
return. He's outta there.
Of course, this isn't a violation of Robertson's First
Amendment rights, because the censorial actions emanated not from the
government, but from a private company, which is not constitutionally barred
from doing what it did.
Constitutional issues aside, we are witnessing a profound
display of leftist intolerance, and they need to be called on it. Some in the
gay activist community demanded Robertson's head because of his
"hate."
GLAAD spokesman Wilson Cruz said, "What's clear is
that such hateful anti-gay comments are unacceptable to fans, viewers and
networks alike." Robertson's removal "has sent a strong message that
discrimination is neither a Christian nor an American value."
Discrimination? Who discriminated against whom? Did
Robertson call for any action against homosexuals? Did he engage in any
discriminatory action against gays? Or did he just voice an opinion that GLAAD
finds contemptible?
Robertson, on the other hand, was the subject of
discriminatory action. He was suspended for voicing his Christian beliefs.
The American left -- actually, it's a global phenomenon
-- is increasingly intolerant of opposing viewpoints, while holding itself out
as the exemplar of tolerance. I've mentioned before the defiance of one
university administrator, who defended her suspension of a professor for making
available to her students a magazine article that reportedly was critical of
homosexual behavior. "We will not tolerate the intolerable," she
said.
Similarly, I just read a tweet from CNN's Piers Morgan,
which said, "Just as the 2nd Amendment shouldn't protect assault rifle
devotees, so the 1st Amendment shouldn't protect vile bigots."
That's leftist tolerance in a nutshell. They demand
tolerance, but they exhibit intolerance. Far from tolerating certain Christian
views, the Obama left obliterates the conscience rights of Christian health
care providers. Moreover, the tolerance they demand doesn't mean allowing
everyone his point of view. It means you must accept as equally valid every
idea they command you to accept -- and reject your own ideas and values if they
don't meet their approval.
So many of us rail against the left's encroachments on our
economic liberties but ignore their equal assaults on our religious and
cultural liberties. Some economic conservatives insist that social
conservatives keep our powder dry on social issues: Live and let live. Don't
worry about the culture wars. We are headed toward national bankruptcy.
That's true, but they were telling us to shut up before
Obama took us over the fiscal cliff. Besides, Republicans will never muster a
winning coalition by relegating pro-life Christian conservatives to the back of
the GOP bus.
As many are now belatedly realizing, the option of
sitting out the culture wars is increasingly closed to us if we value our
liberties, as we conservatives claim we do. Despite all of its sermonizing, the
militant left will not live and let live. They demand uniformity of thought,
and those who dissent from their PC standards are to be shunned and silenced.
The left is outraged that someone like Robertson would be
so judgmental as to call homosexual behavior sinful. Yet they are, in effect,
condemning as sinful those who express this opinion.
They are the ones being judgmental and are projecting
that characteristic onto those who disagree with them. The irony is that
Christians who agree with Robertson aren't acting as judges. Rather, they
happen to believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that it
defines certain behaviors as sinful. They even admit to engaging in some of
these behaviors themselves, recognizing that they are not exempt from the
Biblical pronouncement that we are all sinners.
No, Christians don't believe they are the arbiters of
sinful behavior, but that God is. But we're approaching that time -- we already
may have arrived -- when the belief in certain scriptures will be deemed
intolerably sinful and the believer outcast as a hater.
Gay activists have redefined hate to mean disapproval of
certain lifestyles or practices, but in reality, if there's any hatred going
on, it's from the activists toward the Christians who don't agree with them.
Christians and other social conservatives must fight for
their beliefs and rights in this culture and quit foolishly believing their
liberties will survive if they sit passively on the sidelines.
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