Tag: speech
RIP American Free Speech. Next Up Religious Freedom
Posted on May 7, 2014 in Religious Freedom by Nathan Cherry
Let’s stop pretending that America believes in free speech. I know we all want to believe we still believe in it, we want to scream desperately from the roof tops that America still practices and believes in free speech. The truth is that we don’t.
If America believed in free speech former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich would still have a job. He shared his opinion on the topic of marriage via a monetary donation, a form of speech, and was ousted. Eich “let his voice be heard” by contributing to a cause he believed in and Mozilla, along with the most intolerant and hateful gay activists demanded that he be fired.
If America believe in free speech Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, would not have been banned from the NBA and fined $2.5 million for making racists remarks. Sterling simply shared his own personal views and as a result a media firestorm and public outcry has been overwhelming against him. Some have even demanded the NBA force him to sell the Clippers. (How exactly do you ban an owner of a team? How do you force someone to sell something they own?)
Before anyone gets the impression I’m defending racist comments let me be clear: racism is an immoral sinful practice. Oh, you didn’t know it was a moral problem or sinful? Rejecting a person created in the image of God is certainly a moral issue. Open discrimination against such a person is nothing short of sinful. (By the way, why was the NAACP set to give Sterling an award, again, if he had a record of racism?)
Major Victory: A&E Reinstates Phil Robertson Amid Public outcry
Posted on December 29, 2013 in Religious Freedom by Nathan Cherry
As many people predicted, A&E grossly underestimated how deeply held the Robertson family values are. A&E foolishly assumed they could strong arm the most popular family in America by firing the family patriarch. Now, with egg on their face and eating humble pie, they have reversed their decision and reinstated Phil after one of the largest public outcries I’ve ever seen.
A statement issued by A&E reads:
I am quite positive that A&E thought they would have some sort of leverage when they decided to suspend and then fire Phil Robertson from his own very successful show. Yeah, that didn’t happen. A&E has since been scrambling to minimize the damage and keep the Robertsons from leaving A&E to go to another network.
Meanwhile, Americans from coast to coast have been showing incredible support for Phil and his right to free speech. Most notably, well-known homosexuals like CNN’s Don Lemon have defended Phil Robertson and his right to hold views not considered “politically correct.”
But many want to show a more tangible support for Phil Robertson than just signing a petition or hitting “like” on a Facebook page. So one social media savvy person created the Chick-Phil-A day event to give people an outlet to support the Robertsons. A recent article explains:
“The invitation tells supporters; ‘Stand For Free Speech. Sit For Good Food.’ It goes on to include a couple of simple instructions on what to do on the day: 1. Wear your Duck Commander or camouflage gear. 2. Eat at Chick-fil-A. The event page connected to the Chick-Phil-A Day post about the January 21 dine-in already has tabulated more than 42,000 RSVPs.”