Yet More Intolerance From the Tolerance Brigade

OK, so another week has passed, and plenty more examples of intolerance, bullying and persecution from the homosexual militants are waiting to be documented here. We know for certain now that while these folks cry the loudest about acceptance, tolerance and diversity, they don’t really believe in any of it.

They are waging a war against anyone who dares to think differently from them, and they will not rest until all opposition is forever silenced. Not bad for a group which demands that we celebrate diversity and says that we should champion tolerance.

So let me offer you the latest examples of anti-Christian bigotry and the war against the family, masquerading as special rights for homosexuals. The first comes from the UK, where the militants have long ago co-opted the government to do their bidding. The headline says this: “Gay marriage: no opt-out for Christian registrars”.

The story begins, “Christian registrars will not be able to opt out of performing gay marriages if they object on grounds of belief, the Government’s human rights watchdog has said. In guidance to MPs, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said marriage registrars were public officials and so should expect to be ‘required’ to carry out the ceremonies.”

Don’t you just love all that tolerance and acceptance of others? Example two is of more political correctness, spineless wonders, and homosexual agitprop: “After overwrought pressure from the usual gay ‘anti-defamation’ lobbyists, the Associated Press has caved in and made another new statement approving the use of ‘his husband’ and ‘her wife’ in news stories, as if they’ve taken a stand for neutrality, instead of rewriting the gender dictionary. ‘Victory!’ was the headline on several gay websites as AP issued a new entry in its AP Stylebook Online, and is scheduled to appear in the 2013 print and mobile additions.”

Yep, verbal engineering is always a great way to soften folks up for social engineering. Just change the language and you can easily change the culture. The militants have become experts at this and far too many of our leaders have simply caved in to all this.

Example three comes from Canada which has been leading the way in all this madness. The shocking headline is this: “Canadian Supreme Court Rules Biblical Speech Opposing Homosexual Behavior is a ‘Hate Crime’.” Yep, you heard me right. The Bible is a book full of ‘hate speech’.

The article explains: “The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Biblical speech opposing homosexual behavior, including in written form, is essentially a hate crime. On Wednesday, the court upheld the conviction of activist William Whatcott, who found himself in hot water after distributing flyers regarding the Bible’s prohibitions against homosexuality throughout the Saskatoon and Regina neighborhoods in 2001 and 2002.

“‘The Bible is clear that homosexuality is an abomination,’ one flyer stated, citing 1 Corinthians 6:9. ‘The behavior in Canada’s gay parades is no different than what happened thousands of years ago, whether it is ancient Rome or Sodom and Gomorrah. Scripture records that Sodom and Gomorrah was given over completely to homosexual perversion and as a result destroyed by God’s wrath,’ it continued. ‘Rome also crumbled and many scholars attribute its moral decadence and lack of discipline as playing a role in her demise’.”

The price for defying the gaystapo is heavy indeed: “Whatcott has now been ordered to pay $7,500 to two homosexuals who took offense at his flyers, as well as to pay the legal fees of the Human Rights Commission — which could cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars. ‘The ruling and the reasoning [of the court] is terrible,’ he told reporters. ‘They actually used the concept that truth is not a defense. It’s worse than I expected,’ Whatcott added. ‘What it means is that my life is over as I know it’.”

Just what the militants want: to shut down and destroy every single person who dares to take a different view of things. This is called fascism, and just because it is pink fascism does not make it any less horrific and devastating. And it can only get worse.

Just how long will it be before the Canadian elites and authorities decide that the Bible is to be verboten altogether, taken away from its citizens, and burned in the streets? Here we have history repeating itself in all its ugly dimensions, and hardly anyone is making a stink about this. Most Germans of course did not make much of a stink back in the 1930s either.

The final example involves a famous American sports figure and evangelical Christian. It seems he too has succumbed to political correctness and a craven fear of offending the militant thought police. Tim Tebow was invited to speak at a church, but when the activists made a stink about it, he chickened out big time.

Notch that up as another win for the activists, and another loss for freedom of speech and religious freedom. Al Mohler has just written on this. First, he provides some background here: “For Tim Tebow, speaking at the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, had to look like a great opportunity. He grew up attending a large Southern Baptist church, and an invitation to speak at one of the most venerable and historic Baptist churches in the world had to look like an easy call. He was going.

“All that changed yesterday when Tebow, the National Football League’s most prominent evangelical symbol, sent word through Twitter that he was withdrawing from the event. His sudden announcement came after a whirlwind of controversy over his scheduled appearance at the Dallas church. Its senior minister, Robert Jeffress, is no stranger to public controversy. His sound bites are often incendiary, but his convictions—including the exclusivity of the gospel and the belief that homosexual behaviors are sinful—are clearly within the mainstream of American evangelicalism.”

Mohler alerts us to the implications of all this: “Evangelical Christians are now called upon to think strategically about what it means to speak truthfully and lovingly to a society that increasingly sees us as the moral outlaws. Clearly, we must watch our speech carefully, measuring every word for truth and tone and avoiding incendiary sound bites. We must also guard our hearts toward the persistent temptation towards self-righteousness.

“But, at the same time, even the most humble statement of biblical truth can now be turned into a sound bite described as hate speech and a refusal to affirm the normalization of homosexuality is turned into repulsive intolerance. We now face no shortage of arguments for capitulation, but abandoning the truth of God’s Word is not an option. We deny the gospel if we deny the sinfulness of sin. That sin. Every sin. Our sin.

“Further, evangelicals should not miss this opportunity to rethink our focus on evangelical celebrities in popular culture, including sports heroes. For now, the controversy is over Tebow’s withdrawal from an invitation extended by an historic church. The pastor’s statements have been the center of the controversy. Inevitably, the controversy will shift to Tebow’s own statement, which he will eventually have to make. There will be no escape.

“Before long, the ball will be thrown back to Tebow. I hope and pray he does not fumble it. I pray the same for myself and for every Christian in the midst of this tumultuous cultural landscape. Sooner than later, the ball will be thrown to each of us.”

Yes, the temptation to fumble the ball, to bow to political correctness, and to fear the militants more than we fear our Lord, are very great indeed, and plenty of believers have already succumbed to them. I hope that you and I will not however.

Truth is too important, and the biblical worldview too valuable to chuck it all in, in order to placate the activists and avoid “offending” anyone. As Adrian Rogers said, “It is better to be divided by Truth, than to be united in error. It is better to speak the Truth that hurts and then heals, than to speak a lie that will comfort and then kill. It is better to be hated for telling the Truth, than to be loved for telling a lie. It is better to stand alone with the Truth, than to be wrong with a multitude. Better to ultimately die with the Truth, than to live with a lie.”

With truth and morality in freefall, we need to take a stand. Ravi Zacharias warns us about what is at stake here: “These days it’s not just that the line between right and wrong has been made unclear, today Christians are being asked by our culture today to erase the lines and move the fences, and if that were not bad enough, we are being asked to join in the celebration cry by those who have thrown off the restraints religion had imposed upon them. It is not just that they ask we accept, but they now demand of us to celebrate it too.”

Please, no more fumbles.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9870468/Gay-marriage-no-opt-out-for-Christian-registrars.html
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2013/02/21/ap-caves-gay-pc-his-husband-and-her-wife-are-now-accepted-stylebook-term
http://christiannews.net/2013/02/28/canadian-supreme-court-rules-biblical-speech-opposing-homosexual-behavior-is-a-hate-crime/#sthash.fKhOoEFw.dpuf
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/february-web-only/tebows-big-fumble.html?paging=off

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7 Replies to “Yet More Intolerance From the Tolerance Brigade”

  1. Those who talk and write about hate speech apparently can’t see (because their minds are darkened) that they are often the ones expressing hate. If you hate a Dutch politician because he says things you don’t like, accuse him of “hate” as well. If you say lovingly that homosexual behaviour has dangers, you are expressing hate. And so on. And so on.

    Soon we may be told that if we warn someone that standing too close to the top of the cliff is dangerous, we are expressing hate.

    Keep up the good work Bill.

    David Morrison

  2. Re the British EHRC statement, the other day I posted a similar news item from Family First NZ on my Facebook wall, and expressed my concerns that the same thing will happen to Australian if same sex marriage becomes law here. Some of my Facebook friends said that I was wrong. I was told I was making hyperbole when I called same sex marriage “dangerous and reckless engineering.”

    Ross McPhee

  3. “It seems he too has succumbed to political correctness and a craven fear of offending the militant thought police. . . . ”

    A great pity, and perhaps not too late for Tebow to redeem his witness to Christ and the Truth on the matter of homosexuality.
    This issue is, and will continue to confront every Christian in one form or another in the coming days, and to oppose it is not an option or choice which we can take or refuse.

    Opposition to it IMO is part of our witness to the truth of real marriage as revealed in Scripture with the direct endorsement of the Lord himself in the N.T.
    Was He wrong, or ‘mistaken’ in declaring that marriage, and by that he meant exclusively a heterosxual union, is what God Himself has instituted?

    How relevant then Luther’s statement for this specific issue:
    “If I profess with the loudest voice every Bible doctrine except the one truth which Satan is attacking today, I am no soldier of Jesus Christ!
    Graham Wood (UK)

  4. I guess that it is fairly easy for us to condemn Tim Tebow for being defeated – the truth is, I have to ask myself, “How would I fare under these same circumstances?” I wonder just how much pressure has been placed upon him by friends and family that we are unaware of. I know full well, that if we are perfect in Christ, we will resist all temptation, but then, how many of us are perfect in and through Christ Jesus? Perhaps, rather than condemning, we should pray for this man, that he may be given the strength he needs to prevail.

    Joan Davidson

  5. Thanks Joan

    But it’s not a question of either/or. Of course we should pray for him, but we should also encourage him to remain strong in the faith, and not bend to political correctness. And these decisions need to be made ahead of time. We must decide now if we will stand for Christ. Making that decision in the heat of battle will usually be too late.

    And it is not a matter of condemning. He has been firm in the past, and I have praised him for that. Thus it is sad he now seems not to be so strong. So yes, we pray for him, but we also need to exhort and encourage each other now to stand firm.

    Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

  6. Sadly Joan, I think your post is reflective of a lot of Christians these days, it seems that too many in the church want to go through this “how would I fare/we should not condemn” etc. To start with Joan, nobody has condemned Tim but it seems that these days a Christian cannot point out a fault or a problem without being accused of judging or condemning and this by their very own brethren, is it any wonder that the church is increasingly being seen as irrelevant in a so called “modern society”. Bill was absolutely right to reply to your post the way he did, we do need to be proactive in exhorting each other because too many things have happened in our society that the church, if its members stood up and actually did something, could have successfully stopped but everyone seems to be paralysed by this mentality “how would I fare/we should not condemn” etc. Of course we will be praying for Tim!

    Steve Davis

  7. Ravi Zacharias warns us about what is at stake here: “These days it’s not just that the line between right and wrong has been made unclear, today Christians are being asked by our culture today to erase the lines and move the fences, and if that were not bad enough, we are being asked to join in the celebration cry by those who have thrown off the restraints religion had imposed upon them. It is not just that they ask we accept, but they now demand of us to celebrate it too.”

    This quote sums our situation up perfectly, Bill.

    Terry Darmody

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