No debt you’ve heard (all or a portion
of) actress Meryl Streep’s political diatribe at the Golden Globes awards. But that isn’t the only surprise
attention-getting provocation from the event. Nominee film ‘Hidden Figures’ – a box-office
hit about the true story of 3-black women mathematicians who played important roles
at NASA in the early days of the space program – is also generating unexpected
controversy.
The controversy surrounds Kim Burrell,
the black gospel singer whose song ‘I See a Victory’ appears on the soundtrack
of the film. Burrell, in addition to
being a gospel singer is a pastor; and with the release of the film, a video
emerged on the internet of her passionately preaching in her church against
homosexuality. Burrell was scheduled, as
part of the film’s promotion, to appear and perform, along with the film’s soundtrack
producer, Pharrell Williams, on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show.’ But DeGeneres, an open lesbian, canceled Burrell’s
appearance as a result of the video. Next, Burrell’s radio show, which is produced
at Texas Southern University, was canceled. Then she was disinvited from the BMI
Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards, where she was a co-honoree.
Williams, appearing on DeGeneres’
show, said Burrell is a “fantastic singer,” but “there’s no room for any kind
of prejudice in 2017.”
Did you hear that? It’s prejudice when a pastor condemns … in
her own church … behavior that the Bible (as understood by multi-millions of
Christians around the world) prohibits, yet it’s not prejudice when others make
every effort to purge that person from the public space because of her faith?
Star Parker
(founder and president the Center for Urban Renewal and Education) said, “As far as I know,
Burrell just intended to sing on the DeGeneres show. I don’t think she planned to preach a sermon
about homosexuality.”
DeGeneres, and the many sympathetic to
her point of view, believe it is just fine to crush Kim Burrell and destroy her
career because of her Christian beliefs, but they are all for using the law to force
a Christian baker to make a cake for a same-sex wedding or to force a Christian
photographer to work at one.
It should be clear that what motivates
the pro-homosexual movement is not advancing a free and tolerant society. It never was their agenda. It’s all about promoting a society that
legitimizes their point of view and punishes, as severely as possible, those
that reject it. This is fascism, not
freedom!
It behooves us to point out that
rejection of homosexual behavior does not come from some bigot that woke up in
the middle of the night and decided it’s not okay to be gay. No, we are talking about Biblical scripture
that has been guiding Christians for thousands of years.
Christianity, of course, is about
faith, not about science. It’s about
what is true and false, right and wrong, and how to behave and live our lives. It’s all about moral absolutes as established
by the Creator God.
But if we want to bring science into
the picture, data supports, in a powerful way, the importance of these traditional
values. Take the 2015 study, for
instance, published by the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family
Studies. They showed that states with
higher percentages of children living with their biological parents in a
traditional family have the highest median incomes, the fastest income growth,
the lowest rates of child poverty and the greatest upward mobility.
You see, we can bring to bear all the
beauty and power of the Christian faith, and the data and research showing that
following these truths lead, in the long run, to healthier and wealthier lives.
But we can’t make anyone follow the
faith. That’s what freedom is about. Letting people choose.
But what we’re experiencing now is
growing religious persecution in our country. Those with anti-Christian values have
considerable power through the media and are using it to eradicate traditional Christian
values and presence.
This cannot be tolerated. The time has long since passed for Christians
to stand up and sound off – Enough, is enough!
I, for one, have no intentions of backing off or backing down in
faithfully proclaiming the truth of God’s infallible Word. How about you?
Jesus said in His sermon on the mount,
“Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you,
and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My
sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad:
for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which
were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12)
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel