American Christians Being Persecuted … in the USA

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