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News

MUST-READ: Supreme Court refuses to hear case of silenced Christian valedictorian

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Brittany McComb

Story and video here at LifeSiteNews.

Excerpt:

The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of a high school valedictorian whose microphone was turned off by school officials after she began speaking about the part her Christian beliefs played in her success in life.

Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute asked the Supreme Court to hear the case of Brittany McComb, charging that school officials violated McComb’s free speech rights and engaged in viewpoint discrimination when they censored her speech because of its Christian content.

[…]McComb is a Christian and a top student, who graduated with a 4.7 grade point average from Foothill High in Henderson, Nevada. She knew that her valedictorian address would probably be cut short, but was determined to go ahead and mention her faith anyway.

School officials had previously edited her speech to remove Biblical references and one mention of the name of Jesus Christ, warning her she would be interrupted if she deviated from the approved text.

“I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me logic and they taught me freedom of speech,” McComb stated. “God’s the biggest part of my life. Just like other valedictorians thank their parents, I wanted to thank my lord and savior.”

The 400 plus graduates and guests who had gathered at a Las Vegas casino for the commencement ceremony, booed and jeered after McComb’s speech was cut short, chanting “Let her speak!”

If this young lady were gay or a Muslim or anything else, she would have been allowed to speak about that, and Christians would have remained silent and respectful. Only Christians are suppressed, and that should tell you something about our government-run, unionized public schools today.

Video of her speech:

Video of her on Fox News:

Props to Alan Colmes for taking her side against the anti-Christian school administrators.

A lot of non-Christians and fake “Christians” on the secular left think that they are doing a good thing by silencing authentic Christians in the public square. They have decided that it is better to hurt the feelings of Christians by forcing them to keep silent and act like non-Christians, than to hurt the feelings of non-Christians. The problem with this is that ultimately, if Christianity is true, it only matters how each of us makes Jesus Christ feel. And if you hurt the feelings of Christians who are busy following Christ, then you are really hurting Christ.

The Bible says this in Matthew 18:1-10:

1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2He called a little child and had him stand among them.

3And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

7“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

8If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

9And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

10“See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

This story is in Mark, Matthew and Luke: it’s early and multiply attested, and is therefore authentic.

This cannot be any more clear. If you discourage people from following Christ then you are in big trouble. I think  that this suppression of Christians is worse than murder. Jesus is threatening people who discourage Christians with the eternal fires of Hell. Christians are morally obligated to talk about Jesus in public, and particularly to give thanks to him in public. When you tell Christians not to act like like Christians, then you are really forcing your religion onto them, and expecting them to act as if you are more authoritative than Jesus Christ.

The purpose of life, on Christianity, is not to hide your commitment to Christ in order to make non-Christians feel comfortable about their rejection of Christianity. The purpose of life, on Christianity, is to publicly acknowledge God in everything that you do and to have a relationship with God, as revealed by Christ’s life and teachings. The most important relationship is the vertical relationship – with God, not the horizontal relationship – with people. It is a non-Christian viewpoint that faith should be kept private and hidden.

Remember that the first commandment is not “Thou shalt avoid offending people who are in rebellion against God” nor is it “Thou shalt hide your faith from non-Christians so that they don’t feel badly about rejecting God”. There’s a temptation to pick moral rules like “don’t murder” and “don’t commit adultery” – things we don’t do, and then to say that those things are the really bad things. And since we don’t do those bad things, that makes us good. But what does God consider to be the really bad thing?

The first commandment, according to Jesus, is found in Matthew 22:34-38:

34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.

35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:

36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

38This is the first and greatest commandment.

This story is in Mark, Matthew and Luke: it’s early and multiply attested, and is therefore authentic.

And consider Matthew 5:13-16:

13“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

This story is in Mark, Matthew and Luke: it’s early and multiply attested, and is therefore authentic.

(This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I always feel sad when I think of it because I think of it when dealing with laziness, ignorance and cowardice from fake Christians – which is often!)

And consider Matthew 10:26-33:

26“So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.

27What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

32“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.

33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.

This story is also in Luke, so it is part of the Q source shared by Matthew and Luke, which is very early and likely to be authentic.

One has to remember that for this young woman, her relationship with Christ is as real to her as her relationship with her parents – and she wants to honor him in her moment of celebration. It is striking that school administrators encourage other politically correct groups to express themselves in public. Only Christians are singled out for persecution and suppression. Christians can’t speak freely, but non-Christian school officials can call all pro-lifers murderers and Democrats can force Christians to pay for abortions.

People today seem to think that God, if he exists, would be loving. And what they mean by love is “making people feel happy regardless of what they believe about God’s existence and character”. People imagine what God is like for them using emotions and intuitions, instead of looking at the life of Jesus historically, and asking whether God really stepped into history to show us what he is really like. Biblical Christians don’t comport with this intuitive/emotional understanding of love, so that is why they are persecuted by non-Christians and fake Christians.

This bias against Christians sharing their faith is common in most non-Christian religions who would prefer to silence Christians rather than debate them with arguments and evidence. Countries like the UK and Canada punish Christians for speaking about Christianity, India and Israel consider passing anti-conversion laws, and in the atheistic North Korea or Muslim Iran they just imprison or kill Christians outright. When non-Christians persecute Christians for behaving like Christians, they really are aggrieving Christ himself.

My advice for non-Christians

If you are a non-Christian or an emotional/intuitive “Christian”, you want to avoid denying authentic Christians the rights of free speech and freedom of religious expression. Feel free to spend your lives on Earth seeking pleasure and avoiding a relationship with the God who is there. Even God won’t reveal himself overtly to you to compel you into a love relationship with him. But don’t make it harder on yourself in the after-life by persecuting Christians here and now for behaving like authentic Christians.

Some people think that by suppressing Christians, they actually are doing what God wants because God’s goal for us is to have happy feelings. But if your method of discovering God’s existence and character is by using your emotions and intuitions, then you should be careful about inventing a God in your own image. My advice is to conduct a genuine investigation of whether God exists, and what he is like, using arguments and evidence, not emotions and intuitions. If God is real, then he already has a personality. He isn’t YOU.

Related posts

Here is a series of posts I did on why people go to Hell.

And this debate in which Hindus argue that Christians should not be allowed to speak about Christ in public.

And this debate in which secular humanists argue that Christians should not be allowed to speak about Christ in public.

Here are some stories from the UK:

Here are some stories from Canada:

Here are some stories from the United States.

And of course in atheistic and Muslim countries they imprison or murder you for being a Christian:

You can read more about Brittany here.

Commentary

The etiquette czar’s rules for patriotic protest

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Michelle Malkin’s latest column is a must-read.

Michelle has had it with the left’s double-standard on questioning government.

Here’s a tip from the Democrats for those who disagree with their socialist plans:

No shouting. Congressional representatives cannot sell Obamacare with mobs of unruly senior citizens and small business owners interrupting to press them on specific sections of the bill. Limit your objections to a library whisper (30dB or less) and only challenge your lawmakers with hushed, dulcet tones. Otherwise, you will scare them and they will be forced to hide behind teleconference calls, sick children at hospitals, or union bosses.

If, on the other hand, you are attending a presidential town hall to show your affection and approbation, “spirited” chanting is acceptable.

Don’t: “HANDS OFF HEALTH CARE!” and “READ THE BILL!”

Do: “I LOVE YOU, BARACK!” “AMEN!” and “YES WE CAN!”

And one more:

No Nazi comparisons. References to fascism are ugly and un-American. Swastikas have no place in debates about nationalizing 20 percent of the economy. Swastikas may, however, still be used as substitutes for the “S” in “BusHitler” and tattoos on the forehead of Darth Cheney.

This is the left. They don’t like to be opposed, and they are willing to exercise power to stifle dissent – just the opposite of what Bush did when he faced much stiffer opposition during his 8 years. This suppression of free speech and free debate is exactly what goes on on university campuses today. The left is not about using reason and evidence to settle disagreements. They want to crush dissent by using government power.

We need to be really clear about this. When the government takes control of any part of the private economy, it is socialism. When the individual earns less money because of high taxes, and is legally obligated to buy goods and services from one service provider, (the government), then he has lost his liberty. That is fascism. Democrat policies lead to socialism, and socialism leads to fascism.

News

Obama’s appointee supports regulating free speech on the Internet

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Consider this article by Kyle Smith. (H/T Jihad Watch)

Excerpt:

When it comes to the First Amendment, Team Obama believes in Global Chilling.

Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law professor who has been appointed to a shadowy post that will grant him powers that are merely mind-boggling, explicitly supports using the courts to impose a “chilling effect” on speech that might hurt someone’s feelings. He thinks that the bloggers have been rampaging out of control and that new laws need to be written to corral them.

…Sunstein is President Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Cass Sunstein’s new book explains how he would like to regulate free speech.

Sunstein questions the current libel standard – which requires proving “actual malice” against those who write about public figures, including celebrities. Mere “negligence” isn’t libelous, but Sunstein wonders, “Is it so important to provide breathing space for damaging falsehoods about entertainers?”

Recall my previous post about the Democrat bill that would criminalize blogging.

Excerpt:

Under a recently-introduced bill, H.R. 1966, bloggers would face up to two years in prison if they “harass” public figures by criticizing them in a “severe, repeated, and hostile” manner, and thereby cause them “substantial emotional distress.”

This makes me think also about my previous post about the Democrat Speaker of the House in California who said that dissenting speech is terrorism.

The Road to Serfdom

The greatest economics book of the 20th century was F.A. Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom“, which is analyzes the history of socialism and fascism in Nazi Germany and Russia. This book is #1 on Human Events’ Top 10 books every Republican should read.

Human Events writes:

Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992) was an Austrian economist awarded the Nobel Prize in 1974. He defended capitalism and individual liberty against collectivism. In “The Road to Serfdom,” he describes how government planning of the economy leads to tyranny. President Reagan cited Hayek as one of his favorite economists. “To decentralize power is to reduce the absolute amount of power, and the competitive system is the only system designed to minimize the power exercised by man over man,” wrote Hayek. “Who can seriously doubt that the power which a millionaire, who may be my employer, has over me is very much less than that which the smallest bureaucrat possesses who wields the coercive power of the state and on whose discretion it depends how I am allowed to live and work?”

I have a friend who is a Democrat, and every time I run these steps toward fascism by him, he never objects to them. There is a powerful impulse on the left towards controlling people’s choices to reproduce, earn, spend and work. Democrats believe that they are enlightened, so enslaving others is permissible for them. People today are willing to trade their liberty for a government handout, such as socialized health care.