The silencing of the lambs

By Michael Brown, Op-ed Contributor Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He is the author of 25 books and hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire.

There has always been one end-game for the radical left: the silencing of dissenting voices, in particular conservative Christian voices.

The radical left is not simply interested in winning in the marketplace of ideas. It is not simply interested in changing hearts and minds. It is ultimately interested in silencing the opposition, especially all opposition that is based on a biblical worldview.

For years I have said that those who came out of the closet (meaning, radical gay activists) wanted to put us in the closet (meaning those of us who identify with conservative biblical values). And for years I (and many others) have documented this, time and time again.

You might wonder how the radical left wants to silence us. How, exactly, does it want to put us in the closet?

By intimidation. By ridicule. By legal action. By expulsion. By exclusion.

Anything to avoid civil, respectful debate. Anything to avoid a genuine discussion of differences. Anything to avoid true dialogue.

Instead, those who differ with the radical left are to be demonized, stigmatized, marginalized, and silenced.

Back in 2012, the gay activist organization GLAAD launched its Commentator Accountability Project. Its purpose was to discourage media outlets from having people like me on their broadcasts. (I was on of their initial list of 36 commentators. The list has greatly expanded now.)

Again, GLAAD’s goal was not to provide useful information for the liberal media to refute our arguments. Instead, their goal was to discredit us and convince the media not to give us any platform.

In short, GLAAD’s operating principles were simple. Exclude people, don’t examine their ideas. Demonize them, don’t dialogue with them.

That’s why I said that GLAAD was not the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (their original acronym; now they’re just GLAAD). Instead, I suggested, they should be known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Disagreement.

In that same spirit, it is the radical left which seeks to block conservative speakers from college campuses, even with violent protests.

It is the radical left which seeks to shame people on their jobs and humiliate them in their schools.

As for freedom of speech and expression, that must be a one way street.

Only the ideas of the left are worthy of dissemination. Dissenters are no better than the Taliban, than ISIS, than the Nazis, than the KKK.

That’s the way the radical left seeks to win.

And that’s why a high school student was recently suspended for posting Bible verses in her school in response to LGBTQ pride displays. The displays were perfectly welcome. The Bible verses were not.

As I said, freedom of expression only goes one way.

The student, Gabby Helsinger, explains that she was called into the principal’s office and “was asked why she posted the Bible verses.

“‘And I said, “Because I wanted to spread the word of God,” she said. “And [the principal] goes, ‘Well did you have permission?’ And I said, ‘No.’ I didn’t know you had to have permission because people do it a lot — putting Post-It notes on people’s lockers, so I just did it.”

“Gabby then asked the principal why any material that mentions God or Jesus, it gets removed ‘straight away,’ while ‘gay pride stuff’ can be put up all over school and openly discussed with no repercussions at all.”

Enough said.

Or consider the unrelenting attack on Mike Pence, the Vice President of the United States. He is a vile person. An ugly person. A person to be shamed by visiting dignitaries and ridiculed by outspoken celebrities. And his wife, Karen, is to be vilified as well.

Why? Because he has the audacity to believe what virtually all branches of Christianity have believed for the better part of two millennia (namely, that marriage is for a man and a woman) and because his wife has the audacity to teach at a Christian school.

Such views can no longer be tolerated.

Forget about tolerance and acceptance and diversity.

Those were just code words used to win over those in the middle. They were nothing more than Trojan horses through which intolerance and exclusivity could be smuggled in.

Once in place, the real agenda now comes to light. And make no mistake about it. It is an ugly, vile agenda. (Yes, I call things like drag queens reading to toddlers ugly and vile, all the more so when one of the drag queens is a registered sex offender.)

How then should we respond to this attempt to silence us? How should we respond to attempts to intimidate us and marginalize us?

Simple. We speak out more loudly and clearly. We take our stands more firmly and boldly. And the more we are hated and slandered, the more we respond with love and truth.

The darkness will never succeed in snuffing out the light.

Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Donald Trump Is Not My Savior: An Evangelical Leader Speaks His Mind About the Man He Supports As President. Connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.