'An Important Step In Our Nation's Journey'

In response to Michael Sam – The NFL’s Get A Room Moment:

“It’s the biggest no one gives a damn … not so secret issue.”

No one gives a damn? Wrong-o Bucko. There are plenty of militant activists out there who give a damn and they are hellbent on making us give a damn whether we like it or not. Our eyes will be clasped open like Malcolm McDowell’s eyes  in Clockwork Orange and we won’t be allowed to look away.

Yeah – the same bunch who used to tell us that what they do in their private bedrooms is none of our business, (I agree!) now tell us it’s a thought crime not to be thrilled with their passionate public displays of affection. Whatever.

I am not a football fan,  and I don’t give two hoots that the St. Louis Rams drafted an openly gay man. But because I closely watch what’s in the news, I was treated to the picture of two men engaged in a passionate lip-lock. What-ever. 

That’s the clarion call of the modern conservative/libertarian: “Whatever! – it’s none of my business – leave me alone!”

But the politically incorrect Miami Dolphins player Don Jones let loose an “OMG” and “horrible” on Twitter and for that thought crime, he was swiftly and severely punished. 

Granted – he is a public figure, and Dolphins management has a right to punish dissension in the ranks. But did his punishment fit the crime? 

Fox Sports’ Clay Travis noted that the league is strangely inconsistent when it comes to off-field behavior, too. In February of this year, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was charged with beating his fiancée into unconsciousness in an Atlantic City casino. A grand jury handed down an indictment for third-degree aggravated assault, perhaps convinced by video footage of Rice dragging her out of an elevator, with no one else in sight. Rice has since asked for a pretrial “intervention” to avoid a conviction and a potential three-year sentence, expressing through his attorney that “he’s ashamed of his conduct and he’s sorry for what he did.”

And yet, as Travis notes, the Ravens and the NFL have yet to do anything to Rice — even though the league has spent the last few years marketing heavily to increase its audience among women. “You get in more trouble for a Tweet about men kissing on a sports television show,” Travis writes, “than you do for allegedly knocking out your girlfriend and being charged with domestic assault? The message is clear: Words matter more than actions.”

And the league has also been strangely inconsistent when it comes to public displays of religiosity.

Plenty of people have already said it, but it’s true that many of the Michael Sam cheerleaders are hypocrites of the lowest sort. Say what you will about Tim Tebow; one thing you can’t deny is that the dude was told loudly, harshly, and frequently, to ‘keep his religion to himself.’ Football isn’t a place for religion, they said.

But football is a place for sexual identity discussions?

Other current and former NFL players, like Jake Plummer, said they wished Tebow would “shut up” with the Jesus talk. Plummer was never chastised for making those statements, and no player was ever fined for complaining about Tebow’s overt religiosity. Most people just nodded their head in agreement.

If only Jones had followed the lead of Obama, who only thinks correct thoughts on the issues of the day which is why anyone who disagrees with him on any subject can safely be denounced as an intolerant “hater.”

The president of the United States (who never bothered to issue a statement on the death of Navy Seal hero Chris Kyle), did find the time to put out a congratulatory statement:

“The President congratulates Michael Sam, the Rams and the NFL for taking an important step forward today in our Nation’s journey.”

Where is the nation journeying?  Are we journeying to a place in which a player is fined and suspended and sent to sensitivity training for saying, “OMG” on Twitter in reaction to something he finds offensive? 

– To one where you will be forced to bake the cake, provide the flowers, and take the photographs for events you find morally objectionable or be financially ruined if you refuse? 

– To one in which Catholic orphanages are shut down because the Church takes moral exception to gay adoptions? 

– To one in which a pair of Christian brothers are dropped from a HGTV show for expressing their Christian beliefs?

– Or a Mozilla CEO is canned because he donated to a cause that the interferes with the jackboots’ agenda? 

– To one in which the taxes of pro-lifers are used to pay for abortions? 

– Or one in which pro-life organizations and businesses are forced to provide insurance to employees that includes contraception and abortifacients? 

No, obviously we’re not journeying to that place. We’re already there. And we’re nowhere near the end of the trip. The next stop is forcing churches to marry gay couples against their will or lose their tax exempt status. The end of the line is some sort of totalitarian dystopia I don’t even want to think about.

Liberals argue that forcing gay marriages on churches is not on the table, but of course it is. To the militant left – everything is on the table, and they will likely succeed because too many people are afraid to fight back.

Many in the Catholic clergy and laity are bracing for what comes next in “our nation’s journey.”

Professor Robert George, who lectures on civil liberties at Princeton, spoke to a packed ballroom of Catholics at the 10th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, Monday.

“My message for you today is a somber one,” George told the attendees.

Again and again, George said Catholics must be brave — pointedly protecting the unborn and marriage between a man and a woman. “One can still be a comfortable Catholic, a tame Catholic who is ashamed of the Gospel,” he said. On the other hand, “A Catholic who makes it clear that he or she is not ashamed of the Gospel is in for a rough go.” 

Believing in the Gospel, he warned, makes you “a marked man or woman” and jeopardizes “one’s standing in a polite society.” He said it also may cost you friends and provoke the alienation of family members. He encouraged listeners to get honest about their faith. “The question each of us must face is this: Am I ashamed of the Gospel? Am I prepared to pay the price if I refuse to be ashamed?” 

And later, taking a direct shot at pro-choice supporters, he asked, “Do you believe a child in the womb deserves respect and protection?” He also went after gay marriage, saying, “Do you believe as I believe that [the things] that shape marriage are grounded in its procreative nature?”George lamented, “There was a time when we could be comfortable Catholics,” he said. “Those days are gone and they’re not coming back anytime soon. The love affair with Jesus and the Gospel and his Church are over.”