Religious Intolerance at the Townhall

I was blissfully unaware that the Democrat presidential candidates had a townhall on CNN last Thursday, focused on LGBT issues—which, in case you haven’t figured it out, means focused on religious discrimination. But Ben Shapiro did his job by suffering through it for the sake of Friday's podcast at The Daily Wire.

He’s not usually very emotional. Rational is really a good descriptor of his approach to things. But I think this got him as riled up as he gets. Because, when presidential candidates say they’re coming to take away your rights to your beliefs and to share those beliefs with your children—you don’t sit quietly and acquiesce.

Ben Shapiro, from Friday, October 11, 2019
screenshot from here

It started with Beto O’Rourke, who seems to be making a campaign of speaking aloud the things we all know Democrats intend, but that they keep quiet about so as not to wake up the voters. Here’s the question and his answer:

Moderator: Colleges. Churches. Charities. Should they lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage?

Beto: Yes. There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break, for anyone, any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us. And so, as president we’re going to make that a priority. And we’re going to stop those who are infringing upon the human rights of our fellow Americans.

Let’s clarify a few things. He’s talking about a lot of organizations. The university I went to, Brigham Young University; Hillsdale College, Liberty University, Baylor, Notre Dame—maybe a majority of private higher education. He’s also talking about taking away your right to attend the church you believe in—unless the church is willing to change its doctrines to suit President Beto. And any religion-affiliated charities—they should be shut down, because they're so evil.

Note that, for the most part, these institutions do nothing to prevent LGBT people from associating with anyone else they choose and doing whatever they want. They aren’t taking away any rights; they’re just not offering any particular services that conflict with their beliefs. If you want a same-sex wedding, go to a church or reception facility down the road that caters to what you want.

But Beto is saying that the very holding of the idea he disagrees with is tantamount to disqualifying behavior. So, all churches, schools, and charities, regardless of their behavior toward LGBT people, must be punished.

But he’s saying just not rewarded by tax-exempt status; that’s not the same. Right? Let’s connect the dots. I’ll let Ben Shapiro do that.

Once you remove their tax-exempt status, and you say they don’t have tax-exempt status anymore, you treat them like a normal LLC. Well, if you have anti-discrimination laws in states like California, or if you’re the Democratic Party and you’re trying to pass the so-called Equality Act, which is really a way of cracking down on religious institutions and forcing people to abide by social rules that they don’t want to abide by (and in violation of the First Amendment—blatant violation of the First Amendment. The Founding Fathers are spinning so fast in their graves, they’re drilling directly to the core of the earth at this point). The fact is that the goal here would be to, then, kick these religious institutions from 501(c)3 tax-exempt status institutions into normal LLC territory and then declare that those LLCs are in violation of non-discrimination policies and shut them down as violative of law.

We’ve already seen them do this with Arlene’s Flowers in Washington State, where, if you are a florist who is religious and only will cater to weddings that are traditional, you’ll be shut down or fined. The same with photographers. We’ve seen it with Jack Phillips, the baker in Colorado. We’ve seen all of that. Again, we’ve seen the Democrats and the left do this.

They’re going to do that to your church. They’re going to remove tax-exempt status, and then they’re going to shut it down.

Beto O’Rourke wasn’t the only one letting long-held beliefs escape into the spoken word. Corey Booker helped with that. Here’s what he said:

Corey Booker at Thursday's CNN Town Hall
screenshot from here

Corey Booker: And so, for me, I cannot allow, as a leader, that people are going to use religion as a justification for discrimination. I could respect your religious freedoms but also protect people from discrimination. And, as I said in an earlier answer, I grew up in a household where my parents talked to me about how people used to use religion to justify the discrimination against African Americans

How sad for him that he grew up in a household that taught him lies. Religion is the reason slavery ended. Historically, did some slaveholders try to justify their behavior with religion—probably. But not successfully. Because God is no respecter of persons. And, we should add, ALL of those who held those beliefs were Democrats. Republicans—and a majority of religious people among them—gave their lives and treasure to put a stop to it.

It’s practically an aphorism today among those who seek power through tyranny, poverty, and savagery that “religion” is the evil thingin itself. Just like pagan kings in ancient times who set up their own religions—often making themselves the personification of god—as a means to control the beliefs, and thus the behavior, of their people.

Here’s Ben Shapiro’s not exactly calm response:

“I cannot allow”? Who the “F” are you, dude? You cannot allow? Guess what? That’s not your right.

My right is to act in ways that don’t harm anybody else. And if I choose to have an institution where I am going to elevate heterosexuality above homosexuality, that is not harming anyone else. You don’t have to participate in that institution. It’s a free country.

I mean, you have institutions where you don’t tolerate my religious beliefs. I don’t expect that when I walk into a mosque that suddenly they’re going to start practicing Judaism. I don’t expect that when I walk into an atheist meeting, they’re going to start keeping kosher. And I don’t expect that when I walk into the offices of the Human Rights Campaign, that they’re going to start handing out literature from Leviticus.

Why in the world would you not express the same degree of tolerance for people who disagree with you as people you agree with? If you are only tolerant of people who agree with you, this is a good indicator you are not a very tolerant person.

Religious freedoms—and, along with that, parental rights to the upbringing of their children—are at risk whenever there’s a chance of a tyrant gaining power.

Walt Heyer on the Candace Owens Show
October 13, 2019
screenshot from here

On a related issue, this Sunday Candace Owens talked with Walt Heyer. He’s been through a lot. In his 40s, he transitioned, including surgery and hormones, to live as a woman. The problem was, he always knew those outward changes didn’t actually change who he was. There were things he needed to address, from childhood, that had made him reject who he actually was and try to be something else. Eventual therapy led him to deal with those things. And he transitioned back, as much as that is possible, after seven years.

The original change cost him his family and his job. So to admit that was a huge mistake was very hard. If only he’d had the therapy he needed in the first place! It was after just the second visit that his doctor diagnosed him with gender dysphoria and told him the treatment was to transition through hormones and surgery. He barely knew him. He explored nothing about co-morbidity—other problems typically linked with transgender (and other LGB) issues.

Since transitioning back, he has been outspoken, and has created a ministry to help those who have transitioned and find no solution to their problems there.

His issues started very young, when a grandmother used to dress him up, and keep it their secret; and she would tell him how cute he was, and give him affirmation for pretending he was a girl. When his parents found out, they discontinued contact with that grandmother. But an uncle sexually abused him, and his parents didn’t believe him. So he came to believe both that there were things he couldn’t tell adults, and that there was something wrong with who he was.

That experience is not uncommon among people with gender dysphoria. An idea gets planted very early. If talked through, or even left alone, often the mistaken idea gets resolved and the person goes on to lead a normal life. But the transgender activists today seek to intervene, even against parents’ wishes, and castrate and mutilate the prepubescent child, making them forever unable to live a normal life.

Here’s what Heyer says about our children and schools:

When you begin to introduce these ideas that you can change your gender, change your sex, you begin the early sexualization of children, which is abhorrent. It shouldn’t be done, and it shouldn’t be allowed.

We’re interfering with their natural development. These are children that are exploring every opportunity and trusting adults to guide them and to nurture them properly. But introducing all of this sexuality, and all of these things at such an early age, is very disturbing.

Today I work with hundreds of people who’ve been through this. And what I’m seeing is, up to 50% of them have been sexually abused. And so, sexual abuse is kind of a common issue that happens with this ideology.

A healthy psychological society is built on families. And kids are the core of the next generation. And if we’re ripping our kids apart in school with this ideology, we’re ruining even the next generation. And this is why it’s so critical to address this issue.

We should not be teaching children in school that they can change genders. It’s not a vending machine for genders. This is a critical issue that needs to be removed from the school. LGBT material doesn’t need to be in our public schools. Reading, writing, arithmetic is what we need in our schools, not LGBT agenda stuff.

You can’t give in on one uncompromisable issue and expect that the others won’t follow.

We are in a culture war. While we’re set up to allow a great deal of difference of opinion in our society, the intolerant side has to be prevented from gaining power over us—because they do not allow dissent.

Those of us who honor God, life, and family (and we could add the other two: truth and property ownership) are heretics in the religious worldview of Corey Booker and Beto O’Rourke—and all the other Democrat presidential candidates, none of whom would dare to disagree. That means we have an obligation to ourselves, our children, and civilization as we know it to keep these intolerant religious bigots out of power.