According to the AP and other news sources, an LGBTQ group (for the uniformed that stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer”) has asked that a priest be removed from George Washington University. They want Father Greg Shaffer removed from campus over his anti-gay and anti-abortion views.
Damian Legacy and Blake Bergen want the university’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion to investigate the priest and are calling for the student government association to de-fund the Newman Center on campus.
News reports indicate they were particularly offended by a blog post the priest wrote calling gay relationships “unnatural and immoral.”
Interesting. This doesn’t sound like they really care to have someone with a diverse thought process to be included. In fact, it doesn’t sound at all like they want to understand why he believes what he does. Isn’t that intolerance? And does the priest not have a right to express what the Catholic Church teaches? The church that he works for and pledged an oath to is dedicated to upholding the truth according to God’s word (as laid out in the Bible), and it’s what he believes.
Did they not know what the Catholic Churches believe and teach? Did they not know what 99.9 percent of Catholic priests believe? A testimony to how deeply the left does its homework.
This is one of the few cases where the school has shown some spine. School officials have said it protects the right of religious freedom and is defending the rights of all religious beliefs to express themselves.
Newman Center, the building in which the priest was teaching, is a Catholic-based center. The have Catholic mass in there and teach the principles of the Catholic faith. No one is forced to go and participate. So what’s wrong here? I’ll tell you. It’s all about hate. Period.
The people who complained about a Catholic priest teaching Catholic principles in a Catholic hall are just hateful.
This shows the real hypocrisy of the left. If I say I don’t believe in gay marriage and I don’t believe same-sex couples should be allowed to be married, then I am, or will be, labeled a “homophobe” and “gay hater.” They say we should be silenced and not allowed to teach in our churches what the Bible clearly states about marriage, abortion and so on. They say it’s hate speech.
When they speak against Christians, it’s considered freedom of speech. But when Christians speak against LGBTQ lifestyles, it’s hate speech. Really. How disingenuous can one be?
Then, there is the kid who asked the teacher for a Bible. No way, you say? Yes. Another news source posts, “The teacher’s trouble started last October when he was standing by a door waiting on middle school students to enter the building. One student trailed behind the rest.”
“Just remember, son,” he told the tardy student, “The first shall be last but the last shall be first.” A few days later the student asked about the origins of the quote. The teacher “told him it was in the Bible.”
There’s that nasty word, and being uttered in a school, oh my. Doesn’t sound like the teacher was pushing his views, but let’s continue.
“On Oct. 12, the teacher was eating lunch in the cafeteria when the student approached and brought up the Bible verse. So the teacher took out his Bible and showed the student the verse.
“At some point the student mentioned that he did not have a Bible. The teacher, who also serves in Gideons International, happened to have a spare book.
“The teacher basically said, ‘would you like mine?’ said a friend of the teacher and a fellow Gideon. The student said yes, and so the teacher gave him his personal New Testament.”
Still doesn’t sound to me like pushing his religious beliefs. So what happens next? He is fired. What did he do wrong? They hand out all kinds of fliers and books on sex and how to and where to and with how many to the kids who didn’t ask for them, but a teacher, who is asked specifically about a book the student is curious about, is forbidden from sharing? Just outrageous.
There are so many examples of these kinds of incidents happening more and more in our schools. Only a dishonest person would say there is no attack on religious liberties in this country.
Joe Messina is host of The Real Side (TheRealSide.com), a nationally syndicated talk show that runs on AM-1220 KHTS radio and SCVTV [here]. He is also an elected member of the Hart School Board. His commentary publishes Mondays.
Sure ... There’s No Attack on Religion | Commentary by Joe Messina
