I linked to an article the other day about a young man ridiculed by his California college prof for daring to stand up for traditional marriage in class. The teacher later told the students that anyone who voted for Proposition 8 was a "fascist bastard." A lawsuit is in the works. This is what passes for academic freedom on today's campuses where most professors are liberal democrats who ridicule and attack those who dare to disagree. (For a list of studies showing the liberal bias of college and university professors visit Students for Academic Freedom.)In another case a young woman at Central Michigan University was booted off the basketball team and lost her scholarship because her lesbian coach didn't like that she wore makeup and had a boyfriend. The coach was fired from another school in 2003 for similar activities, but CMU says they'll defend the case in court.
When Crystal Dixon, Associate Vice President for Human Resources at the University of Toledo, exercised her free speech right in 2008 and penned an opinon column standing up for traditional marriage, she was put on administrative leave the same day the article appeared. Later she was fired despite the fact she had recommended both heterosexual and homosexual candidates for jobs at the university and there was no evidence of discrimination. Speaking her mind on her Christian beliefs was enough to enrage the gurus of "academic freedom."
Pro-lifers receive even more draconian treatment. Last summer a Maryland "Truth Team" was arrested for peacefully holding signs on a public highway and held overnight at the jail. All charges were dropped later showing they were spurious and unfounded violations of the free speech rights of those arrested.
In a case eerily reminiscent of the black civil rights movement a group of young people, members of Survivors (of abortion), were arrested February 12th and held overnight for standing and talking to students ON THE PUBLIC SIDEWALK outside Parker High School in Birmingham, AL. This is the city where Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail. The young adults were members of the Campus Life Tour team visiting schools to distribute literature and inform students about abortion. In January two members of the group were arrested at a public university, George Mason in Fairfax, VA, for simply giving out literature. In many of these types of cases the arrested females are strip searched and groped by male officers as an intimidation tactic. This is our tax dollars at work -- trying to eliminate unpopular speech and shut down the truth.
When I was arrested at the Spring of Life in Buffalo in the early 1990s I remember statements from the police about "teaching us a lesson" so we'd never come back. Most of us (about 150 women) were held for 24 days for blocking traffic, a minor offense. One of the jailers was angry because I put up a sign saying "Welcome to Stalag 13 prison camp." She said she asked for the duty so she could make sure we were treated well. That was irrelevant, I replied. We weren't being held because of our offense, but the reason behind our offense which made us political prisoners.
Christians need to file lawsuits in every case of persecution that arises. When Jesus said to "turn the other cheek" he was talking about forgiving our individual persecuters not the state, which was a tyranny in ancient Rome. There was no way to fight Caesar.
But in the U.S. we have a Constitutional Republic based on laws and rights. If we don't stand up for our constitutional rights of free speech and free assembly against the neo-Roman tyrants, we'll lose them. We're close to that already. So pray and fight, especially for all these persecuted Christians. St. Teresa once said that Christ has no hands but ours. The same is true of His voice. Don't let the enemies of Christ muffle His voice. Speak the truth in love and get ready for the persecution.
It's going to get worse, folks. Fight back while you can!
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