OPINION:
People of all faiths should be shuddering with fear over CNN’s most recent attacks on religious freedom and free speech.
As the network and its allies in the mass media continue to bludgeon religious practice, all Americans should be shaking in our boots. You might not be the target this time, but if First Amendment rights are infringed for Americans of any faith, you could be next.
CNN’s John King recently took the assault against First Amendment rights to an unprecedented level when he questioned the government providing Secret Service details to family members of the executive branch if they affiliate with faith groups that aren’t politically correct.
This latest anti-freedom attack by CNN and the mass media began when second lady Karen Pence returned to teaching art at a Christian school last week. The private school teaches biblical sexual morality — you know, the doctrine that’s been around since the beginning of humanity — that says adultery and sex outside of marriage are wrong. It adheres to the belief that God designed sex to be enjoyed between one man and one woman, joined in marriage, and that the practice of homosexuality is sinful.
Of course, the mass media’s latest vicious attacks against Mrs. Pence aren’t because she adheres to Muslim or Hindu doctrine, it’s because she is a Christian who actually dares to practice the timeless Christian doctrines she believes in, and because she chooses to affiliate with a Christian institution that practices Christianity’s teachings too.
CNN feels quite comfortable frequently berating the vice president and Mrs. Pence for their faith because of the power that the mass media has helped the LGBTQ movement gain — a power that now threatens the rights of Americans of all stripes.
Make no mistake: CNN targets Vice President and Mrs. Pence solely because the Pences are practicing Christians. And in CNN’s latest vile bombardment, it ignorantly takes direct aim at the First Amendment that protects the network too.
You simply can’t pick and choose which Americans are protected by the First Amendment and which aren’t. The First Amendment exists to protect all of us from those who seek to silence us because they don’t like what we say or believe.
These shots at Mrs. Pence by CNN are incredibly hypocritical — not to mention dangerous. On the one hand, the network constantly reminds the White House that CNN’s speech — even that of the rude, arrogant and selfish grandstanding Jim Acosta — is absolutely protected. But the personal faith of Karen Pence and Christian schools are not?
The truth is that so-called “progressives” seek to destroy America’s rich Judeo-Christian value system and the promises of our Constitution, which are rooted in the freedom principles that Christianity champions. In so doing, they also threaten to silence the central message of Christ’s unconditional love for humankind, and of how God says humans can find the deepest satisfaction and meaning by living according to His design. For adhering to these timeless beliefs, the mass media brands Mrs. Pence, and all committed conservative Christians, as “haters.”
Mrs. Pence reflects the hearts of the majority of Americans. She is gracious and kind, committed to her God, her family, and her country. As a teacher for some 25 years, she has lovingly given of herself to hundreds of families. To attempt to throw her on the altar of progressive ideology is to torch all that is good and right about America.
As Kelly Monroe Kullberg, co-author of the bestseller “Finding God at Harvard” and spokeswoman for the American Association of Evangelicals, says: “How unloving of the media to smear good people with imaginary motives. One wonders, do members of the media have any knowledge of world history before the 1970s, or are they required to stick to their mean, Orwellian daily talking points?
“Mrs. Pence, a wise and educated woman, knows that pansexuality — anything goes, so to speak — has for centuries left women and children prey to brute forces. Pansexuality leads to poverty, pedophilia, polygamy, loneliness, disease and cultural disorder. It is unloving, and at times cruel. Consider the research at University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project. (NationalMarriageProject.org.)
“The conversation we should be having is, ’What is the nature of love? How do human beings best flourish?’” Ms. Kullberg continues.
Yes, the First Amendment allows CNN to ridicule Christian people. But if it is successful in its bigoted efforts to silence or punish Christians for their faith, it threatens to uproot First Amendment protections for all of us.
• Rebecca Hagelin can be reached at rebecca@rebeccahagelin.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.