Anyway, his suspension from A&E has raised a lot of questions in a lot of people's mind about free speech and political correctness. So I figured I would go ahead and speak freely about this situation.
Point #1
What ever happened to the statement:
The views and opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of A&E or any of its affiliates.I mean seriously. Can any company, especially a company that deals with the majority of the lunatics in show business, expect to actually agree with everything that is said by every single person they work with? If that is the case, the list of people that they can work with starts getting really really small. So if they suspended Mr. Robertson for expressing a view that they disagree with, am I expected to believe that they agree with all the nut-job women on Real Housewives of Orange County? Somehow I doubt it. Which leads me to:
Point #2
Why are we so outraged that the media wouldn't allow freedom of speech?
News Flash: The media has never really been in the freedom of speech business. They are in the profits business. Most people just call that business. The media industry, and that includes the news, is all about the bottom line. They will make decisions, say things that need to be said, and prevent anything that stands in the way of them making money. It's not really any different than what any other business does. If they as a business decide that Phil Robertson will stand in the way of their profit they will do whatever it takes to remove that roadblock.
So was Phil Robertson a victim of having his freedom of speech taken away? No. He wasn't. I respect his boldness. He was willing to say what he believed. However, A&E has every right to do what they did as well. Last time I checked which was about 5 minutes before writing this, Phil Robertson was not in prison for saying the things that he did. If that were the case, this would be a different discussion.
Imagine I start working for a company and then did an official interview about how terrible the company was, how they were poisoning babies, murdering puppies and kittens, and spreading sadness and woe throughout the land. Would I be well within my rights to say that? Yes, provided it was true (slander isn't cool either). However, would anyone be surprised when Puppy-Killing Sadness, INC. fired me? No.
Clearly this is not a perfect example, but it does get the point across. Phil Robertson said things that A&E disagreed with and they were within their rights to punish him; whether you agree they should have or not
Point #3
Wouldn't it be crazy if all Christians were as bold?
I have Christian friends that agree with every single word that Phil Robertson said. I have some Christian friends that think everything he said was shrouded in hate. I have lots of other Christian friends that fall somewhere in between. You know where I fall? No you don't because I'm not going to tell you. What I will tell you is that I greatly admire his boldness to speak the things that he believes in. He hasn't recanted his statements. He hasn't said, "oh wait, just kidding. My opinions are now more like A&E (and we can only assume The Real Housewives of Orange County)." He said what he believed and he stuck to it.
That reminds me of a lot of other people in scripture. Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist. As Christians, we do not have a spirit of timidity, but rather on of boldness. We are told that in 2 Timothy 1:7. We need to boldly proclaim the things that we believe. We need to boldly proclaim the Love of God. We need to boldly proclaim the Holiness of God. This boldness might not gain us a lot of fans. It might even get us suspended from our TV shows (I clearly have way to high of expectations about who will read this). I can say one thing for sure...It will definitely win a lot of favor with the One who matters.
So whether the loss of free speech is eminent, or if it will never officially come, I truly hope that you will live a life of boldness. Bold Love and Bold Speech.
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