Cultural Kerfuffle: Duck Dynasty star fired for quoting Scripture

I see this as extremely, extremely revealing.  And just as troubling.

The star of the A$E program “Duck Dynasty,” Phil Robertson, was fired for quoting 1 Corinthians in an interview in GQ Magazine.  That quote lays out some of the most fundamental tenets of Christian morality, beliefs that have been upheld for 2000 years.  More than that, those beliefs have shaped – until very recently – the culture in which we live.  But because Mr. Robertson condemned homosexual acts, he was fired from his job on A$E’s number one (and incredibly lucrative) program, and has been treated as one of history’s greatest monsters by the increasingly violently anti-Christian left.  First, the quote:

What, in your mind, is sinful?

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

Before I even begin, let me state that I’ve never watched Duck Dynasty. I don’t even have TV.  I might have seen a clip or two here and there on the internet.  Frankly, I am unmoved by the program. It’s very cliched redneck shtick taken to the nth degree.  Alot of people seem to like it. Apparently, it has been very lucrative both for the Robertson family and for A$E.

So it is very revealing that A$E was willing to threaten the existence of their number one program by firing its most popular star as a reaction to the above statement.  It is truly disturbing that in our culture today, you are more apt to lose your job for stating plain, 2000 year old Christian morality than you are for engaging in acts of wanton immorality.  It is also deliciously ironic to see the left just freaking out over someone they hate anyways – a white, wealthy, redneck Christian – quoting Scripture and calling homosexual behavior sinful, while they give a bigot like Alec Baldwin, caught on tape now numerous times using racial and anti-gay slurs, a total pass.  The selective outrage always comes down to what will advance the ball down the field more for the left.  Everything is politics to them.

But what I found most interesting in this sad imbroglio, yet another harbinger of the coming violent persecution, was the reaction of celebrity priest Fr. Jonathan Morris on Twitter.  Fr. Morris, of course, frequently appears on Fox News.  Here is what he said:

#DuckDynasty ‘s Phil Robertson was wrong in tone and facts, but I wonder if quoting Bible re: homosexual acts will now get you fired.

Of course it will.  I don’t think we even have to question that.  And it’s not only highly visible stars on popular TV shows that get fired for making the culture uncomfortable, for reminding them of their sin.  It is also everyday employees at major corporations that get sacked, too.

But I have to wonder, re: Fr. Morris’ comments, just what Robertson got factually wrong?  Fr. Morris tweet is, to me, too clever by half. He tried to both distance himself from what he conveys is a “wrong” comment to make, while at the same time playing to outraged Christians by questioning the firing.  I don’t see anything factually wrong in Robertson’s comment.  He’s obviously speaking from memory, using colloquialisms, but his overall recitation of 1 Cor 6:9-10 seems pretty spot on to me:

Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,  Nor the effeminate [a reference to male prostitutes used in pagan temples for certain religious acts], nor liers with men [a reference to those who engage in non-temple sodomy], nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God.

This quote has ALWAYS been taken as a denunciation of homosexual acts, and even the homosexual lifestyle or disordered orientation.  But it also denounces numerous other sins the left didn’t get all riled up about: fornication, idolatry, adultery, lying, thievery, drunkenness, etc.  Comparing Robertson’s quote with the actual quote from Douay-Reims, they seem to line up pretty good.  I think Robertson is also spot on that the “tolerance,” but really the celebration, of homosexuality is leading us towards legalization of even more bizarre and disgusting acts – bestiality, polygamy, etc.

So I have to ask Fr. Morris, rhetorically, what did Mr. Robertson get factually and “tonally” wrong?  Or was that just a clever way to distance yourself from the plain meaning of Scripture, the better to keep the cannon-fire of the left away from you?

Were that we had a bit more of Mr. Robertson’s tone from our priests and prelates, and less of the self-serving parsing and equivocating.  Decades of such lack of clarity have left the faithful terminally confused as to what the Church believes.

One final note: at an adult catechism class led by a priest I attended earlier this week, he spoke of the need of homosexuals for constant affirmation of their lifestyle.  They literally cannot stand the slightest contradiction or condemnation, as it cuts to the very core of the carefully spun web of lies and self-deceits that make up this profoundly disturbed lifestyle.  I agree with this priest and Fr. Michael Rodriguez, that the homosexual agenda will be THE vehicle of the persecution, and I think we see that being played out in miniature before our eyes.  While Mr. Robertson will be fine, he should be set for life, financially, many others who don’t have his resources or notoriety will be made to suffer in ways that really hurt.

It is amazing to me how far this culture has fallen in 30 years.  30 years ago, homosexuality was still viewed as something that was extremely disordered, perverse, and dangerous.  Probably 80-90% of the population held this view.  But a concerted, unprecedented campaign of propaganda and normalization in the media the past 20 years has produced one of the most profound sea changes in public opinion on a matter of morality I have seen in my lifetime.  But the stage was set for this with the liberalizing of divorce laws and the legalization of contraception and abortion in the 60s and 70s, which served to destroy the institution of marriage.  All of these dread turns in the culture have been carefully orchestrated by the cultural left.  None of them happened accidentally, or by demand of the public will.  They were, instead, foisted upon a largely unwilling public, generally through judicial fiat. Subsequent decades of media propaganda have gradually ground down resistance, to the point where most people accept as “good,” or at least benignly inevitable, what would have shocked their parents and grandparents.

And so the stage is set for an ugly, brutal, technologically advanced persecution.  I pray shepherds like Fr. Morris will learn to speak up and defend the Faith with less equivocation at that time, because it is going to be sorely needed.