Former Green Bay Packers safety LeRoy Butler was scheduled to give an anti-bullying presentation at a church in Wisconsin this summer, but it appears as if his speech has been canceled, which Butler explained in a series of tweets. These tweets stated the following:
"Wow, I was schedule to speak at a church in WI, and a member said that the pastor wants to cancel my event, I said ok why? Then I was told, because I said congrats to Jason Collins on twitter, I said really? we have a contract, he said check the moral cause. FYI the fee was 8500$, then I was told if i removed the tweet, and apologize and ask god forgiveness, I can have the event, I said no."
A bit later, he tweeted this:
"I found out what happened, I guess some parents went to the church and complained about my tweet for support of Jason Collins, so sad."
Allegedly, when Butler went to the pastor to try and resolve the situation by saying, "We agree to disagree," the pastor responded with, "No, I'm right and you're wrong."
Butler has elaborated since making the tweets by saying the following about the back-and-forth he had with the pastor:
"This is what bothers me the most. They said, 'If you ask for forgiveness and remove the tweet and you say something to the effect that you don't congratulate (Collins) then we'll let you do the engagement and get the speaker's fee, and I said I'm not doing that. Every gay and lesbian person will say, 'You know, LeRoy doesn't speak up for the weak or the silenced. He doesn't stand for anything as a man and he did it for money.' Why would you ask me to reduce my integrity like that?"
He also pointed out some irony to the story, saying, "This is a form of bullying, what you're doing. You're trying to get me to do something I don't want to do."
So, I say kudos to Mr. Butler for taking a stand in the face of ignorance, bullying, and intolerance.
As for the pastor being "right" and Mr. Butler being "wrong," I'd simply like to point the pastor toward the book of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 36 through 40, where it says:
"'Teacher, where is the greatest commandment in the Law?'"
"Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
I guess the pastor of this Wisconsin church didn't get the memo which said, "Remember to love thy neighbor as Jesus said, even if they're gay." In light of this, perhaps the pastor should follow his own advice to Mr. Butler and ask God for forgiveness.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/05/01/1949581/wisconsin-church-cancels-former-nfl-players-speech-for-supporting-jason-collins/
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/church-cancels-leroy-butlers-speech-after-he-backs-gay-nba-player-rq9pjrt-205580231.html
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A36-40&version=NIV
"Wow, I was schedule to speak at a church in WI, and a member said that the pastor wants to cancel my event, I said ok why? Then I was told, because I said congrats to Jason Collins on twitter, I said really? we have a contract, he said check the moral cause. FYI the fee was 8500$, then I was told if i removed the tweet, and apologize and ask god forgiveness, I can have the event, I said no."
A bit later, he tweeted this:
"I found out what happened, I guess some parents went to the church and complained about my tweet for support of Jason Collins, so sad."
Allegedly, when Butler went to the pastor to try and resolve the situation by saying, "We agree to disagree," the pastor responded with, "No, I'm right and you're wrong."
Butler has elaborated since making the tweets by saying the following about the back-and-forth he had with the pastor:
"This is what bothers me the most. They said, 'If you ask for forgiveness and remove the tweet and you say something to the effect that you don't congratulate (Collins) then we'll let you do the engagement and get the speaker's fee, and I said I'm not doing that. Every gay and lesbian person will say, 'You know, LeRoy doesn't speak up for the weak or the silenced. He doesn't stand for anything as a man and he did it for money.' Why would you ask me to reduce my integrity like that?"
He also pointed out some irony to the story, saying, "This is a form of bullying, what you're doing. You're trying to get me to do something I don't want to do."
So, I say kudos to Mr. Butler for taking a stand in the face of ignorance, bullying, and intolerance.
As for the pastor being "right" and Mr. Butler being "wrong," I'd simply like to point the pastor toward the book of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 36 through 40, where it says:
"'Teacher, where is the greatest commandment in the Law?'"
"Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
I guess the pastor of this Wisconsin church didn't get the memo which said, "Remember to love thy neighbor as Jesus said, even if they're gay." In light of this, perhaps the pastor should follow his own advice to Mr. Butler and ask God for forgiveness.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/05/01/1949581/wisconsin-church-cancels-former-nfl-players-speech-for-supporting-jason-collins/
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/church-cancels-leroy-butlers-speech-after-he-backs-gay-nba-player-rq9pjrt-205580231.html
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A36-40&version=NIV
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