Aaron Edwards, a theologian at Cliff College in England, has been reportedly fired after he declared homosexuality a sin on Twitter. He was also threatened with being reported to authorities as a “terrorist” for his views. It is the latest attack on religious and political speech in Great Britain.
Edwards maintains that he never had a prior complaint or disciplinary action at the college. However, he tweeted the following in February:
“Homosexuality is invading the church. Evangelicals no longer see the severity of this [because] they’re busy apologizing for their apparently barbaric homophobia, whether or not it’s true. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Saviour.”
That tweet brought a swift response and termination by the college. Edwards was asked to take down the tweet, which he refused.
He is planning an appeal.
The threat to report him as a terrorist is a real concern in Great Britain where even “toxic ideologies” are now considered a crime. Recently a woman was arrested for praying to herself near an abortion clinic.
Last year, Nicholas Brock, 52, was convicted of a thought crime in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The neo-Nazi was given a four-year sentence for what the court called his “toxic ideology” based on the contents of the home he shared with his mother in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
While most of us find Brock’s views repellent and hateful, they were confined to his head and his room. Yet, Judge Peter Lodder QC dismissed free speech or free thought concerns with a truly Orwellian statement: “I do not sentence you for your political views, but the extremity of those views informs the assessment of dangerousness.”
Lodder lambasted Brock for holding Nazi and other hateful values:
“[i]t is clear that you are a right-wing extremist, your enthusiasm for this repulsive and toxic ideology is demonstrated by the graphic and racist iconography which you have studied and appeared to share with others…”
Even though Lodder agreed that the defendant was older, had limited mobility, and “there was no evidence of disseminating to others,” he still sent him to prison for holding extremist views.
After the sentencing Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), warned others that he was going to prison because he “showed a clear right-wing ideology with the evidence seized from his possessions during the investigation….We are committed to tackling all forms of toxic ideology which has the potential to threaten public safety and security.”
“Toxic ideology” also appears to be the target in Ireland with the recently proposed Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) law. It would criminalize the possession of material deemed hateful. The law is a free speech nightmare. The law makes it a crime to possess “harmful material” as well as “condoning, denying or grossly trivialising genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace.” The law expressly states the intent to combat “forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law.”
What is so striking about the law is that it allows for the prosecution of citizens for “preparing or possessing material likely to incite violence or hatred against persons on account of their protected characteristics.” That could sweep deeply into not just political but literary expression.
The expansion of such prosecutions to thought crimes is a natural extension of the anti-free speech movement that took hold of much of Europe decades ago. The decline of free speech in the United Kingdom has long been a concern for free speech advocates. A man was convicted for sending a tweet while drunk referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for an anti-police teeshirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”
Once you start as a government to criminalize speech, you end up on a slippery slope of censorship. What constitutes hate speech or “malicious communications” remains a highly subjective matter and we have seen a steady expansion of prohibited terms and words and gestures.
In the meantime, a theologian has been fired by a college for expressing his views on sin on social media. Yet, most faculty are silent. Imagine if a professor were fired for arguing that homosexuality was permitted under the Holy Scripture. The college would be fortunate to survive the likely backlash. The different treatment based on the content of these statements makes a mockery of free speech and academic freedom. Yet, the intolerance for dissenting views is now a common reality in higher education on both sides of “the pond.”
I recall when the Democrat Party removed God from their party platform. It leaked out and there was a big backlash and they backtracked.
They may have silently slipped that back in by now, since censorship and destruction of people and their lives is so common now if they speak the truth.
O T
If you want to consider the decline of NYC, check out the following: Jason Curtis Anderson, “New York City: a Cautionary Tale,” https://americanmind.org/features/the-rise-and-fall-of-new-york/new-york-a-cautionary-tale/ Conclusion: “All it took to bring America’s greatest city to its knees was electing progressive activists and letting them tamper with the criminal justice system.” (This article can be found at the Real Clear Politics website.)
Kentucky got the message:
—-
“The Kentucky legislature on Wednesday overrode a veto from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, pushing through a bill restricting access to gender-related treatments and limiting use of bathrooms in schools.
… The Senate voted 29-8 in favor of overriding the veto while the House did so by a 76-23 margin, the Associated Press reported.”
These are pretty strong numbers.
INFLAMMATORY INCITEMENT AS “FAKE NEWS”
Man v. woman and black v. white advocates are Sino-Russian agents fomenting, promoting and perpetrating kinematic insanity in America, preparing America for its destruction and their conquest.
Now you get it. The Founders severely restricted the vote to good, capable, sane and productive citizens – they facilitated the dominion of the extremely conservative Constitution and Bill of Rights.
__________
“The lunatics have taken over the asylum.”
– Richard A. Rowland, 1919
______________________
Of interest – America is a “mental asylum.”
“The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” is a dark comedy short story by the American author Edgar Allan Poe. First published in Graham’s Magazine in November 1845, the story centers on a naïve and unnamed narrator’s visit to a mental asylum in the southern provinces of France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_System_of_Doctor_Tarr_and_Professor_Fether
– Wiki
How many FBI and US Marshalls will be protecting these sick psychopathic terrorists who groom children then kill them for sheets and giggles? Chances of them being shut down like the Feds do to Proud Boys and QAnon protests?
“Controversial group behind ‘Trans Day of Vengeance’ raised money for firearms training – as other trans protestors pose with guns ahead of march in DC on Saturday”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11915513/Controversial-group-Trans-Day-Vengeance-raised-money-firearms-training.html
It’s amazing isn’t it. Expect more rounds of the whole of the nations down towns boarded up with plywood like last time.
The big box billionaires loved it. The covid lock downs too, another giant spread of lies and crimes from the government and their crazies.
We are on the brink and I think everyone knows it, we all just wonder how fast the descent will become.
Jonathan: Talk about the “sins of the father”! The Brits have nothing on the Americans when it comes to suppressing free speech. Specifically the right to vote-and more specifically the college student right to vote.
Case in point. In Idaho the GOP legislature just passed a law to ban student ID cards as a form of voter ID. For years students have voted with just their student ID–no evidence of massive student voter fraud. But the GOP suddenly sees a problem. So what is the problem? Students these days vote mostly Democratic. The GOP sees that in recent election cycles there has been a surge for young voters–they have been energized by issues like abortion, climate change and the horrors of the Trump administration. So now Idaho joins Texas, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee that don’t want college students to vote in large numbers. The GOP is following their long term strategy of suppressing the vote. It didn’t work in 2020 but the GOP still hopes it will work in 2024. It’s the same old insane strategy–doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result.
The right to vote is one of the forms of free expression. You are big on how conservatives are been denied their free speech rights on college campuses around the country. But when the GOP is making it more difficult for college students to vote you have nothing to say. Why is that?
The next stop on America’s Highway to Hell will be when the media covers the TRANS DAY OF VENGEANCE this Saturday as a civil rights victory after they killed 3 children and 3 adults 2 days ago, while the liberal media covers pronouns. It was Jane Fonda who recently advocated killing Christians and ProLife Americans
“TRAN is run by three co-founders, one of whom is a former staffer for the Virginia Democrats and stepped down to work with the group.”
Daily Mail Online
Dennis – you might find this article interesting: Abby Ramsy, “‘Ridiculously easy to use:’ Fake ID use difficult to monitor near campus” The Daily Beacon (April 20, 2022 (“While there is limited empirical evidence of fake IDs being used, it does not take long to see how popular they are with students and how frequently they work at establishments near campus.”) https://www.utdailybeacon.com/campus_news/safety/ridiculously-easy-to-use-fake-id-use-difficult-to-monitor-near-campus/ article_d481ea24-c04b-11ec-a3d3-738435a8b4a8.html
college students can walk into the DMV and get a free state issued photo ID. Whats the problem?
Collage ID’s are not proof of address.
What’s the problem? Students voting in a district/state in which they are not domiciled. They are not denied any vote–they just have to vote where they are domiciled. Got it?
Your trying to pretend that something old is somehow new.
Throughout the country students and everyone else is free to vote wherever they legally reside.
There is a reason that Student ID’s are not acceptable for voting.
They are not proof of legal residence.
As a rule of law college students are legal residents of their home state and not that of the college they attend.
That legal choice has nothing to do with voting.
Students are not required to get drivers licenses in the states where they go to college, and they are not entitled to instate tuition after living in dorms for 90 days.
Put simply they are not legal residents of the state their colleges is in, and therefore them may not vote in that state.
They are free to vote in the state in which they actually reside.
Any college student that wishes to vote in the state their college is in, Can get an apartment and a drivers license, and pay taxes in that state. That will allow them to vote and to qualify for instate tuition.
That is not NEW.
It has been true for my entire life.
“If they don’t stand for something, they will fall for anything.”
– Gordon A. Eadie, “Mental Hygiene,” January, 1945
While it is not precluded by the Ten Commandments, the Bible disparages homosexuality. Fundamentally, homosexuality has no purpose; it fails to perpetuate the species which is the function of intimate relations between males and females. The homosexual population self-terminates. There is no homosexual population. There are only defects in the heterosexual population. I don’t suppose you people have noticed that you are all nuts – that you have been deprived of your own sensibilities and axiomatic truths and you are incapable of discipline or of rejecting anything, and that you are willing to accept anything. It is not possible for there to be no correct and incorrect, no right and wrong ubiquitously. How long can right be left, up be down and wrong be right. Those who pervert nature don’t get brownie points or gold stars. What the —-, don’t ask don’t tell.
__________________________
Bible Verses About Homosexuality
Genesis 19:1-11
…But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for
them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate. But before they retired for the night, all
the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to
Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex
with them!”
So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. “Please, my brothers,” he begged,
“don’t do such a wicked thing. Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you
can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my
protection.”
“Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge!
We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door. But
the two angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door. Then they blinded all the men,
young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.
Leviticus 18:22
“Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.”
(NLT)
Leviticus 20:13
“If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have
committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.”
(NLT)
Judges 19:16-24
…While they were enjoying themselves,
a crowd of troublemakers from the town surrounded the house. They began beating at the door and
shouting to the old man, “Bring out the man who is staying with you so we can have sex with him.” The
old man stepped outside to talk to them. “No, my brothers, don’t do such an evil thing. For this man is a
guest in my house, and such a thing would be shameful. Here, take my virgin daughter and this man’s
concubine. I will bring them out to you, and you can abuse them and do whatever you like. But don’t do
such a shameful thing to this man.”
1 Kings 14:24
And there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the
nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.
1 Kings 15:12
He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
2 Kings 23:7
He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the
Temple of the LORD, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole.
Romans 1:18-32
…So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and
degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped
and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural
way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal
sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men,
and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves.
Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or
practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people-
none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed;
you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
by the Spirit of our God.
1 Timothy 1:8-10
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid
down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and
profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who
practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine ….
Jude 7
And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality
and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the
eternal fire of God’s judgment.
i have photos of MSN server which show censorship of of
words. my comments were innocuous as you will see.
what congressman should i contact?
Maxine Waters
I am so sick of the phrase “of color”!! Progressives act like we’re supposed to genuflect when we hear it, as if those people are to be revered and held in higher esteem than the rest of us. Enough!! We’re all equal in the eyes of our Creator. So, to the “toddlers of color” I say GROW UP and get a life!
Jonathan: You don’t have to jump across “the pond” to find “toxic ideology”. Aaron Edwards is not the only one who still believes Homosexuality is a “sin”. The Catholic Church says both homosexuality and abortion are “sins”. Nancy Pelosi found that out when SFO Archbishop Cordileone refused to give her communion because of her support for the right to an abortion. The Church’s own “toxic ideology” played out when the Catholic conservative Justice Alito gave the Church everything it wanted in the Dobbs decision.
Right here at home you claim only conservatives’ are losing their 1st Amendment rights. You are not paying attention to what is going on around the country. For example, freedom of expression is under attack in Missouri. The GOP controlled state legislature just passed a law that bans what it calls “sexually explicit” material from schools. Hundreds of books–including classic novels, human anatomy texts and Holocaust history books have been banned. Next door in Kansas the same thing is happening. Based on complaints from just one parent, a dozen books have been banned in one school district. The parent complained the books contained “pornographic” material. The parent couldn’t define “pornographic but she knows it when she sees it! Conservative groups in Kansas share lists of books they consider inappropriate and then go before school boards and demand titles involving subjects like race and LGBTQ be removed and banned from discussion in school classrooms.
Then we should probably talk about what is going on in Florida– a subject I have discussed in previous comments. Under GOP Gov. DeSantis 565 books in the 2021-22 academic year were banned from Florida schools. Now DeSantis says only “pornographic, violent or inappropriate” titles are banned. That description is so vague you could drive a Mac truck through it! But it is pretty clear from practice that the books being banned include LGBTQ themes, protagonists of color–or books that deal with race or racism.
But back across “the pond”. Aaron Edwards still thinks, like the Catholic Church, that homosexuality is a “sin”. He follows the scriptures rather then the science. I don’t think Edwards views should be criminalized–just exposed for what they are –“toxic ideology”. From the science we know homosexuality is a variant of human sexuality. The polls show most Americans agree with the science. No gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or trans person should be discriminated against. The Anti-woke crowd is not winning with the public. It’s only GOP controlled states and the Catholic Church that want to the LGBTQ community back in the closet.
So when you talk about the threats to “free speech and academic freedom” in England, while ignoring the same thing right here at home, I know you are not serious on the subject.
Let’s see whether Jonathan has something to say about MTG’s hateful rhetorical comments about the Nashville Covenant School shooting–blaming it on a transgender advocacy group that has expressly and vehemently denied ever advocating for violence of any kind against anyone. The school shooter was someone who was under the care of a mental health professional for mental problems. His mental problems may have had nothing to do with transexualism. In fact, the shooter had attended that school. In any event, it is unkown what the motivation was, but there’s no connection between violence and transsexualism, and to say so is bigotry, pure and simple. Because of MTG’s hateful comments, some of her accounts were banned by Twitter.
Gigi: Did you see Musk has restricted MTG’s Twitter account for 7 days over her posting of an image of a poster about a rally called “Trans Day of Vengeance”? Even Elon Musk is worried that MTG’s post could incite violence. No, I doubt Turley will have anything to say about this!
it is cute how you respond to your own comments authored by Gigi
What color wig, lip stick and high heel stiletto shoes will you be wearing on April 1 for the Trans Day of Anarchy in Washington DC ala Proud Boys, QAnon and Boogaloo combined? what adorable stickers will you place on your AR-15 rifles with the pink stock and fashionable purse?
‘The “woke” culture being pushed in schools and media is generating mentally deranged youth, and now an element of the trans movement has gone full militant, calling for a ‘Day of Vengeance’ against non-trans people.
That’s probably why this trans shooter just carried out mass murder against Christians in a private school (in Nashville). It looks like the beginning of a nationwide trans terrorism movement that’s being indirectly funded and celebrated by the woke corporations, media, government, universities and other institutions.
Get woke, go broke has now become get woke, go militant.
The war against Christians on the streets of America has apparently begun.’ ~mike adams
Gigi – You state that “it is unkown what the motivation was[.]” That is because the police will not release her Manifesto. Will yuo join with me in demanding release of the Manifesto?
Release the manifesto so we know what the motivation was.
Where is the FBI? DOJ?
Until they release the manifesto and tell the truth, we the public will call this what it is: domestic terrorism and a hate crime against christians.
The shooter is not the victim.
The dead and terrorized children are the victims.
The shooter definitely had mental problems that had everything to do with being trans. This was trans rage. And we are about to see even more trans rage and violence unless the government starts doing its job.
Do you know what pumping these kids up with opposite sex hormones does to their brain? Emotional dysregulation? How about pumping them up with SSRI anti depressants on top of it? Overmedicating affects brain function.
Recall the mom in MA who was overmedicated and suffering post partum depression and then strangled her 3 young children? These people are not right in the head in large part because of the bad effects of the medications they are taking. It is messing with their brains.
Then top it off with leftist brainwashing and you get what we saw in Nashville.
“We defend our president………………with guns.
We defend celebrities……………………with guns.
We defend our banks…………………….with guns.
We defend our courts……………………with guns.
We defend our jewelry stores………..with guns.
We defend our sporting events………with guns.
We defend our music festivals……….with guns.
We defend our children……with a sign that reads:
*THIS IS A GUN FREE ZONE*
And then call someone with a gun in an emergency.”
‘After being asked by reporters if there was “any reason to believe that how she identifies has any motive for targeting the school,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake replied, “There is some theory to that,” indicating that transgender propaganda played a role in Hale’s motive.’
This is a stupid game that we all should stop playing – but it is the left that originated this game.
Something bad happens and we all sit on pins and needles waiting to find out of the Doer is a straight white male, or trans, or muslim, or ….
Mass killings are extremely rare – that is why they are national news.
I can not think of a single one EVER where the killer was not mentally F’d up – and THAT is the root cause of the mass killing.
Quite often the F’d up person blends bits and peices of left and right ideologies – when they are not constructing their own nonsense ideologies out of whole cloth.
Smart people do not try to find ideological meaning in the violent acts of mentally ill people.
To the extent that ideology correlates to mental health today.
Your odds of mental health are greatly diminished if you are young, left, and female.
Dennis – you say: “No gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or trans person should be discriminated against.” Nor should they be free from criticism. .
Catholic conservative Justice Alito gave the Church everything it wanted in the Dobbs decision.
I don’t remember the Catholic Church lobbying for Federalism. (you’re too stupid to understand Dobbs)
we know homosexuality is a variant of human sexuality
What is the scientific cause?
The Associated Press by: Deepa Bharath “Gender transition care banned”. U.S. Catholic bishops set new guidelines for Catholic Hospitals “Moral Limits to the Technological Manipulation of the Human Body” doctrine. Finally, a religious order coming out against transformative moral disorder.
You can be a Monkey’s Uncle or whatever you determine your wants’ to be, frankly I don’t give a damn, just don’t expect me to conform or necessarily accept your decision. The quest for inclusion and preferred right are suspect.
It’s kind of fun watching Svelaz and Anonymous try to defend the indefensible with lame attempts to sound like lawyers. On SNL in the 80s Martin Short played a ridiculous lawyer named Nate Therm that would make the most ludicrous arguments to defend absurdities. That is Svelaz.
hullbobby, I stopped even reading their comments after a little thought experiment. What I started doing was I would read JT’s post and then imagine myself in an alternate reality writing that defense of the indefensible. And without fail, Svelaz, ATS, Gigi, Fishwings, Benson would plagiarize my thoughts. I rarely even read the responses to them, if they are made within the thread. And certainly not the lengthy comments. We some very knowledgeable commenters on this blog, enough for me anyway during tax season, that I certainly don’t need to waste time engaging crazy people.
OLLY, there are no thoughts to plagiarize.
touché