The Left shook their fists when MSNBC's MTP Daily interviewed Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. Perkins was announced as a guest on Sunday’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, but then did not appear, which led to leftists boasting their petitions got him cancelled. He did appear on MSNBC on Sunday afternoon’s Weekends with Alex Witt to discuss the meeting between Donald Trump and evangelical Christian leaders (the same topic as the Tuesday night interview).
Zack Ford of Think Progress gloated with the headline “ABC Decides Maybe It’s Best To Not Feature A Hate Group Leader Discussing The Orlando Shooting.” The website LGBTQ Nation used this nasty title: “MSNBC goes dumpster diving, books bigot booted by ABC.”
Perkins (full disclosure: a friend of the MRC who spoke on panel discussions at the inaugural MRC Cruise) has been the target of a long, censorious crusade to get him banned from TV news programs for his "hate speech." As Zack Ford explained:
The group Faithful America quickly launched a petition calling on ABC to drop Perkins from the lineup. Noting that Perkins “has repeatedly accused gay men of molesting children,” the petition also pointed out that no other Christian leader was scheduled to offer a different perspective on behalf of people of faith. This is a recurring problem in media; evangelicals and other conservative Christians are over-represented in media appearances, but progressive faith voices and representatives from the Humanist, atheist, and agnostic communities are severely underrepresented.
Ford celebrated author Laura Bethany Taylor, a transgender woman who writes about her “tired but persistent faith in God through Jesus Christ,” who penned an open letter to ABC and host George Stephanopoulos protesting the Perkins booking because "the FRC has been on the front lines of divisive language and fear mongering specifically targeted at Gender, Sexual and Romantic Minorities (GSRM)."
As I said, to suggest complete censorship seems un-American, but is it really? How tolerant would the national media be of a KKK leader speaking on a massacre of African Americans? What sort of outcry would we hear if anti-military pacifists were given center stage on Veteran’s Day or Memorial Day as we seek to honor our service men and women?
The "trans woman" even said Perkins and other conservatives are not really Christians and shouldn't present themselves to the world as Christians:
As I wrote earlier this week, it’s time for these leaders to lay down the banner of Christ. There are many, many other voices that are coming to grips with the inevitable reality that comes from following the models and teaching that has characterized Christian faith communities for the last several decades. Teaching that is more in love with morality than spirituality, with conviction than compassion and with judgment than Jesus.
We are on the verge of a spiritual revolution. If you must give time to the likes of the FRC, then also give voice to the spiritually liberated followers of Jesus who have found great freedom both in following his teaching and in celebrating the great complexity and diversity of his creation.
It seems more than a little bizarre to argue that God created transgenders, so they might hate the birth he "assigned" them.
On Wednesday, Perkins addressed the leftist protesters trying to get him removed from television in his e-mail to supporters:
The far-Left must be desperate for moral victories, because now they’re making them up! Over the weekend, a liberal group launched a petition to ABC News encouraging them to cancel my appearance. Of course, this is nothing new for me or FRC. Among the many things I’ve observed firsthand about the intolerant Left is: if they can’t shout you down, they’ll try to shut you down by silencing you. The reason is quite obvious. The facts, truth, reason, and common sense are against them so they don’t want a reasonable conversation, they don’t even want a debate! So, in typical George Soros fashion, they tried—unsuccessfully—to pressure ABC News to cancel my appearance, and then claimed victory when ABC did so for completely unrelated reasons.
After leading FRC for a decade and a half (as well as working on the other side of the interview desk, which I’ve done as a reporter and now as a daily radio show host), one thing is certain when it comes to the press: schedules change all the time. The media has to adapt to breaking stories of the day and different guests’ availability. When ABC canceled my appearance Monday, it had nothing to do with this petition that an insignificant number signed. If that were the case, we could overwhelm their petition with one of our own. This liberal group previously claimed they banned me from another TV network. But that was false because I've continued to make appearances on the network.Over the last few days, ABC News has heard from those who want to censor Christian viewpoints. Now it is time for ABC News to hear from you and viewers across the political spectrum who value a civil discussion. Please contact ABC News by sending them an email and let them know where you stand.
In his Tuesday interview, Perkins was hounded by guest host Peter Alexander, who ran a series of clips of Trump insulting people, and asked Perkins how he felt about it. He also cited that Trump recently said his favorite Bible verse was "an eye for an eye." Perkins kept saying that faith should not be used as a weapon in politics, but that faith is an important attribute Americans want in a leader.
