Pence Whines to Liberty Grads About How Oppressed Christians Are
Being male, white, Republican, and Christian in the United
States in 2019 is a difficult road marked by attacks, discrimination, and
bullying. That’s the worldview held by Vice President Mike Pence, which he
shared on Saturday during a commencement address at the evangelical Liberty
University in Virginia.
“You know throughout most of American history it’s been
pretty easy to call yourself a Christian,” Pence told graduating students. “It didn’t
even occur to people that you might be shunned or ridiculed for defending the
teachings of the Bible. But things are different now.”
He added: “Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today
have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs. So, as you go about
your daily life, just be ready.”
He warned that students would eventually be “asked to bow
down to the idols of the popular culture.”
Pence then denounced “attacks on
Christian education,” calling them “un-American.”
“I’m proud to report our administration has already taken
decisive action to protect religious liberty,” Pence said, failing to mention
that one of the Trump administration’s first major policy objectives was to try to
implement a ban of Muslim travelers coming into the U.S.
Regarding the “attacks on Christian education,” Pence spoke about recent criticism of his wife, Karen, who earlier this year returned
to a teaching job at a Christian elementary school that bans
LGBTQ students and teachers.
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. introduced
Pence, calling him “one of the most engaged and influential vice presidents
in my lifetime,” USA Today reported.
If you’ll recall, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen recently claimed
that in 2016, he helped Falwell cover
up compromising sexual photographs just months before Falwell endorsed
Trump for president. As USA Today notes,
Pence last spoke at Liberty during the 2016 presidential campaign, right after
Trump’s infamous comments on sexually assaulting women were made public. Later,
when Trump became president, he chose Liberty University for his first
commencement address.
Such a tangled mess of filthy people.
But white evangelicals have demonstrated that they really don’t care
about having a president who brags about sexual assault, among other things, as 81% of white
evangelicals voted for Trump in 2016, according to the newspaper.
They also don’t have a problem playing the victim game, which
Pence excels at, by claiming religious discrimination when what they’re really
taking about is bigotry dressed up as Christianity.
Pence is scheduled to deliver another commencement address next
week at Taylor University, a Christian school in Indiana. Some students have
started an
online petition to rescind Pence’s invitation, saying, “the Trump-Pence Administration’s
policies… are not consistent with the Christian ethic of love we hold dear.”