3 reasons free speech in America is endangered

One by one, people are losing their First Amendment-guaranteed rights to free speech in America at the hands of a shortsighted, bullying mob and a band of feckless corporate capitulators setting de facto restrictions on both free expression and freedom of religion.

The trend is on steroids today for three reasons:

Big Tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (known appropriately among civil libertarians as FAANG) largely control all meaningful modes of mass communication and are inclined to yield to thuggery by left-wing, anti-Christian and LGBTQ activists.
It doesn't take much pushing from the activists to get the desired result from the corporate speech-code cartel. They are fellow travelers.
Those in the news media, for most of American history a bastion of support for the First Amendment, are largely unable to see straight when it comes to the free-expression rights of conservatives, libertarians, Christians, Donald Trump supporters and the like.

Another recent example is what happened to Living Hope Ministries, a Christian nonprofit ministering to those seeking biblical purity "through an intimate relationship with Jesus."

A homosexual-advocacy group called Truth Wins Out labeled Living Hope Ministries as bigots and lobbied Apple to drop distribution of the group's app, which, as it points out, cannot be forced on anyone not seeking it.

All it took to persuade Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, who is himself gay, to censor the app was a petition of 356 names gathered by Truth Wins Out.

But let's consider what has been suppressed here – an orthodox and faithful biblical viewpoint about sexual morality.

Living Hope Ministries doesn't call people names. It doesn't fight with anyone like Truth Wins Out does by opposing what it sees as "anti-gay religious extremism." All Living Hope Ministries aims to do is represent a biblical worldview on issues of sexual morality. In other words, the viewpoint of the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible has effectively been attacked in favor of an opposing viewpoint.

Apple has determined that God is wrong and LGBT activist Michelangelo Signorile is right. But not only that. The gay activist gets to say what he wants when he wants, but God and His representatives do not.

At the risk of seeing my own words censored, as they have been frequently by the FAANG cartel, the God of the Bible actually calls homosexual activity an "abomination" – a sin. That's just a fact, no matter which translation you use and no matter which "Testament" you read.

That raises the conundrum for Apple and Amazon and the rest of the Big Tech mob: Is the Bible itself, the best-selling book in world history, also at risk of being dropped? Or will Apple only attack the low-hanging fruit for now?

Apple's Cook has made it clear. His company is going to be on the lookout for more dangerous "haters" like the gentle people at Living Hope Ministries who hate no one and disparage none. As executive director Ricky Chelette explains: "We only help those individuals who are seeking us."

Meanwhile, Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen thanked Apple for "exemplifying corporate responsibility and taking swift action to remove a dangerous app that stigmatizes and demeans LGBT people. Ex-gay programs are consumer fraud and cause significant harm to the people they purport to help."

Do you think that's true? Does Living Hope Ministries do anything "dangerous"? Was this truly an act of "corporate responsibility" by Apple, or shameful cowardice and censorship? Did Living Hope Ministries "stigmatize" or "demean" anyone, or did it simply offer a point of disagreement? Was this an act of "consumer fraud" by a religious group or simply an expression of its faith?

If you think this is not a serious subject, consider this: Last year, Amazon capitulated to China's demand to stop selling Bibles in that country. It hasn't been doing so since last spring. Can't happen here? Don't be silly. The wheels are already in motion.

WND is on the front lines on the battle for free speech in America. For more than 20 years, it has fought for the right of everyone to speak freely in media. While the FAANG cartel cowers in fear of shutting down genuine racists and virulent anti-Semites from spewing their hatred online, it runs roughshod over Christians, conservatives, libertarians and Trump supporters. We implore you to support us in this fight against these media power brokers. Thank you.