Cecil The Lion, Islam, Clemson Football & ESPN

Political correctness strikes again – but this time in multiple places. 

Coach Dabo Swinney, head coach of Clemson, declares himself a “twitter quitter” and bans his players from the use of twitter during the season. 

In response to this, Deadspin issued this article criticizing the policy, saying it was wrong.

ESPN also wrote this article calling attention to the ban that raised a few eyebrows.

And Darren Rovell, an ESPN sports business reporter had the following to say about the social media ban–“ Clemson football players banned from social media. Another institution teaching kids about the future by putting duct tape over their mouths.”  

It seems the sports world wants people to use twitter…until…

On Wednesday of this week Curt Schilling, one of the all time baseball greats and a commentator for ESPN was suspended…for something he said via TWITTER.  (Here is the story.)

What was his tweet? 

It was a meme with the Nazi dictator Hitler on it that read, “The math is staggering when you get to true #’s.  It’s said only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists.  In 1940 only 7% of Germans were Nazi’s.  How’d that go?”   

The tweet was later taken down, Schilling suspended and was forced to issue an apology. 

Uh…anyone see a problem here?

Apparently you should not put duct tape over someone’s mouth unless they are saying something that may be politically incorrect, in which case their freedom of speech should be taken from them because it may offend someone. 

My goal is not to start a holy war here…but what Schilling said is true.  (No one seems to be bringing any attention to that!)  There are record numbers of extreme terrorist attacks happening all over the world, and the one thing all of them have in common is the attackers are radical Muslim extremists– yet the media and some politicians believe if we do not say anything that these things might just stop happening. 

Neville Chamberlain learned the hard way—and if the world doesn’t wake up history will be repeated. 

Let me be very clear.  I do not hate Muslims at all.  I’ve spent time with Muslims, listened to their stories, shared Christ with them.  However, a very important fact is always overlooked when it comes to dealing with Islam– the more radicalized a Muslim becomes the more violent they will be as well.

This breaks my heart because at the end of the day, they are doing these things ultimately because they want the assurance that they can have peace with God—which is why I am more convinced than EVER that the GOSPEL is so necessary in our world. 

However, I am afraid if we continue to go down the path we are on, with political correctness dictating what we say rather than the truth, our world is going to be a pretty horrible place to live. 

As I’ve said before – political correctness has changed our language, but it has changed no one's heart. 

Another example would be Cecil the Lion’s death. 

Several weeks ago I kept hearing about Cecil getting killed.  I am serious when I tell you I thought it was some famous actor or musician I was unaware of, until I found out that Cecil was a lion! 

The world went crazy! 

There were people calling for justice over a lion in Zimbabwe that had been killed. 

The man who killed Cecil (a hunter who paid $50,000 to go on a guided Safari) was the target of hateful speech, accusations and some even went as far as to call for him to be extradited to Zimbabwe for prosecution. 

Over a lion! 

Pause – a lion is an apex predator.  They kill things.  If you and Cecil were in a room and Cecil would have been hungry you would have been a snack—period. 

However, it seemed “politically correct” to jump on the Cecil bandwagon and make a big deal about animal rights. 

However, in all of this the REAL problem in Zimbabwe was ignored. 

As of 2012 – CNN estimates that around 72% of people in Zimbabwe live below the poverty line.   As of 2014 – GDP per capita was around $2,000.  There are legitimate humanitarian needs in Zimbabwe, yet political correctness allows people to ignore what is important and instead focus on the trends of the day. 

Sadly enough, the August 25 edition of the NY Times had an article in it about Quinn Swales, a resident of Zimbabwe and a safari guide losing his life. 

How did he die? 

He was mauled by a lion in the same animal park where Cecil had lived. 

I waited…

There was hardly ANY press about this at all. 

No social media outrage. 

No late night talk show hosts offering tearful eulogies over Mr. Swales death. 

Why? 

It’s quite simple—it just wasn’t the politically correct thing to do. 

My main reason for writing this article is simply to express a serious concern about the muzzle being placed on those who do not share politically correct views. 

Tolerance no longer means we can agree to disagree—but rather you must agree with me on everything or I will label you with the word “hate.” 

I am concerned for the world we live in, but more specifically I am concerned for the Church. 

Political correctness says we cannot take a stand for traditional marriage. 

Political correctness says we cannot say that adoption is a better option than aborting. 

And political correctness, I believe, will soon begin to declare that a person or church can no longer say that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way for a person to be saved. 

What is the solution? 

I believe there are two things: 

#1 – Prayer – The Church today prays for safety, the early Church prayed for boldness.  (See Acts 4:31). 

We need to pray that Jesus will allow us to see people as He sees them. 

But we also must pray that we may be able to speak truth in love– choosing to do what is right over what is easy. 

#2 – Participation – Followers of Jesus MUST not be afraid to participate in the conversations that are going on in the world today. 

We must participate with compassion. 

We must participate with humility. 

We must participate with gentleness. 

But, for the love of God—this is NOT the time to go silent. 

The world has never needed “good news” more than it needs it right now.  And as followers of Christ we should not view this turning of the tide in our country as opposition but rather an opportunity to step into conversations people are already having and pointing them to Christ.