by Mia Gradick • 6 min read
Did you see that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is now involved in the situation involving NFL kicker Harrison Butker?
AG Bailey recently told Fox News that government officials at the Kansas City Mayor’s office “retaliated” against Harrison based on his religious beliefs.
Remember that shortly after Harrison gave his commencement speech, the city doxed him. They revealed private information on social media about where Butker lives, essentially encouraging people to go harass the player at his home: “Just a reminder that Harrison Butker lives in the City of Lee’s Summit.”
The Attorney General’s response to the city’s actions is spot on. He’s not pulling any punches about what’s being done to Harrison. Here’s what he said:
“Butker is the target of discrimination on the basis of his religion. This is a Christian of the Catholic faith who was giving a commencement address at a Catholic university, to an audience that was supportive of the message he was delivering. And the backlash has been discriminatory against him.”
AG Bailey also points out that the backlash against Butker is “prophetic.”
“If you actually listen to the opening remarks he provides, he establishes that the Left wants to silence Christian voices, wants to drive Christian thought, Christian ideals, expression of Christian beliefs from public discourse, from the public domain. And that’s exactly what the left has done in retaliation against Harrison Butker’s free exercise of religion,” added Bailey.
The AG also seems agree with what we at First Liberty have been saying about this situation all along: Harrison has every right under the Constitution to voice his religious beliefs. His speech—whether you agree or disagree with what he said—is protected by the First Amendment.
Bailey also pointed out that what government officials did to Harrison is illegal. “This could not be a more of a clear case of a violation of his constitutional freedoms and the Missouri Human Rights Act.”
The best part about this is that Bailey isn’t just giving platitudes. He’s actually doing something to protect religious freedom and free speech.
It looks like the AG wants to get to the bottom of what happened with that ugly Tweet revealing Harrison’s personal info. He’s requesting records and documents related to managing the city’s social media account. Bailey is also calling for anyone involved in posting the message to be “fired and terminated immediately.”
According to the Daily Wire, the Kansas City mayor’s office confirmed that the employee who doxxed Harrison “separated” from city employment.
Good for AG Bailey to take action. Good for KC Mayor Quinton Lucas to let go of the person responsible. It’s really positive when public officials take on cancel culture. If you try to destroy someone’s life, reputation and their livelihood, you should face the consequences. That’s the way we’re going to defeat this toxic ideology.
What do you call someone too fearful to enter an exchange of ideas and, instead, tries to intimidate and embarrass others into silence? A coward and a bully. And that’s precisely how Kansas City government officials acted towards Butker when they outed his private info. Attorney General Bailey’s view: “It’s retaliation and bullying.” Simple as that.
If we really are a country that believes in religious freedom and diverse expression, then no person should have their personal information outed like this just because they voiced religious beliefs that contradict cultural orthodoxy. That shouldn’t happen in America.
 |
|
|
