Fr. Rob Johansen from Thrown Back posted a homily for the R.C. Feast of St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr and St. Thomas More, Martyr. It’s a great read and very pertinent as it ties in the recent persecution of a Catholic in Maryland (ironic isn’t it). Here’s an excerpt:
The King’s Good Servant, But God’s First…
Last week, an official of the Metropolitan Transit Authority in Washington, D.C. was fired by the governor of Maryland. The Metro Transit Authority runs the subway and bus mass-transit system in Washington, D.C. and its suburbs. This official wasn’t fired because he was incompetent. He wasn’t fired because he was doing a bad job. He wasn’t fired because of corruption, or any other misconduct. He wasn’t even fired because of budget cuts or other financial problems. No, he was fired because, on a local cable tv talk show, he expressed an opinion. He described homosexual activity as “sexual deviancy”, and stated that he held this opinion as part of his Roman Catholic faith.
The story of Mr. Robert Smith’s firing by the governor of Maryland has been making its way around the blogsphere since this occurred. Here’s an excerpt from the original Baltimore Sun article: Ehrlich appointee fired over remark. Transit official equates gay lifestyle with deviancy
WASHINGTON // Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. fired one of his appointees to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority yesterday after the board member asserted on a local cable talk show that homosexuals lived a life of “sexual deviancy.”
The termination came a few hours after Metro board member Robert J. Smith, an architect and unsuccessful Republican candidate for the General Assembly from Montgomery County, was publicly confronted by a transit board colleague. Board member Jim Graham, a District of Columbia councilman who is openly gay, called on Smith to disavow his remarks or resign during yesterday’s regular meeting of the panel, which oversees Metro business.
Graham said he was gratified that Ehrlich decided to replace Smith. Earlier in the day, Smith said that he stood by his beliefs, which he said stemmed from his Roman Catholic faith, and insisted that he would not resign unless ordered by the governor.
“Governor Ehrlich got it; Mr. Smith was clueless until the end,” Graham said. “This is serious. To defend this point of view is beyond the pale. And so I think Governor Ehrlich got that very clearly, very quickly. So I appreciate his action.”
Ah, Mr. Graham, deviancy has caused your brain to go soft. Mr. Smith is not clueless, just faithful. He is faithful to God. You on the other hand are faithful only to your lifestyle.
We could easily call you on the public carpet for only representing one point of view now couldn’t we? Anyone can say that defending your point of view is beyond the pale. Be careful of the house of cards you build by persecuting people for their beliefs, that house could fall down around you.
For all interested please contact Governor Ehrlich. I’m sure he’d listen to other points of view (uh, yeah…).
Also, see the First Things article on this issue by editor Joseph Bottum who writes in part:
Even among those who preach toleration most loudly, genuine toleration is often scarce once the power to be intolerant has been gained. One of the many wonders of the American experiment is that the American people, throughout most of our history and with some shameful exceptions, have been astonishingly tolerant even of those who disagreed most flagrantly with the majority’s values. There is no guarantee, however, that such generous toleration will continue.