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Preaching by: John J. Malone, Sr - JABSBG*

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Sissies Clash With Husker Coach – Nov. 10, 1999 - Comments (0)

Printer Friendly Category: Behind the Lines,Husker Football
Author: John Malone
Date: 3rd May, 2012 @ 11:11:27 AM

I wrote this in 1999 when Ron Brown spoke about homosexuality, and others tried to repress him, as they always do.

Wednesday, November 10, 1999

“Sissies” Clash With Cornhusker Coach

[The writer teaches Bible at Millard Community Church in Omaha, and in churches in East Africa. He was Student President/Regent from UNO in 1977.]

The University of Nebraska has sure fallen a long way in 25 years as a forum for freethinking, and free speech, not to mention free exercise. No sooner is there a complaint about Cornhusker coach Ron Brown – calling homosexuality the sin the Bible says it is – and politically correct sissies arise top-down from the university. They can’t even seem to assure us quickly enough of their readiness to repress free expression.

Regent Chairwoman Nancy O’Brien is an example: “I just can’t support taking advantage of one’s position at the university to preach their own ideas, regardless of what those ideas might be.”  O’Brien said the line between Brown’s personal and professional activities “seems to be pretty thin and pretty unclear.”

Her remarks serve as a chilling effect on all university personnel who, like Brown, who make it their purpose in life that their voice be heard. University personnel will have to tread O’Brien’s thin and vague line ever so carefully, especially when voicing opinions about homosexual conduct, or anything else that may rankle someone.

Further, her criticism of  “taking advantage of one’s position at the university” to “preach their [sic] own ideas” is the exact antithesis of what the university policy on free speech is. The people of the State of Nebraska want the university faculty to do EXACTLY that: it is the essence of teaching.

Similarly, UNL Chancellor Moeser comes off as a sissy. “I personally disagree with Coach Brown,” Moeser said concerning Brown’s broadcast on KGBI radio. Isn’t Moeser crossing O’Brien’s thin yellow line? Didn’t he “take advantage of his position at the university” to “preach his own idea” that is contrary to Brown’s?

Then Moeser offers this politically correct tidbit of repressive, and fascist policy: “He (Brown) has the right to state his opinion. I guess my concern is that we don’t want to create a climate in which any person feels that they’re being singled out or discriminated against on the basis of any personal characteristic, and that includes sexual orientation.”

Yet, the university is a climate where people with the personal characteristic of stupid or ignorant are discriminated against (or are they?). In the course of his work, Brown regularly discriminates against people with personal characteristics of short, thin, fat, slow, weak, clumsy, inattentive, nervous, and chicken. Some fans criticize him for not discriminating enough! Yet he gets paid to discriminate, AND to “create a climate” of discrimination.

Now, Bill Byrne, likewise a sissy, who wants us to know that he asked Brown to remove the word “Husker” from his show. Byrne further assures us: “He (Brown) has to be aware of what our position is and make certain that he does not go into areas that are not representative of the institution.”

According to the Constitution (and the Bible) Ron Brown is under no obligation to censure his remarks according to “what our position” is. Ron Brown is free to express his faith in the Scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ. He is free to do it on recruiting trips, and on the practice field. He is free to do it at fundraisers, and on the radio. Neither does Brown need to avoid “areas not representative of the institution” in his speech. What Byrne should realize is that when he dictates such repression to Brown, he takes state action.

Byrne’s (and Moeser’s) attempts to repress or confine Brown in the free exercise of his faith and speech are possibly illegal, and if they are maybe Byrne and Moeser should be arrested and charged with civil rights violations. In any case, their acts of repression should be met with public opposition and correction. At the very least, university leaders should make it publicly clear that their attempts to repress free speech are not representative of the athletic department, the University of Nebraska, or the people of this state.

Moeser and Byrne speak as if Brown belongs to them due to his employment, and they lend him out to others – including God – “in his own time.” Better men of more sober and humbler minds would say something like, at the very least, “I thank God for Ron Brown, and for the great freedom we have here in Nebraska to speak our minds”

Finally, where are Brown’s peers? Why haven’t the other coaches come forward? Where is the “academic community”? Where is the ACLU? Indeed, where is the Nebraska press?  Where is Tom Osborne?

Maybe we need the Attorney General on this one!

Preaching like Brown’s was the crucible of our First Amendment. After centuries of domination by the Roman Catholic Church in Europe, as well as the state church in England with its Court of the Star Chamber, those fleeing tyranny wanted their speech to be free, and especially their preachers’ to be free. The noble call of preaching has ever been that for which good men will be persecuted and arrested before they will be silenced.

When studying the subject of the First Amendment’s application in law, it is immediately recognizable is that its protections were often outlined according to the activity of Bible preachers in the public forum. The Bible teaches it is the practice of unrighteous men and women to suppress the truth, and close the public forum to God’s Word.

But sometimes the truth is suppressed by a bunch of sissies.

John J. Malone, Sr.