After Life-Affirming Message, Speaker Chastised by Public School

After Life-Affirming Message, Speaker Chastised by Public School:Â Today we”re talking about censorship and what we”re facing in the culture when we come from a Christian perspective. Christians are being called out as hateful and using “hate speech”, but what is it that we should actually be offended by? Guest, Ryan Bomberger, is a champion for life and has a great article out on this. He joins us to share about a recent experience he had while speaking at a school in Michigan! Tune in now for more!

Air Date:Â 08/07/2018

Guest:Â Ryan Bomberger

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

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Transcription note: Â As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith And The Culture

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders Live! We”re talking about today”s hottest topics on policy, faith, and the culture. Always from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective.

We’re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and our founder here at WallBuilders. Also, Tim Barton”s with us, national speaker and pastor, and president of WallBuilders. My name is Rick Green, I’m a former Texas legislator.

You can find out more about all three of us and the radio program at WallBuildersLive.com. That also has some of the most recent programs. You can go into the archive section and listen to some of those Friday programs which we call Good News Friday, so we bring you a lot of good news to encourage you and let you know the system works if we work the system. And then on Thursdays, we do Foundations of Freedom programs, so you can go back in the archives and get some of those questions on our foundational principles in those Thursday programs. And then Monday through Wednesday we have all kinds of interviews with folks that are on the ground in the culture war out there making a difference. All of that available at WallBuildersLive.com.

David and Tim, later in the program Ryan Bomberger will be with us. He’s been in the news quite a bit lately with some different articles and speaking at schools, and people getting upset. So, let’s find out why all these folks are responding the way that they are.

Tim:

Yeah. The first thing that struck my attention was an article that was about a meme he had on Instagram and it was dealing with Planned Parenthood and the KKK. Which, of course, instantly I thought, “Okay, yeah, I would love to see the connection.” Because go back to Margaret Sanger and she wasn’t a good person as far as race is concerned. And she really thought that eugenics program, let’s keep the black population down. So, yeah, I thought, “Okay, let’s see what they say about it.”

Well, it turns out on this meme that was an Instagram he said that Planned Parenthood kills more black babies in two weeks than the KKK ever did in their lifetime. And then linked to Planned Parenthood eugenics, had a few things on there. Instagram came against him and said, “Wait a second, this violates our community guidelines. This is hateful speech and you’re inciting violence.” So, they banned his posts. He gets a threat that if he continues to violate community guidelines they will delete his account, etc..

Dealing With Censorship

Tim:

Just interesting that saying a statistically true piece of information, putting a meme out there, they said, “Whoa, you can’t say hateful things like that against Planned Parenthood.” Even though it happens to be true. So, this is where we kind of first took note of this and thought, “Man, it would be interesting to talk to him about this situation with Instagram censoring him in the midst of this.”

Then on top of it we found out this is not the only time he’s had to deal with censorship, so to speak. Just interesting– we’ve talked about it many times – if you’re a conservative promoting, not just an agenda, if you’re promoting truth, using statistical data, using information, verified analytics, things you can point to and say, “This is true that we see it right here. Here’s what the numbers say, the numbers don’t lie.” If you use truth, if you are a conservative, you will get shouted down as being hateful, and bigoted, and racist, and whatever other slogans they want to throw against you.

We’ve certainly seen this, but this was just another example where someone saying something statistically, factually, true, they were shouted down, so to speak. He was censored because it didn’t line up with the narrative. And he wasn’t loving and he was hateful because he said something true that was statistically verifiable.

Rick:

Just to point out, even this Instagram post that he did talking about Planned Parenthood kills more black lives in two weeks than the KKK lynching in a century. I did not know this till I read his article that the pastor out there of Bethel Church, Bill Johnson, he re-posted that. And as Ryan said in his article, he said, “I wish more pastors would stand firm in truth and love like he does.” I thought that was worth a shout out at least to say, look, most mega church pastors are not willing to wade into these fights and speak these truths. So, that’s a good thing, a positive thing. And maybe that’s part of why Instagram pulled that down – it was getting too many shares. It was telling the truth about something they didn’t want people to hear.

If It Doesn”t Line Up With the Modern Narrative

Tim:

Yeah, there’s no doubt, it was going to get traction. There’s no doubt he was going it a lot of likes on this one. But it certainly is something we see in culture – if it doesn’t line up with a modern narrative, right. If you don’t say what politically people want you to say then it’s like this machine comes against you and will try to shut you down. Especially if you’re gaining traction. Especially if you’re persuading people. Because I can guarantee you I’ve seen things far more hateful, bigoted, racist, whatever. Whatever label you wanted to put on this., this was not that compared to some other things I’ve seen.

But certainly, if you don’t have the traction, if you don’t have the credibility, and notoriety, right, if you’re not labeled as somebody from a conservative position, or Christian position, or whatever the case may be, then there’s a lot more leeway and tolerance. And this is just one of those battles we are dealing with.

Rick:

Yeah.

Tim:

But certainly, something that in this situation we thought, “This is worth talking about.” And partly because on another situation where he was speaking at a school there actually was some positive outcome eventually in the midst of him being censored there as well. But certainly, does identify the battle we are having to deal with coming from a Christian perspective.

Rick:

Yeah, and before we have him come on after the next break, I just want to read the last part of his article on this because I think it”s appropriate. He said, “If people want to be offended by anything–“– because that was the deal, they were offended by his meme pointing out how many blacks were killed by Planned Parenthood.

Be Offended By This

Rick:

He said, “If people want to be offended by anything, be offended by a worldview that denies that we’re all created equal and justifies the slaughter of the weakest among us. Be offended that women are told by a billion dollar abortion industry that they’re not stronger than their circumstances, be offended that religious leaders are blessing abortion mills as holy ground and sacred work.” And he gives the links to those stories. “Be offended”, he said, “that the NAACP begun to stop racial violence staunchly supports the violence of abortion and even sued us for calling them out.”

He’s talking about his organization. He goes on to say, “Be offended that men can do nothing to stop their unborn child from being killed. Be offended that a half a billion of our tax dollars annually support Planned Parenthood and its promotion of reckless sexual behavior. Be offended that pregnancy help centers, which care for mother, father, and child – born and unborn, are maligned by pro abortion activists and instead of being fully and financially supported by churches across the country. Don’t be offended because you simply don’t know what you don’t know.”

Man. Just good stuff. Ryan had a great article there. It’s the type of thing and we need to be sharing. He’s going to be was when we come back from the break to talk about the other story, the specific example where he spoke at this school, called in to bring hope to these kids, his story guys is incredible. He was the result of a rape, his mom chose life as a result of that, he was raised in a multiracial family, and he just brings a very powerful compelling story of hope to these kids when he goes in and speaks at the schools.

And he doesn”t even talk about marriage and life and some of the more controversial issues where he has a biblical worldview. But that’s not what he talks about in that particular setting. He talks about life from the standpoint of don’t commit suicide and if you’re struggling, let’s get you some help. He has a compelling message and that’s why the schools bring him in. Well, man, this one went crazy in Michigan, so let’s get him on to talk about. Stay with us. You’re listening to WallBuilders Live.

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Rick:

Welcome back. Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. Ryan Bomberger is with us. You need to check out Radiance Foundation. It”s at TheRadianceFoundation.org.

Ryan, your story is amazing. We want to talk a little bit about that. But, man, the way you’re getting treated by the public school out there where you”ve trying to bless people – crazy. Anyway, thanks for coming on, man.

Ryan Bomberger:

It’s great to be here.

Rick:

Hey, tell us first of all why you go into these schools and speak on topics like adoption.

Bringing Context and Clarity

Ryan Bomberger:

Well, our schools are experiencing a serious deficit of truth. So, we’re really passionate at The Radiance Foundation to be able to speak life, to speak hope, and speak truth. So, whether they’re public schools or private schools we’re just really passionate about kind of talking about today’s issues and bringing context and clarity to all of them.

Rick:

And they– a lot of people would initially think you guys are obviously a pro-life organization. You speak truth on many different issues. Some would say, “Well, public schools aren’t going to let you come in.” But they have and they want to hear truth – some of them. And they actually asked you to come and speak on this very specific topic.

Ryan Bomberger:

Yes. In fact, this school in Vicksburg, Michigan asked us to speak about life having purpose and to share my story of adoption. And let’s just say it didn’t exactly go the way I thought it was going to go. The presentation itself went excellently. The response from the students and the faculty in there was was incredible, the positivity, the involvement. I didn’t realize until after the fact that it wasn’t the actual presentation, it was just what we represented that offended a minority of very vocal opposition there.

Rick:

What do you think it was that– because your story, your mom chose life despite a rape. Â You were raised in a multiracial family, you bring that background to say, “Look, everybody can learn something from my life story.” And then you bring it to life and the choice of life. What was the turnoff? What got them upset?

Ryan Bomberger:

Well, even just adoption, just the narrative of adoption, was offensive to some. The mere mention of adoption, particularly for those who are pro abortion, is offensive. So, sharing my story of growing up as a biracial kid in a very multiracial family of 15, having nine other siblings who were adopted, was apparently offensive.

But I was not allowed to say certain things. There were certain words that the principal, who was also pro-life, said, “You can’t go into these areas.” That’s fine. Didn’t touch on those – I couldn’t even say abortion, I didn’t say pro-life, I didn’t say pro-choice, I didn’t mention LGBT anything. I just stayed away from all those words, so it was kind of censored in a way.

The Offensive Thing

Ryan Bomberger:

But because of what we represent and because people went online, went on our website, they were deeply offended by the fact that I– we”re clearly pro-life, are clearly pro family. And that was the offensive thing. So, a Christian espousing a life affirming message was not acceptable in the public school setting.

Rick:

Was the pushback afterwards, did it come from the school itself or students that then went and researched you and decided to lash out at you? What was the initial response?

Ryan Bomberger:

The– as I mentioned, there was a vocal minority and, quite honestly, was mostly LGBT students and their parents who apparently complained to the administration. Leading them the next day to post on Facebook for the world to see and misrepresenting the entire situation. Saying that I did not abide by the agreed upon outline – which I did to a T.

We had submitted an outline and I”d adhered to it exactly, but they said that I went into other areas, I was overtly political, and it was discomforting to many. And that was a lie, a complete and utter lie, and then they reinforced it saying that the actual content of the presentation wasn’t in keeping with the agreement and it was just– it was defamatory. And it was such a shame because there was so much positive response from students. We got e-mails and voicemails also from parents, but they decided that they are to side with the dishonest and offended minority who didn’t like who we were.

Rick:

Yeah. And you know, Ryan, like I’m looking at your website right now which is great, by the way, and TheRadianceFoundation.org, folks, is where you can go to find out more. You can actually bring Ryan in to speak as well. And when you say on the website family is everything, family is the foundation of every society, men and women are not interchangeable, natural marriage is the best for our children and our communities. This is just truth, it”s just fact, it’s– history taught us those things.

What Happened to Civil Discourse?

Rick:

But those words to that community become so offensive to them that then they lash out the way that they are now. Even after you spoke and it becomes like this almost violent Â verbiage. In fact, even one of the posts, F word all over it, they were just going after you like crazy.

Ryan Bomberger:

Right. And I didn’t say those words. I didn’t even talk about family other than growing up in a large family, so I wasn’t even going into those areas.

Rick:

Yeah, that’s what I was going to point out. This is on your website.

Ryan Bomberger:

We talked about suicide.

Rick:

Yeah.

Ryan Bomberger:

We talked about how every life has value, and get a little uncomfortable, and spend time with someone who’s hurting, and speak with them, invest in them. But yet that wasn’t good enough for that minority.

Rick:

Yeah.

Ryan Bomberger:

They hated us. You couldn”t even repeat most of the words in some of these responses.

Rick:

No. And that’s what I mean. We’ve seen this happen multiple times where the presentation of the speaker at the moment has nothing to do with any of that, but then they find out on your own personal time, or on your own whatever, you expressed this clear doctrine of your faith. And frankly, societal position, based on what you’ve seen in history. And man, it just becomes vitriolic. It makes me wonder – where’s the civil discourse of, you know, in a civil society of you let other people speak.

I’ve had people come in and speak it at my youth leadership programs from the ACLU that I disagree with on 90 percent of things, but on one issue it was a really good presentation. That’s the way I would think it would take place. And I would think you had positive feedback from the students that were there in the room and from administration. Seems like they would want you there.

It”s All Worth It

Ryan Bomberger:

Absolutely. In fact, there is one student– this is what makes it worthwhile. One student has written a lengthy e-mail to us thanking us because she was suicidal the last year and she felt like no one made her feel like she had any worth and hearing me speak at that assembly just reignited something in her and she was so grateful. And I thought, you know what, with this garbage with the administration just blatantly lying about us and and just all the defamatory statements. Doesn’t matter. Because if that one young girl was reached and had a whole different perspective on her life and the value that she possesses, hey, it”s all worth it.

Rick:

Man, that’s right. That’s right. Well, good for you. And you”ve got exactly the right attitude. And you said you go to public schools, private schools, you go all over, right?

Ryan Bomberger:

We do. And college campuses – Harvard, Princeton, USC, Penn State. The places where, unfortunately, so many of these young people are taught to fear instead of to think.

Rick:

Yeah.

Ryan Bomberger:

And that’s why you get these kind of visceral reactions. And there’s no logic to it, there’s no reason to it. But people are– we’re fed all these emotional mantras, and these bumper sticker sort of slogans. But not to actually let’s think critically about this. Let’s talk and have this kind of civil dialogue. But instead it’s always about hate. It’s about demonizing the other side as much as you possibly can so that there’s nothing constructive that comes out of it. And that’s really a shame because we all are hurt by that – it’s a detriment to all of us when we can’t sit down and have these kinds of conversations.

The Power of Love

Rick:

Well, the good thing is you’re responding in love and you”re responding by continuing to take that message in there. And the truth is you know there’s– going in there firsthand to a lot of the schools and places, there are a lot of hurting young people out there that are looking for answers. They feel like the sand just keeps shifting underneath them. And and Â to hear a message like yours is needed desperately. So, that’s part of why we wanted to have you on is just encourage people to bring you in to speak and to give the students a chance to hear some hope. This is the message they need.

So, despite the opposition, despite the visceral reaction from this one small segment of that particular audience, we”re thankful that you’re out there, man. We want to encourage folks to bring you in.

Ryan Bomberger:

And I appreciate that. I just want to also just clarify too that the school ended up issuing an apology after our lawyer threatened them for defamation.

Rick:

Oh, good.

Ryan Bomberger:

And within 24 hours they issued an apology basically admitting that they lied about everything that they posted on Facebook about this. And it’s a shame that you even– we had to get to that point. But we wanted students to understand the administration wanted us to come in and speak life, and speak hope, and that’s exactly what we did.

Rick:

Yeah.

Ryan Bomberger:

And they undermined their own purpose and intention for the assembly. So, I’m glad they apologized.

Got to Push Back

Rick:
And had you not pushed back and had the attorney send that letter and got that apology, Â the thing is that there are other kids hurting in other schools that would not have got to hear your message because those administrators would have looked you up and then they hear from all these lies that have been told and they say, “Oh, we’re not going to have–“

So, you”ve got to push back like you did. You”ve got to get the truth out there in order to defend your reputation and your name so that people will still have you in for the message. So, I’m glad you did that, I’m glad they apologized, and, man, I hope you get 1000 more bookings as a result of it.

Ryan Bomberger:

I do too. We’re just passionate about letting people know that every human life has purpose, their life as purpose, regardless of their circumstances, God loves them. And that’s what we’re passionate about getting across to millions.

Rick:

Amen.

Ryan Bomberger:

That’s our goal.

Rick:

Yeah. Good stuff. Alright, TheRadianceFoundation.org is the website, TheRadianceFoundation.org. We”ll have an easy link today at WallBuildersLive.com. Ryan, appreciate your time, man. Keep up the great work out there.

Ryan Bomberger:

Thanks so much.

Rick:

Stay with us, folks. We’ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Avalon Project

Tim:

Hey, guys, this is Tim Barton with WallBuilders. I know you hear my dad and Rick talk a lot about our Founding Fathers about the original intent of our nation, a constitutional heritage that we have. And really we’ve seen how far we slipped away from that. And I know a lot of us as we hear my dad and Rick talk think, “I wish there was a place that I could go where I could see these documents and I could read and learn about the Founding Fathers firsthand. Â See the things they did.”

I want to give you some websites today that can help you accomplish that very thing. If you get online you can go to places like Library of Congress and you can look under their century of lawmaking or historical documents. You can go to the Avalon Project, to the Founders Constitution, Google Books, or even the internet archives. Â

Or you can just go to WallBuilders.com. We have a section for our WallBuilders Library. And under that section we have different subgroups for historical documents, historical writings, even a place where you can get helpful links to find out more information about other websites. Â Where you can do research for yourself and find the truth for yourself. Friends, this is the time that we need to know who we are and where we came from. WallBuilders.com is a great place to go.

Rick:

We”re back on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Ryan Bomberger for joining us today as well. We’re back with David and Tim. And, guys, you can hear it in his voice – he’s coming to these groups with love and he’s saying a message of love. And the response is, nope, we’re not– we’re tolerant about anything else, but not you because on your website you say you’re for marriage. He didn’t even talk about it at the event.

David:

Well, that’s what really stood out was it’s not what he said in his presentation that offended the critics, it’s what they themselves resented about him.

Rick:

Yeah.

What This Generation Really Cares About

David:

Not what he said in the presentation. So, what he did at the school, what he did with the kids, all that’s not a problem, but who you are, man, we can’t have that. So, it’s also interesting to me that, as he pointed out, just the mention of adoption – he was adopted – just mentioning adoption was offensive to the pro abortion side. Is that the new word that you can’t even say anymore?

Tim:

And the fact the principal was scared to have him mention that word is very telling to me. Because how many kids in the school were adopted? Well, probably there are several there that were adopted. So, are they not allowed to mention in school that they were adopted, is that illegal too? Because, obviously, the principal was not wanting to have this addressed, but it’s almost like saying that you can’t mention that kids maybe come from a broken home, maybe your parents were divorced, “Yeah, but don’t mention divorce, that”s sensitive.” It’s really like we’re saying, “Let’s just bury our heads in the sand, and let’s just be positive, and be friendly, and don’t be real with kids.”

This is where so often adults fail to connect with the next generation because, by and large, whether we”re talking about the Millennial Generation or Generation Z, what they care the most about is authenticity. So, even if they disagree with you, if they feel like you are being real, and being genuine, and you actually care for them in conversation, if you open up and are honest with them, they love it. Even though they might not agree with you, even though they might not agree with what you stand for, they will appreciate you more as a person.

But if we’re going to censor people and say, “Hey, we really don’t want you to be real, don’t want you to be genuine, don’t really want you to be honest, open up about who you are and your circumstances, your situation.” Which, is even what gives him credibility to come and speak to us in the first place. It doesn’t make sense. And yet this is exactly– he walked in, he did exactly what he was told to do. Did nothing to violate what he was– kind of the orders, the instruction,s he was given. And, yet, the school’s going to come out and say, “Well, we’re so sorry for bringing in someone who is this, and this, and that.” He didn’t do any of it. Which obviously, is why they did come back and apologize later.

A Reflection of the Battle We”re Dealing With

Tim:

But this is, again, the reflection of the battle we’re dealing with and the lack of courage oftentimes. Even though, right, the principal, probably a really good guy, even though you have really good people, if they don’t have the courage to stand up this nonsense will continue to prevail. Edmund Burke says the only thing necessary for evil to prosper is good men to do nothing. To me this is one of those situations where not just that he didn’t do something on the backside – of course he did, it”s great. But why didn’t nobody in the school stand up and say, “Wait, that’s not what he said. Why weren’t they the ones defending him if they heard what he did?”

David:

It’s interesting that, as Ryan said, the principal told him which words he could and could not use. And imagine that in a school in America where that we have a Constitution that guarantees you free speech we are specifically saying there are words you can and cannot use. So, we’re censoring. That sounds like you’re up about 50 years ago. So, we’re telling you what words you can and cannot use.

And I was recently talking to a superintendent who said he just got out of his training, because they’re going back to school here in a couple of weeks, and he was told– and this is in a very conservative, very red state, they said, “You cannot use the word “God” in school and you cannot allow the word “Go” to be used.”

I”m going, wait a minute, so that means you can’t teach any inaugural address of any president because they all mention God in some way, shape, fashion, or form. You can’t do anything with all the things that happened in World War II. You can’t cover D Day because President Roosevelt prayed to God for six *. I thought, how crazy that we now have a system in a very red, very conservative, state where the principles are being told you cannot allow the word “God” to be said at school.

The Loudest Group

David:

So, if somebody if somebody sneezes you can”t say, “God bless you”? Well, we’ve already seen universities saying you can’t say that. When I was looking at the reaction that Ryan got, it was not the biggest group, in other words, the supporters didn’t get upset, and it wasn’t the people who voted for the right things. It was the loudest group. And that’s what the school capitulated to was the loudest screaming group.

And it reminded me that about 15 years ago they came up with this term that”s still used in politics widely today. It”s called the Gay Mafia. Because these guys are so intolerant and they have that kind of take you down mentality like the mafia did – “You don’t cross us. If you do you’ll pay for it.” This is the climate we now have in schools. But good for him that he stood up. And I was wondering why he didn’t do something * stuff and then I hear he did. And then the school backed down. So, this is really– I’m glad he pushed back, but what a crazy culture we live in. But what a good story to have told.