(LifeSiteNews) — In January, 19-year-old Christian police officer Jacob Kersey was put on leave by the Port Wentworth Police Department near Savannah, Georgia, after posting a defense of traditional marriage on social media while off-duty.
After a period of paid administrative leave, Kersey was given a choice: either agree not to publicly discuss his Christian view of marriage again, or get fired. Kersey chose to resign from being a police officer, a position that he had dreamed of since childhood.
Kersey and his lawyer, Courtney Jones of the pro-religious freedom First Liberty organization, join me on today’s episode of The John-Henry Westen Show to tell me his story and discuss further developments in his case.
According to Jones, the ultimatum given Kersey by the Port Wentworth Police Department was illegal. “Putting Jacob to that choice … between censoring his private religious speech and keeping his job is an unconstitutional choice,” she told me. “So the department violated Jacob’s First Amendment rights, both his right to the free exercise of religion and his free speech rights when they forced him to make this an unconstitutional choice.”
Jones further told me that First Liberty asked the Port Wentworth police in a letter to do two things with regard to Kersey’s case. “The first being an apology to Jacob for blatantly violating his First Amendment rights … and the letter also asks the city … to implement policies or revise their existing policies to respect the religious liberty rights, and also … the constitutional rights of their employees as a whole. So we’re hopeful that the city will take the appropriate steps to making these necessary changes.”
Discussing his resignation and the events that led to it, Kersey told me: “I know God is sovereign. God is in control. He saw this coming way before I did. And I trust that even where we’re at now, He’s used this story to bring Himself glory and honor. And really what we’re trying to do with First Liberty, it’s just to ensure that this doesn’t happen to another law enforcement officer ever again.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers have decided to honor the blasphemous anti-Catholic drag group, the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”, with a Community Hero Award next month on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
This blatant contempt for the Catholic faith cannot go unchallenged.
SIGN: The LA Dodgers must revoke their plan to honor these ‘transgender nuns’
The Major League Baseball franchise made the announcement in a Monday evening statement, saying it had decided to honor the group — which engages in deliberately offensive sexualized burlesque mockeries of Catholicism — after just last week canceling plans to do so when the public expressed outrage.
“After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families,” the statement read.
In one move, you managed to turn off conservatives and slap Christians in the face with disgusting drag nuns. What a disgrace you’ve become. Was recently at a game. Won’t be coming back.
— Courrielche⚡️ (@courrielche) May 23, 2023
The baseball team said it will ask the sacrilegious group “to take their place on the field at our 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night on June 16th.”
SIGN: The LA Dodgers must NOT allow this mockery to take place
The Dodgers’ Monday announcement comes after it previously agreed to dis-invite the group after outrage by Catholics and other conservatives.
Among others, Catholic Vote and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida vocally objected to the decision to honor the so-called “sisters.”
“Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees,” the team said in a since-deleted May 17 announcement.
San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone had previously thanked the Dodgers for their decision to roll back the invitation.
In its Monday statement, after apologizing for temporarily dis-inviting the anti-Catholic hate group, the Dodgers promised to “work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves, find ways to strengthen the ties that bind and use our platform to support all our fans who make diversity part of the Dodgers family.”
Make your voice heard NOW, before this blasphemy takes center stage.
SIGN: The LA Dodgers must not honor anti-Catholic, anti-Christian drag ‘nuns’
Conservatives responded on social media by slamming the baseball team for caving.
“Yes, it is vital that the national pastime honor and support those who mock religion and decency,” reacted Daily Wire co-founder and podcaster Ben Shapiro.
“The Gay Mafia will always extract their payment for ‘protection,’ said Crisis magazine editor-in-chief Eric Sammons.
Some social media users hinted that the team should face the same backlash as beer company Bud Light, which is continuing to endure a massive boycott after its decision to honor transgender-identifying TikTok activist Dylan Mulvaney.
But the Dodgers weren’t always woke and divorced from traditional religious practice.
Former Dodgers great Sandy Koufax, a left-handed pitcher who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in fame in 1972, famously refused to pitch during Game 1 of the World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, the most important holy day in the Jewish calendar. He previously opted out of games that landed on Passover and Rosh Hashanah.
And Koufax wasn’t alone in living an active faith. Legendary announcer Vin Scully, the “Voice of the Dodgers” for 67 years, was a staunch Catholic. Scully, who passed away last year at age 94, was described by Catholic News Agency’s Jonah McKeown as “a devout Catholic who found in his faith a source of joy and comfort and sought to share it with others through personal kindness and philanthropy.”
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, Scully was devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and even narrated a two-CD audio recording of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 2016.
SIGN & SHARE our urgent petition today – do not be silent as the Catholic faith is attacked!
Kersey also maintains that telling people the truth about marriage is truly loving, and that the definitions of love and hate have been changed by the society we live in. According to him, people can disagree with each other and still love one another, because disagreement with others is part of the American experience.
“When it comes to loving your neighbor, loving means telling them the truth,” Kersey said. “You know, ultimately, as a Christian, you don’t want to affirm someone in sin that’s going to damn their soul to hell. As Christians, we point out, even our sin, we point out the truth of our sin, of our fallen nature, of [the] fallen condition where we’re at. And we point out, ‘Hey there’s a Savior that loves you so much that He died on the cross for you.’”
“So loving people means telling them that when you come to Christ, you can come as you are, but in no way will you stay as you are when you stand before a holy God,” he continued.
READ: Young police officer forced out for defending traditional marriage talks next steps
Kersey also told me he is honored that God has given him the opportunity to suffer for his beliefs. “I don’t know how to explain it,” he said. “I’m not going to say it hasn’t been hard. There have been nights where, just to be honest, there have been tears strolling down my face and I struggle with what happened. But then in a moment, the sense of rejoicing comes, and as these tears come down my face, I can smile and rejoice, thanking God for the opportunity, just as the apostles did, saying … they rejoice because Scripture says they were counted worthy for suffering for His name.”
Kersey also gave advice for those who would suffer for Christ, saying that people should trust in Christ and abide with Him.
“As you abide in Christ, trust in Him, and He’s going to present those opportunities for you. And it might be something where you stand in a big way and you give up something big for God, or [it] might be in small ways,” he said. “But trust in Him, abide in Him, check your motives, and ensure that everything that you do is first born out of a love for God, a passion for the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things. And then secondly, after that relationship is right, then out of a love for the souls of mankind, and of a love for those people around you.”
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