As a Christian, I always try to find a biblical basis for my views and arguments in all areas of life.  I truly want to do and be what God and His Word desires and describes.  Saying anything like that, in the past, has earned me the scorn and rejection of some who believe that nothing of the Christian Religion should be involved in the political and some take exception to my interpretation of the Bible.  If you fall into either of those categories, you probably do not want to read the rest of this article.  However, if you have an open mind I encourage you to read even if, at the end, you are in adamant disagreement with my position.

Jesus warned about being the source of an offense but the Bible also speaks of not being easily offended and one rendering of Proverbs 19:11 says, “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”  In Proverbs 18:19 we discover the problem in offended person is they become unyielding and block out all reasonable discussion.  It is when people stop talking and resort to violence or attempts to force their views on everyone else that we reach an impasse that leads to complete separation and often war.  You do not have to agree with the other person or group but should embrace the reality and truth that they have the Constitutional Right and Guarantee of Free Speech which also affords them Freedom of Thought and Belief.

In today’s world, we have become so Politically Correct that no one is to be offended.  If they are, then behavior must be modified according to the mandate of the offended person, party or group.  WAIT!  That is not completely accurate because it is not a blanket mandate that no one is to be offended but rather a mandate that certain groups and sects are not to be offended.  Conservatives are not a protected class and the Left, the MSM, the Activist, and various groups consider it justifiable, legitimate, and perfectly acceptable to offend those of us who consider ourselves Constitutional Conservatives. Our feelings do not count and since they find them offensive we are instructed to change our views.  I was raised to have “tough skin” and not be “easily offended.”  I was raised to believe that everyone had a right to their opinion and therefore being offended was a choice.  I was taught that I did not have to allow myself to TAKE OFFENSE and that is exactly what happens when people are offended.  Some choose to make everything personal, reject the right of others to their own views, and they exhibit a desire to control or police thought and actions of anyone disagreeing with them.  HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT?

The push to rid our nation of all symbols of the Confederacy is akin to what is happening by ISIS in the destroying of artifacts and symbols they consider offensive to their particular view of their religion.  However, it is not as much that they are attempting to remove objectional items as they are trying to remove them from the consciousness of the world.  Their destruction of those items is an attempt to REVISE HISTORY and they seem to have the misguided idea that by removing those symbols that view or period did not take place.  Attempting to sanitize history opens the door to repeating those dark times, whereas openly acknowledging them opens the door to discussion and can be preventative.  I find the idea of slavery reprehensible.  That is a standalone statement.  There are those who are offended by Confederate Memorials and demand they be removed.  Because some are offended why must everyone be robbed of that portion of history?  I find the White Supremacy and the KKK reprehensible but I do not want the history of those groups erased from history any more than I want the history of the Weather Underground, the Black or New Black Panthers or any Anti-government and Anti-White groups removed.  Our children need to hear an honest discussion about what took place in the Civil War and if we are honest with history it will not be solely a discussion of slavery but the many other factors that were involved and then some good things that came into being because of that conflict.  We are not allowed to use certain words in today’s Politically Sanitized Society because some are offended. How about those of us who are offended by abortion, the removal of prayer from schools, the removal of references to the Bible in public places, or the banning of Nativity Scenes from public grounds?  Will they be restored because their removal offends us?  NO, THEY WILL NOT!  If you allow something to so offend you that you cannot function the problem is not the objectionable and offensive item but something inside of you.  For me to be offended, I must decide to allow someone or something to take control of my life and I refuse to do that.  I choose to NOT TAKE OFFENSE and even if something is offensive the fact that I find it offensive does not mean that everyone else does.  There must be a melding of my rights with the rights of others and in that, we must learn to accept differences rather than take offense and demand that the PC Police step in and mandate everyone comply with our views.  No person can MAKE ME MAD, if I get angry I made a choice to allow what transpired to take control.

How did we reach the point in our modern society that we allow a few squeaky overly protected and self-indulgent people to mandate what we can or cannot say, can or cannot do, and can or cannot have as symbols in society?  I make the choice as to who I will associate with, what I will watch or listen to and what I will honor.  The concern I have is where does it end?  Who determines what is OFFENSIVE and what is not?  Who determines who it is acceptable to offend and who is protected?  What happened to growing up and understanding that people are different?  What happened to living in a civil society where differences are tolerated rather than the continual behavior modification defined by the Left is the Law of the Land?  WHERE DOES IT END?  It ends in bloodshed and a total separation of segments of society and rather than achieving the stated objective of acceptance and tolerance it does the exact opposite.   Your inalienable right to think what you choose and to speak it in a civil manner must be protected.  What you believe, think, and say may be highly objectionable and even reprehensible but that is not justification for your OFFENSE to supersede their rights.  I will condemn true hate speech and racism anywhere and everywhere I see it and it may be offensive but I will never consider that justification to censor or silence them through a mandated PC Policy that tramples on their rights.  I will simply shun them and denounce what they have said or done.  That is the America our Framers and Founders gave us, let’s return to it and expect people to grow up and realize that there are always going to be differences of opinion.  NO, I do not want to allow people to incite riots or engage in violence.  You may be offended that I eat meat but that does not give you the right to outlaw the eating of meat.

Hopefully, we can move beyond the PC Policing of our Society and allow differences to exist.  I personally am happy there are differences between men and women and viva la difference.  I am happy that everyone does not want the same thing or every man would want my wife.  We are different, think different, believe different and our preference is not justification to demand that everyone complies.

God, bless you and God bless America.