From Anita Bryant to Riley Gaines: The Courage and Cost of Standing for Truth in a Divisive Culture
What do Anita Bryant, Charles Colson, William F. Buckley Jr., and Jerry Falwell all have in common? These Christian public figures have all passed (Anita Bryant only days ago), though their decease is not the common trait to which I refer.
Also, what might these conservative leaders have in common with Riley Gaines, the swimmer who has taken a courageous stand in defense of women’s rights?
There are many commonalities that Bryant, Colson, Buckley, and Falwell shared. They all were accomplished in their respective fields.
Bryant was a successful singer, recording artist, and pitchwoman for Florida orange juice producers; Colson was revered for his ministry to prison inmates, a prolific scholar and respected Christian intellectual; Buckley was a renowned conservative leader, award-winning broadcaster, and publisher; Falwell pastored one of America’s largest churches and founded Liberty University, the world’s largest Christian university.
Like other worthy figures who could be named, these four took principled public stances for morality, truth and American ideals. Throughout what has come to be called “the culture wars,” these four were on record advocating for topics that should not have generated controversy: The sacredness of human life, legal protection for the unborn, the value of marriage, parental rights and the welfare of children.
The positions these leaders took on various issues would have placed them in good stead with venerated Americans such as Washington, Jefferson and countless others. Bryant, Colson, Buckley and Falwell publicly expressed convictions that mirrored religious contemporaries such as Billy Graham and Mother Teresa. And their stances were absolutely in accord with the most benevolent and revered names from known history, including Moses, Abraham, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Mary, the Apostle Paul, Augustine and Aquinas — not to mention one, Jesus of Nazareth.
And yet, during their lifetimes, these all paid dearly for their public stances on God, the family, morality and a Constitutional America, so did many other cultural leaders of conviction and principle. Bryant, Falwell and the others weren’t alone in being lampooned by the pundits, sued by the offended, and generally castigated for their stances. These four weren’t the only ones who paid emotionally — and financially — in speaking truth to our culture.
But Bryant, Colson, Buckley and Falwell shared an additional commonality: They were all, at one time or another, hit in the face with a pie by ones who disagreed with them. How’s that for a persuasive argument? Not, “refute the data” or “engage in meaningful dialogue.” But the left’s response to these (and many other) conservatives has been to shout down, threaten, and publicly demonize. And for, let’s call it, the piès de resistance, they’ll occasionally resort to creative assault.
That’ll show ‘em! Hit people with a pie!
But life (and the trajectory of our nation) is not a Three Stooges comedy. Pies-in-the-face made for good slapstick in vintage short reels. But in objecting to discourse about the crumbling foundations of our country, all the cream pie assailants showed was that they were intellectual cream puffs. We get it: Libertines and woke deconstructionists don’t like to hear opposing viewpoints. But again, a pie in the face of one with whom you disagree is not an argument.
About five years ago, I spoke at a conference at which Anita Bryant provided the music. Bryant delivered stellar renditions of sacred and patriotic music. Hearing her sing “God Bless America” took me back took my childhood, having seen her perform that TV. She and her husband Charlie Dry (a NASA test astronaut, who preceded her in death by only a few months) were extremely friendly, and I enjoyed getting to know them.
Behold, the glaring vacuous
Bryant’s recollection of being hit (literally) by a gay activist was shocking: “The guy really slammed the pie into my face,” she told me. “My first thought was that my nose was broken.”
I felt a similar recoil as Riley Gaines shared with me the brutality she suffered in standing for truth. At San Francisco State in 2023, she was forcibly trapped against her will, and held for ransom for three and a half hours. Hundreds of protesters barricaded her into a room, demanding that she pay money, “if she ever wanted to see her family again.” She was physically struck multiple times, all for saying that being a female is a matter of DNA, not a personal “choice.”
So much tolerance and respectful dialogue in the académie.
News of Bryant’s passing was met with gleeful derision and off-color jokes on social media. Social media was abuzz with similar reactions when Rev. Falwell passed in 2007. For the record, I’m glad that all parties on all sides of the cultural debates enjoy the Constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression. No question about that.
But when the best you can muster on behalf of your cause is to throw pies, that’s pretty lame.
Left-wingers, what else ya’ got? Any, um, factual arguments? No?
Simply tweeting nasty jokes and memes upon an opponent’s passing just exposes your worldview as empty like an unfilled pie shell.
Dr. Alex McFarland is a youth, religion and culture expert, a national talk show host and speaker, educator, and is author of 20 books. McFarland directs Biblical Worldview and apologetics for Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, CO. Via the American Family Radio Network, Alex is heard live on Exploring the Word, airing daily on nearly 200 radio stations across the U.S. The Alex McFarland Show airs weekly on NRBTV, providing Biblically faithful TV and discussion on current events affecting our nation.
