Contending For Religious Liberty: David Kyle Foster

David Kyle Foster is the director of Pure Passion Ministries, which produces video stories of people who have left the homosexual lifestyle after turning to Christ.  Foster's ministry was posting its videos on Vimeo, the same video sharing website that we use at Church Acadiana.  But when Vimeo discovered the content of PPM's videos, it forced Foster to remove all of his content (850 videos) and shut down his account (March 2017).  According to Vimeo, they do "not allow videos that harass, incite hatred, or depict excessive violence."  As well, Vimeo explained its actions by saying, "To put it plainly, we don't believe that homosexuality requires a cure and we don't allow videos on our platform that espouse this point of view."

There are two things that Christians need to understand about this story.  First, we should support the freedom of Vimeo, a private company, to choose which videos they host.  The use of Vimeo, the private property of the owners, is not a right, but a privilege.  We should support the right of all private businesses to be able to choose the kind of activities they participate in, the kinds of messages they promote, and the kinds of events that they service.

For example, as Christians, we believe that private business owners, such as wedding venders, should have the freedom to not participate in gay weddings, because the business does not support homosexuality or gay marriage.  Just as Vimeo has the freedom to not promote the Christian teaching against homosexuality, a Christian business should have the freedom to not participate in or promote the anti-Christian ideas of homosexuality and gay marriage.

The second thing that Christians need to understand about this story is that it illustrates the danger of SOGIs (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity laws and ordinances).  When a city or state passes a law or ordinance that prohibits discrimination against gays and transgenders, the government is taking sides in the debate over the morality of these lifestyles.  The government then allows companies like Vimeo to make business decisions based on their values in favor of these behaviors, but it prohibits Christians from making business decisions based on their values against these behaviors.  SOGIs essentially make it illegal for Christian business owners to exercise their moral and religious beliefs against homosexuality, gay marriage, and transgenderism outside of the privacy of their own homes and churches.

In short, we should support the freedom of Vimeo to not host videos that condemn homosexuality, even though we disagree with their view on the issue.  However, the question needs to be asked, shouldn't Christian business owners be given the same freedom to not participate in or support activities, messages, or events that promote homosexuality?  The answer is "Yes!"  Tolerance is a two-way street.