By M.H. Cavanaugh
Christian Action League
August 15, 2019
America’s founders were staunch defenders of free speech. “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without free speech,” said Benjamin Franklin. George Washington noted, “If freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
Today conservative speakers are disinvited from speaking at college and university forums and other venues because leftists bitterly complain or threaten to violently protest. To prevent conservative speakers from speaking, some have opposed by rioting and destroying school property. Speakers are rudely disrupted by shouts, chants, and instruments for making loud noise during their presentations.
Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, said he didn’t know what kind of situation he might be going into on his way to speak Monday evening for the Wake Forest Area Republican Club. The meeting was being held at The Real McCoy’s restaurant in Wake Forest.
“Only slightly before I left my office, I had been apprised by the gentleman who invited me that social media was abuzz that the Wake Forest Area Republican Club had invited a so-called “hate” speaker. There was going to be an Anti-LGBTQ meeting, and opponents should put pressure on the Real McCoy’s restaurant over it,” said Rev. Creech. “‘The community’ was being urged to ‘fight back.’ Neither I, the attendees, nor the restaurant could know what fighting back would entail and that made everybody, I think, just a little nervous about what to expect, if anything at all.”
Rev. Creech’s speech had no direct link to LGBTQ issues. Using the story of the Prodigal Son as the basis for his remarks, Creech spoke about the way freedom was currently being misunderstood and abused.
Quoting from the late renowned Methodist minister, J. Wallace Hamilton, Creech explained:
“Liberty is a tremendous thing, too big to talk about; it is one of the great words of human speech, and nobody can define it. Whole libraries have been written around it, but nobody can say what it means. That is because it is intensely spiritual. It has its roots in our spiritual nature; it didn’t come out of an Act of Congress but out of the unfathomable mystery of life itself; it is one of the inalienable rights we possess as the children of God. It is when we forget this, when we forget its spiritual nature, when we make it an end in itself, when we divorce it from other great endowments and try to make it stand alone, that our trouble with freedom begins. We could paraphrase Jesus’ words: ‘Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,’ [to Man cannot live by freedom alone,] but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
The meeting went exceedingly well. Fortunately, no protestors or troublemakers showed up to disrupt. Attendees were very engaged, and the meeting went into overtime with Rev. Creech answering numerous questions from the audience.
When the meeting was dismissed, the management of the restaurant, Ben Thomas and Johnny Wisenbacker, walked into the room and requested to speak briefly.
Wisenbaker told the group that management was aware of the social media controversy over the Wake Forest Republican Club’s meeting, but he wanted to assure those present that they were always welcome at The Real McCoy’s restaurant.
Wisenbaker said he was an Army veteran and that free speech and the defense of it was something close to his heart. “We will not be bullied,” said Wisenbaker.
Afterward, Thomas posted on The Real McCoy’s website:
“A good restaurant/bar is a social meeting place for all walks of life. It is a place you go where social status, politics, and race don’t really apply. In a good place, you’ll have the white-collar and blue-collar cheers to the good times together. Real McCoy’s is here to serve the community. ALL OF IT. We do not take sides…Our private room is available to rent for any occasion…”
Rev. Creech said that he thought that it was unfair that the restaurant was attacked. “They were an innocent party. Keyboard warriors were saying the issue was about the safety of the LGBTQ community. Hogwash. The real concern for safety, I suggest, was the business that was unjustifiably threatened. These folks who start this kind of thing demonstrate for us where the real ‘hate’ is. They seem to know nothing about civility and free speech,” said Rev. Creech.
Isaac Burke, a former candidate for the NC House, the person who invited Rev. Creech, also made the following post on Facebook:
“I invited Dr. Mark H. Creech to speak at the Wake Forest Area Republican Club last night, and he was well received by everyone in attendance. He gave a very inspiring speech in support of life, family values, and the Christian foundation of this country.
“We look forward to having him back sometime soon.
“Given a couple of online potshots aimed at the club for letting a socially conservative Christian activist and former pastor speak, I think this quote reiterated by Dr. Creech last night (I’m not sure about the original source) is appropriate:
“‘When you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one you hit.’”