Police Officer Resigns After Being Told not to Post “Offensive” Views on Biblical Marriage
It is true that what Kersey wrote would likely be offensive to most homosexuals. That doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with him saying it. There was nothing hateful about Kersey’s words, certainly nothing about the inherent value of a person or anything wishing them ill will. The claim that what he said is the same as saying a racial slur or cursing all homosexuals is preposterous. Disagreement is not hate.
The former officer, 19 year-old Jacob Kersey, began working for the Port Wentworth Police Department near Savannah, Georgia, in May 2021 and was reportedly doing well — until his Facebook post caused him to be placed on administrative leave. It’s not the first time social media posts have resulted in problems for police officers, but the content of this post was radically different. While some officers have been fired for posting racist, hateful, or obscene content, Kersey’s post was stating orthodox Christian beliefs.
Kersey spoke with John Wesley Reid about his experience:
God designed marriage. Marriage refers to Christ and the church. That’s why there is no such thing as homosexual marriage.
The following day, he received a call from his supervisor letting him know that he had received a complaint regarding the post and told Kersey to remove it. Kersey refused, but was later contacted by Lt. Justin Hardy, who said that the Port Wentworth Police Department did not want to be held liable in a “use of force” interaction with an LGBT person. Kersey continued to refuse to remove the post.
The next day he was called by Maj. Lee Sherrod and told he was being placed on administrative leave while the department launched an investigation.
Kersey says that Police Chief Matt Libby told him what he posted was the “same thing as saying the N-word and ‘[expletive] all those homosexuals.’”
Kersey also said that Capt. Nathan Jentzen told him Kersey’s free speech “was limited due to my position as … a police officer.”
After a week of paid administrative leave, Kersey’s active status was restored. In a letter dated January 13, Maj. Sherrod, the department’s human resource director, stated that after a review of Kersey’s known social media accounts, including a Christian podcast he had run for years, “we did not find sufficient evidence to establish a violation of any policies.”
However, the letter continued, the views he had shared “would likely be deemed offensive to protected classes” and could raise “reasonable concerns” about his ability to serve the LGBT community “objectively.” Any failure on his part to be seen as objective could cause him to be terminated.
While he would not be fired, Kersey says he was told to not post anything that could be deemed offensive on social media. Kersey says he was told that he could post Scripture but could not post his “interpretation or opinion on Scripture if it was deemed offensive.”
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The Center of the Scriptures
Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Thorn, Poland on February 19, 1473 as the son of a wealthy merchant. He studied law and medicine at the universities of Bologna, Padua, and it was while he was there that his interest in astronomy was stimulated. He lived in the home of a mathematics professor who influenced him to question the astronomy beliefs of the day.
At that time, the predominant theory had been in place for over a thousand years, since the days of Ptolomy. In that theory, the earth was the center of the universe and was motionless with all other heavenly bodies revolving around it. And though all of his observations of the skies were made with the naked eye, Copernicus disagreed. Sometime between 1507 and 1515 he began to first circulate a different theory, this one with the sun at the center and the earth moving around it.
Copernicus did not live to see the reaction to his assertions, but he probably would not have been surprised at them. The reactions were, of course, angry. Though there were many purported reasons for the anger, if we look a little deeper perhaps we would find that at least part of the root of that anger…The idea that the earth—filled with human beings—was actually not the center of the universe.
Keep that in mind as we turn to another moment, this one actually happening several centuries earlier. This moment was not set in scientific laboratories and the study of the stars, but instead on the dusty road between Jerusalem and Emmaus:
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.Luke 24:13-16
These two men, despite claiming to have a good working knowledge of everything that had happened in Jerusalem, were really missing the entire point. But not only were they missing the point of those recent events; they were missing the bigger and more majestic point at hand. This second point is actually the point of everything—
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An Overlooked Aspect of the Story: PCA Influence on Acts 29 and Mars Hill
Written by R. Scott Clark |
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
If you have not listened to “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” you should. It helps us to understand the so-called New Calvinism or the Young, Restless, and Reformed movement. It also helps us to understand the intersection between a part of the PCA and Acts 29 and that might help us understand some of the debates occurring today within the PCA.Regular readers of the Heidelblog and listeners of the Heidelcast will know that considerable time has been spent here analyzing and interacting with the podcast series produced by Christianity Today and hosted by Mike Cosper (see the resources below).
In that interaction most of the time and attention has been spent on the nature and effects of Mark Driscoll’s Narcissism and abuse and on highlighting the differences between Reformed theology, piety, and practice and that of the so-called “New Calvinism” or the Young, Restless, and Reformed movement as represented by Driscoll and Mars Hill.
The most recent episode of the Presbycast (“Deconstructing 2021 and Big Eva with D G Hart”), however, hits on a very important aspect of the Acts 29/Mars Hill/Driscoll story that I overlooked: the role of the PCA, specifically the Church Planting Assessment Center (CPAC) in Atlanta, and Spanish River PCA in the formation of Acts 29 and Mars Hill.
In that regard it is interesting to note that this is the first thing one sees on the CPAC page:
Choosing and Retaining the right pastor is the key variable in planting a new mission.—Lyle Schaller
Was the Apostle Paul “the right pastor”? After all, the Corinthians were not much impressed with him. They were interested in “wisdom,” and “power,” and eloquence but Paul came to them with “foolishness,” “weakness,” and stumbling: “I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor 2:3–5; ESV). They were much more taken with the self-proclaimed “Super Apostles” than they were with an actual apostle and they continued to be unimpressed with simple gospel ministry for, as far as church history knows, the rest of their history.
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Shocked by Surprise
I am shocked at the surprise. Our world is experiencing the fruit of rejecting God and his standard. I hope that the world sees the absolute insanity that this godless worldview produces, and the inconsistency of thought that is required to express outrage at injustice and evil. The God of the Bible loves justice and all that is good, and hates injustice and evil. The Christian is outraged by injustice and has a worldview that affirms this outrage.
An Honest Worldview
In 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “God is dead… And we have killed him.” From this thesis, Nietzsche advocated for a complete rejection of all morality that originated from any outside source, especially from this “dead” God. If God is dead, then to follow his rules is nonsense. If God is dead, then every man can be a god unto himself. Every person must reach within himself alone to order his way, master his will, and pursue his desires as far as possible. The man doesn’t need just will-power, he needs the will-to-power. He must strive to dominate and achieve all. The man who accomplishes this is the Übermensch, the Superman.
Nietzsche’s writings have been around for over 100 years, and although he had a greater influence in Europe, the ideas of Nietzsche have become more and more popular in our “post-God” society. I appreciate that Nietzsche is not afraid to be honest with his worldview. If there is no God, then there is no reason to follow rules set in place by any particular deity. If there is no Lawgiver, then there is no law. And if there is no one to whom we are accountable, then we are free to pursue our own passions without consequence. The moral standard is destroyed, and there is neither good nor evil, right nor wrong.
I respect Nietzsche for taking his worldview to its logical conclusion. Most atheists will deny God and His standards while still trying to enforce a moral code of sorts. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make sense if there is no standard. What is the foundation of morality? Is it society? Is it morally acceptable to kill and rape women if your society says that it is ok? Do individuals set the bedrock for morality? I think that we all know that each individual setting their own moral standards would lead to constant chaos and conflict.. And if each person sets their own moral standard, then how can we speak of injustice? If every man is right, then no one can be wrong. Pedophiles can be praised since they have set their own standard and achieved it. What a terrifying world. And when atheists agree with what I’m saying, they prove that they are not really committed to the “godless” position. Nietzsche was at least honest with his atheism.
This is the mindset that has pervaded the world. “No God = No Standard. Morals are subjective, and truth is fluid. Run after your passions, follow your heart, and live for yourself. There is no eternity, so live for this life now.” Listen to the comedians, the musicians, and the politicians. Watch the movies and the tv shows. What is celebrated? Individualism. Revenge. Misogyny. Drugs. Alcohol. Sex. Pride. Lust.
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