Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Reveals Kamala Levels of Contempt for Christians
Just as Kamala Harris’ “Jesus is Lord” controversy exposed leftists’ deep disdain for Christians — in Fairfax County, the Board of Supervisors’ (BOS) actions revealed the same level of contempt.
It all started with the BOS’ unopposed, 9-0 vote to recognize the Transgender Day of Visibility on the holiest day of the Christian calendar — Easter Sunday.
In response to what felt like a needless slap in the face of Fairfax’s large Christian community, at least 100 church leaders and parishioners showed up at the September BOS meeting to ask their county supervisors to recognize the historical and charitable contributions of local Christian churches—through a Church Heritage Recognition Day on Nov. 21.
In short, they sought a common-sense, peaceable way to bring balance to a previously one-sided action. Instead, their request was met with condescending insults — with the notable exceptions of Supervisors Pat Herrity and Daniel Storck, both of whom expressed support and abstained from the disdainful commentary of other colleagues.
The most outrageous accusations came from BOS Chairman Jeff McKay who publicly accused proclamation supporters of celebrating discrimination and creating “conflict and division.”
Other board members claimed the proclamation conflicted with their “equity” policy and was a so-called violation of separation of church and state. As Purvis Dawson, a local deacon from Calvary Road Baptist Church, pointed out at the latest BOS meeting (Nov. 19): This is stunningly inconsistent — to put it mildly — considering the myriad of recognitions the BOS has voted for over the years singling out specific religious groups. To list a few: Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month; recognition of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; Jewish Heritage Month; recognition of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society; and others.
Where were the church-state objections then? But leaving that aside, let’s return to McKay’s assertion that “this motion is in fact conflict and division.” Considering that this entire request was prompted by the BOS’ own action proclaiming Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter Sunday — which without a doubt caused conflict and division — this is yet another stunning example of their echo-chamber existence, or worse, just plain hypocrisy.
It’s also worth addressing McKay’s sweeping accusation that this was all about “discrimination.” As proof, he singled out one line in the originally submitted version from Fairfax citizens that recognized Calvary Road Baptist’s “significant religious freedom victory benefiting the First Amendment freedoms of other places of worship in the community.”
“That’s flat out discrimination,” McKay said, “to say someone can’t even get a job because of their private life.”
Again, he’s ignoring the huge elephant in the room: the very real struggle churches face when secularist government officials try to compel them to adhere to actions or beliefs that openly conflict with the Bible.
That’s what the Calvary Road case was all about — the church’s religious-freedom right to make hiring decisions based on their adherence to their longstanding biblical doctrine.
Would McKay accuse a Catholic church who refused to hire an atheist as ‘discriminatory’? The same principle applies when churches defend their right to operate according to their biblical beliefs on marriage and sexuality. To force churches to do otherwise would mean the end of the church’s existence in any practical sense of the word.
The fact that churches already are forced to legally defend their cherished religious freedoms in the public square illustrates why Fairfax Christians take it seriously when county government officials are disparaging of their religious traditions and beliefs.
Which gets us back to the original action that started this whole discussion in the first place—the BOS’ lack of respect for the 2,000-year-old, Christian holy day celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. Obviously, community requests for a Church History Recognition Day did not occur in a vacuum.
As Herrity recently pointed out, “the Board of Supervisors’ majority once again demonstrated how those who preach diversity can be the least tolerant of diversity of opinion.”
As a Vice President for The Family Foundation of Virginia, Candi Cushman focuses on amplifying the voices of concerned Virginia citizens, including moms, dads, pastors and business leaders, through the Speak Up! Virginia movement.
