Apr 30, 2012
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By Todd Starnes
Jake Naman knew something was about to happen.
The 18-year-old from Redlands, Calif., was sitting inside a cavernous building in Seattle waiting to hear from Dan Savage, the founder of the “It Gets Better” anti-bullying campaign.
Savage had been invited to speak to several thousand high school journalists attending a national conference hosted by the National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Association.
Naman, who is a yearbook photographer at Arrowhead Christian Academy, thought Savage was going to talk about his anti-bullying campaign. But the Christian teenager soon learned that Savage had a very different message for the students.
“I hope you’re all using birth control,” Savage told the teenagers as he began his remarks. From there, he regaled the young people who stories about his husband, describing how he looked in a Speedo. At one point, Savage imagined what it would be like with his husband on stage – telling the kids that they would have to pry him off his partner.
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Naman was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the tone and tenor of Savage’s remarks. There were more lewd comments, profane words and innuendo. And then, Savage said something that made Naman take notice.
“The Bible,” Savage said with a elongated pause.
“”The very second he said the Bible and paused, I knew it was going to get ugly,” Naman told Fox News. “It was about to be a bashing.”
And Naman was absolutely correct.
“We can learn to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about gay people – the same way we have learned to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation,” Savage told the young students. “We ignore bullshit in the Bible about all sorts of things.”
Some will say what happened next took courage – but Naman said he was simply following the prompting of the Holy Spirit. And the entire moment was captured on a video that has now gone viral on YouTube.
The 18-year-old Eagle Scout and captain of the high school track team rose to his feet – and walked out – passing by hundreds of other students who were cheering the anti-bullying advocate’s profanity-laced rant.
“I felt like in my heart I couldn’t just stay there at all,” he said. “It was a really weird feeling I just had to get out. I didn’t want to cause a scene but I really could not stand to be in that room anymore.”
Jake Naman said he felt – bullied.
“If Dan Savage had gotten up there and said ‘God hates homosexuals and they’re all going to hell,’ there would have been huge outrage from that crowd,” he said. “As Christians we get the other side of that. When our faith is attacked like that – we are ridiculed for taking a stand against it.”
Naman thought that he was the only person who walked out – but when he got to the lobby – he learned that was far from the case. Arrowhead’s entire yearbook staff followed his lead – including his 16-year-old sister.
“I was shaking,” Julia Naman told Fox News. “I saw my brother pop up and leave and I took off after him.”
So did 17-year-old Haley Mulder.
“I never felt more hurt, felt persecuted,” Mulder said. “For me, my faith is what I Want to be defined by. For someone to say it was B.S. is really hurtful. I felt put down and bullied because of my faith.”
And then it got worse for the Christian teenagers. Savage directly targeted them with his remarks.
“You can tell the Bible guys in the hall they can come back now because I’m done beating up the Bible,” he said. “It’s funny as someone on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible how pansy-assed people react when you push back.”
Naman said a number of the girls began crying. He said it seemed like such a safe environment “But then Dan Savage went off and it didn’t seem that way anymore.”
“He had a position of power as a speaker and he was using that against a group of students who had never done anything to him,” Naman said. “I would consider that bullying.”
“He was completely insulting and degrading our faith,” his sister said.
Mulder said Savage needed to practice what he preaches.
“I felt it was ironic coming from a person who was talking about not bullying,” she said.
In all about a hundred students walked out of the speech, but Naman said many others wanted to. He said some Christian teenagers felt intimidated and were afraid of what might happen if they had left.
Still, the 18-year-old said one thing was certainly obvious – “The majority of the students did not support us at all,” he said.
Savage issued a partial apology over the weekend, saying he was referring to the walk-out as “pansy-assed” and not the students. However, he stood by his profane references to the Bible.
FOX News Talk
I think the point is, he said, and I quote….
"You can tell the Bible guys in the hall they can come back now because I’m done beating up the Bible. It’s funny as someone on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible how pansy-assed people react when you push back."
He directed that to those HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS. They had done nothing, nothing, to him. He attacked them, because unlike him and degrading the strongest thing a person has; belief….they were mature and left the room because they felt insulted. NONE of them attacked him for what HE said.
"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them."
-Karl Popper, "The Open Society and Its Enemies".
Freak!
No morals taught to non-believers….well they should not be allowed to bully anyone or speak about their sexuality or religious beliefs since Christians cannot do it in public places other than the Church!
how is he addressing the christian faith? he raised a relevant point in regards to how many 'instructions' in the bible are ignored today….so why can we not ignore instructions regarding homosexuality. it has nothing to with christian bashing, it's a relevant point. simply ignoring his point and ranting about christian bashing is only confirming the close mindedness of the 'faithful', in my personal opinion.
Thanks Rang.
rang rage
praise rang
how is he addressing the christian faith? he raised a relevant point in regards to how many 'instructions' in the bible are ignored today….so why can we not ignore instructions regarding homosexuality. it has nothing to with christian bashing, it's a relevant point. simply ignoring his point and ranting about christian bashing is only confirming the close mindedness of the 'faithful', in my personal opinion.
For millenia CHristians have been shoving intolerance and hate down society's throat. One incident happens that goes against their beliefs and they run crying religious discrimination? Bahaha! Don't make me laugh.
For millenia CHristians have been shoving intolerance and hate down society's throat. One incident happens that goes against their beliefs and they run crying religious discrimination? Bahaha! Don't make me laugh.
I heard Savage's take on this. Quite different. I love his show, and trust in his version of what he said more than the kids'. I doubt he waxed profane about wanting to screw his partner for hours. I'm sure it came up, but I'm sure it was a small bit.
Also…
IT'S DAN FREAKING SAVAGE! That's like being mad at Christian Day for wearing eye liner.
Also…
IT'S DAN FREAKING SAVAGE! That's like being mad at Christian Day for wearing eye liner.
"Jake Naman said he felt – bullied" = Being told his intolerance is no longer acceptable. cry me a river
Savage's behavior and words are typical sodomite rhetoric. Sodomites are nasty, and militant, when it comes to ANYONE who opposed their lifestyle for any reason, whether Christian or not. Savage is UGLY! Who is he anyway? He's nobody who thinks he's somebody.
We should never allow anybody to say anything that could possibly make someone cry ever.
This is a serious problem because there has been an epidemic of gay kids bullying religious kids to the point that the religious kids commit suicide.
…wait.
Isn't Todd Starnes the same person that wrote the trans in the Ladies locker room article ? Why are you hanging out on Foxnews sites?
I was bored.
This IS ok. THIS is what people need to hear. All of the things he discussed, they really are in the bible! NO PART OF THE BIBLE RENOUNCES THE OLD TESTAMENT. Those kids that walked out are going to grow up to be shitty people if they cant see outside of their backwards little box. THIS, THIS made people cry? How about kids committing suicide or getting beat to death by other kids? Does that make you cry?
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