Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS

The growing backlash by Christians and traditional marriage supporters against the censoring of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson has many wondering if the country has finally had enough of the shameless bullying by gay activists.

In a blog appearing on Lifesitenews.com, American Thinker’s Robert Arvay believes the Duck Dynasty controversy may have become the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back” and finally awakened the nation’s Christian population.

“For many years now, the drill has become familiar. Someone speaks out in favor of maintaining the traditions of marriage, and instantly the gay rights organizations are up in arms, making threats, filing lawsuits, and mobilizing protests. Then, instead of Christians putting up a serious resistance, there is apathy, apology, and defeat. The script was repeated over and again, time after time,” Arvay writes.

“This time was different. This time, millions of Christians and other Americans, even some enlightened gays, said, enough is enough. We’ve had it with your bullying. We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore. The left was stunned, reeling backward in defeat. For the first time in a long time, they are not reloading, they are retreating.”

That includes A&E who announced on Friday that they have decided to reinstate Phil Robertson to the show.

” . . . Duck Dynasty is not a show about one man’s views. It resonates with a large audience because it is a show about family … a family that America has come to love,” A&E said in a statement. ” As you might have seen in many episodes, they come together to reflect and pray for unity, tolerance and forgiveness. These are three values that we at A+E Networks also feel strongly about.

“So after discussions with the Robertson family, as well as consulting with numerous advocacy groups, A&E has decided to resume filming Duck Dynasty later this spring with the entire Robertson family.”

It remains to be seen how much of the nation’s outrage was due to the Duck Dynasty flap but Avray suspects American Christians have also become increasingly fed up with repeated violations of their First Amendment rights in general.

“The efforts of gays and others on the left to intimidate and silence Americans is not the only thing that Christians have become exasperated with,” Avray writes. “A whole host of other attacks upon First Amendment rights has gradually, perhaps invisibly, built up pressure in the hearts of freedom-loving Americans. A long list of violations of our rights by the most leftist president we have ever had surely played a role in the impatience Americans are feeling. If not the ‘Duck Dynasty‘ controversy, then some other event was sure to eventually blow the top off the volcano.”

However, he doesn’t see Duck Dynasty as an “accidental target” either.

“Its immense popularity had become perceived by Progressives as the very real threat it is — a threat to those who wield the power of the entertainment media,” Avray writes.

Which is why gay activists reacted in a predictable way after Robertson’s statements were published and fully expected to once again win the intimidation game against those “cowering Christians.”

But this was not the case. “Against the small, intrepid flotilla of truth, the mighty battle-fleet of leftist dogma sailed forth, expecting yet one more victory on its way to total domination of society, a society in which (they hope) even the merest mention of Biblical teachings will be quickly crushed and smothered. They expected that smashing the ducksters would be done almost without breaking stride. A simple complaint, an implied threat, should do the job. Against the gay juggernaut, the Christian majority was predicted to cower in fear.”

But, as we now know, things turned out much differently and even A&E is cashing in on the enormous outpouring of goodwill toward the Robertson family. Even before agreeing to reinstate Robertson, they network has been running hours-long marathons of Duck Dynasty reruns with the offending Papa Phil all over the screen.

Okay, so we won this round, but Avray warns against gloating because there is still much work to be done and many major [and bloodier] battles yet to be won.

“The victory is not ours, but God’s, and He will win it for us, on His schedule, not ours.”

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