The Kaepernick opportunity

Each week, The World and Everything in It features a “Culture Friday” segment, in which Executive Producer Nick Eicher discusses the latest cultural news with John Stonestreet, president of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Here is a summary of this week’s conversation.

You don’t have to be a football fan to follow the controversy of Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback who refused to stand for the national anthem during a preseason game. Kaepernick said he was protesting police brutality and using his celebrity to force a conversation on the issue. He also accused Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump of racism.

Kaepernick’s critics have hammered him for being disrespectful and unpatriotic, while others have defended his right to free speech.

“I think he’s wrong, but does have a right to express his views,” John Stonestreet said. He pointed out the hypocrisy of professional sports organizations, which seem to tolerate protests such as Kaepernick’s while shutting down more conservative viewpoints.

“That is the sort of freedom we have in America. It’s the sort of freedom, however, that today is being so selectively applied that the contradictions are literally everywhere, especially when it comes to celebrities,” Stonestreet said. “Bruce Springsteen refuses to do business in North Carolina because he disagrees with their views, but we think florists should have to do business against their conscience [by accepting business for same-sex weddings].”

Stonestreet urged Christians to take the opportunities provided by situations like this one to point out the inconsistencies in Americans’ level of tolerance.

“I think there’s an opportunity for us to use these stories to highlight larger inconsistencies,” he said. “This is the conversation that America is having right now, so let’s be part of it.”

Listen to Culture Friday on the Sept. 2, 2016, episode of The World and Everything in It.