Social Justice Warriors associated with The Gospel Coalition and ‘woke’ evangelicalism have teamed up with the LGBT lobby to get tech giants, Google and Amazon, to demonetize Pulpit & Pen by flagging it as ‘hate speech.’
Pulpit & Pen is not the first conservative news and/or commentary outlet to be censored by the technocracy. Praeger University is taking legal action against Google and YouTube for demonetizing it because of its conservative viewpoint. Steven Crowder and his organization have similarly been blackballed from tech giants from receiving ad revenue. Donald Trump Jr wrote an op-ed about this very issue when Instagram began to ban his posts about problems relating to the (now, provenly false) claims of Jussie Smollett’s supposed victimhood, entitled, Conservatives Face a Tough Fight as Big Tech’s Censorship Expands. Project Veritas revealed that Facebook is intentionally “de-boosting” material from conservatives, and Facebook execs bragged about de-boosting a BlazeTV piece against Social Justice. Both conservatives and liberals alike grew uneasy at the technocracy’s coordinated efforts to ban Alex Jones and his media outlets, and they warned that such censorship would just be the beginning and they would come for all of us next.
The question isn’t whether or not private corporations have the right to censor who they want on their platform, the question is whether or not Big Tech is becoming Big Brother and whether or not such companies should be treated as public utilities. One thing is for sure, if Tech Giants want to start acting as content publishers, they should be legally held liable for everything published on their platforms.
Religious leftists have tried to ban, boycott, and censor Pulpit & Pen many times. A Southern Baptist blog for pastors called for a boycott of Pulpit & Pen because we breached their standard of political correctness. A Baptist newspaper in Missouri warned their readership to stay away from our material. Roving Twitter mobs have called the Tech company to ban us for years, and they often call for boycotts. A gay priest who works with The Gospel Coalition said he’d rather people watch adult entertainment than read P&P. Karen Swallow Prior has called for our censorship, as has Beth Moore. Clayton Jennings fans have tried to get tech companies to ban our publication. Jackie Hill Perry, a Same-Sex Attracted activist and Social Justice Warrior (also affiliated with TGC) had legions of her LGBTQ fans (for she has many) flag us for hate speech.
I’ve been banned from Facebook for posting a P&P article calling Bruce Jenner a man (this was shortly after “deadnaming” became prohibited). I’ve been banned from Facebook for citing a current medical science organization listing ‘transgenderism’ as a mental illness. These bans were done because of ‘flagging’ done by Jackie Hill Perry fans and Social Justice advocates associated with The Gospel Coalition. In short, it was leftist “Christians” in partnership with the LGBT lobby who tried to silence me. I was also banned for ‘hate speech’ after a post critical of Ed Stetzer, a former LifeWay executive and an editor at Christianity Today. And, Facebook has been “throttling” P&P’s page for some time.
When we asked for information corroborating Kyle J. Howard’s claims he was in a gang (which are absurd claims, by the way), his friends at The Gospel Coalition, Beth Moore, and others continued to rally their fans to get us banned, blocked, and boycotted from tech companies for “hate speech,” which you can read about here. This is eerily similar to Instagram censoring Trump Jr for questioning Smollett’s false claims of victimhood.
Late on Thursday evening, we received a notice from our ad service (which facilitates advertisers bidding for space on our news site) that we got an AWS warning and would need to remove our post about Howard by 10PM. We pulled the post down, not knowing what such a warning was or how we received it or for what until we could talk to our web admin and ad service provider the next day.
The next morning, our ad provider explained that AWS stands for Amazon Web Services. Amazon flagged the material as prohibited. This is the explanation sent us by our ad service.
They claimed that asking for verification of information publicly made by an individual was “harassment and intimidation.” Again, Jussie Smollett comes to mind, as his story of victimization was unfolding and conservatives were accused of tawdry behavior for asking for verifying facts.
When asked how Amazon makes such a determination, we were told that AWS warnings are initiated by Google, via their Adsense program. Even though Amazon and Google are web competitors, policies and judgment calls made by one tech giant are almost always affirmed and followed by the others (just as we saw with Alex Jones’ coordinated media shut-down).
This link was provided to me by the ad service to explain our infraction of Google’s policies (below).
To reiterate, we only asked for verification regarding someone’s claims they themselves made publicly.
While still trying to figure out the best way to navigate the future, I spoke with P&P editors and contributors and we determined that if we were asked to take down any more posts, we would refuse. We thought that perhaps the word ‘bounty’ in the original post might be a trigger (no pun intended) for an automatic warning system (which is what we thought AWS meant at first) that denotes violence, which would be cleared up immediately by any literal sentient human being who read the article. However, if the AWS warnings kept coming, we knew it was a systematic attempt to censor our speech.
And then, we were notified that more and more posts were receiving AWS warnings.
The posts that received the AWS warning include this article about the Colorado shooter being ‘transgender,’ this article about TGC’s gay priest, Sam Allberry, and oddly enough…this article about why I hate skinny jeans.
Disrespecting skinny jeans is now hate speech? You’ve got to be kidding me! I can’t give my opinion on skinny jeans?!?!
WE TOLD THEM WE WOULD NOT BE CENSORED
We were given the option of just pulling down those posts. But we knew that it would then be another post…and another post…and another post. And so, we surrendered a sizable portion of our ad revenue for the right of free speech, which as it turns out, comes at a price.
The reason P&P has ad revenue is that unlike many on our side of the political incorrectness aisle, we don’t preach to the choir. While we admire men like Tom Ascol, Justin Peters, James White, and Phil Johnson, these men preach to the choir (and God bless them all for it, because the choir needs to be preached at, too). Their followers are almost exclusively within the Body of Christ (and good on them). When they tweet, those who see it are already convinced of their position. They largely preach in peanut galleries (which is good, because even peanut galleries should be preached to) and echo chambers.
Pulpit & Pen takes a different approach. We have elbowed our way into the Marketplace of Ideas and we do our preaching in the public square. Some men preach behind pulpits, and some on the corner. We do both, and that’s not for everybody. Our articles make their way into heaps and piles of pagans and secularists, who otherwise would never be confronted with Biblical truth. Pulpit & Pen posts make it to places and into demographics where you just will not find articles from AoMin, Grace to You, or Founders’ Ministries. Some men take a more sanitized, suit-and-tie approach at pontificating among friends. We preach among our enemies.
It “takes all kinds” (as they say back in the hills) and this isn’t an attack on the aforementioned brothers. But our strategy has always been to take our thoughts directly to the unwashed masses. When we do so, we have results like this…
The email reads…
In response to your recent article regarding the possible censorship of Pulpit & Pen, I wanted to send a message of encouragement to you all. P&P has meant more to me than I can ever say or repay. Without you, I would still be listening to the preaching of heretics and Marxists. I would still be going to a church that supports the Cooperative Program. Because of P&P, I became a Calvinist, am now in a good Reformed church, and am following the Lord as never before.
So when the day of adversity comes and the world threatens to silence you, remember that your work is not in vain in the Lord. Do not be weary in well doing; in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
I pray for P&P always, and for all the churches. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
The people that most need to be reached with polemics are not in good churches listening to Founders’ Ministries or The Dividing Line or Clouds Without Water (God bless them all). When we do polemics, it’s for the sake of evangelism. Our purpose is canvassing the entire neighborhood, not targeted mailings to likeminded people.
To reach as many people as we do, which is an expensive undertaking, we have used ad revenue. Reaching the world is slightly more complicated than reaching a niche market. In addition to domain and web hosting, there’s the cost of web administration, paying staff and writers and even paying virtual assistants to do tasks so that I can continue to be doing the work of pastoral ministry. Not all, but much, of our costs, were offset by advertising.
But alas, no more.
At least, not until we find a way to circumnavigate the Big Tech censorship instigated by Big Eva.
A CALL TO ACTION
Whether or not certain Social Justice Contras want to admit it, Pulpit & Pen and our intellectual property and production has driven the Anti-Social Justice Train. But it’s not just our years-long contribution of research and instigation against these dark forces relating to Social Justice that have had a big impact in evangelicalism. We have been the tip of the spear against theological liberalism of every sort. The fact is, Pulpit & Pen has an impact…a big impact.
This morning, our team brainstormed the best way forward with a new media model that will be sustainable as Christians are more and more censored so long as Jesus tarries. It might be my premillennialism talking, but I don’t think things are going to get better.
Here’s the ways you can help us.
Share our material on Facebook and Twitter. Facebook does actually throttle us, along with other popular conservative and Christian news outlets from time to time. When you share it on your FB page, it can help circumnavigate the throttle in people’s news feeds. Also share it in all other platforms including Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Mewe, etc…
Pray for us. Sometimes it really does feel like P&P Contra Mundum. People threaten us constantly (like, the real kind of threats, not the fake kind of Marxist victimology snowflake threats).
Send us an email. Some people don’t understand why so many Christian leaders are “silent” about P&P. For many, it’s because they agree with us. And countless thousands upon thousands upon thousands of you all agree with us, too. Send us an email of encouragement on our contact page
Leave us a positive review on iTunes. You can subscribe to the podcast here. Be specific about what you like and appreciate (the negative reviews are never specific).
Support us on Patreon. Yeah, you’ll get free stuff like t-shirts and books from some of our sponsors. But, you’ll also be supporting our expansive (and currently expanding) work. We rely on our financial donors to allow us to have a giant footprint, squeezing out every dollar of support for its maximum value. Or, send a one-time gift.
THIS IS NEW:
We are adding two new Patreon levels. You already have a $5.95 level, a $34.95 level (free t-shirts), $49.95 level (free books), but we are adding a $150 level to sponsor P&P for one full day a month. You’ll receive an ad thanking you for your sponsorship in the sidebar each month, or you can give the day in someone’s honor. Additionally, there will be a $500 a month level of support. And sorry, we don’t have a gift for that. That’s just for hard-core people who have the means to support our work. They’re out there.
Support us on Facebook, and follow our page. You can do so here. You’ll also get stuff that way, but again, it helps us do what we do so when leftists masquerading as Christians try to get Big Brother corporate tech giants to fight their battles for them, so we can keep on fighting.
Partner in direct ads with P&P. If you have a business or service you would like to advertise, contact us on our contact page and our business manager will get you pricing and criteria.
Volunteer to serve. We have a giant reach because we have volunteers who give their time and energy to serve. We need volunteers to serve as web admins (tech gurus), social media admins (those with time to kill who live with a phone in their hand), writers, legal aid (attorneys and paralegals), graphic designers (meme makers), and audio-video specialists. If you can volunteer, email us at [email protected].
ESPECIALLY PAY ATTENTION TO THIS ONE
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Believe it or not, what you see at Pulpit & Pen IS filtered. Not everything we know we publish on the news site. Sometimes we wait forever for things we think are true to be verified. Sometimes we don’t publish the information because we don’t like using sources who feel the need to remain anonymous. And then, there are constant intelligence briefings that never see the light of day on the P&P site because we can only write about so much.
We have now made the conscious decision to provide an outlet for complete and total unfiltered information directly to the news consumer. No more censorship, no more editorial review, no more running it by ‘legal.’
We feel more liberty to share certain information among (a few thousand) friends via email than published publicly on our site. And if you or someone else takes that information and uses it for publication yourself…well, that would be on you, wouldn’t it?
The Gospel Coalition and its Social Justice acolytes have just opened the floodgates of information. For the first time, you’re going to see almost everything that we see, even if it never makes it through publishing at P&P. Do you want totally unfiltered raw data and info?
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