{"id":52753,"date":"2024-12-19T20:42:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T01:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=52753"},"modified":"2024-12-19T20:48:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T01:48:47","slug":"the-grinch-strikes-withno-explanationthanks-victory-church-lakeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/12\/19\/the-grinch-strikes-withno-explanationthanks-victory-church-lakeland\/","title":{"rendered":"The Grinch Strikes with \u201cNo Explanation\u201d Thanks Victory Church Lakeland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Billy Townsend\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Voctave<\/em>\u00a0concert isn\u2019t\u00a0sold\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>out \u2014 because it\u2019s free, which is not a thing\u00a0Voctave<\/em>\u00a0seems to do normally. They are, after all, professional traveling performers. Tours do not pay for themselves. See below: one of these concerts is not like the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Voctave<\/em> had a paid show set up for the cavernous campus of Victory Christian on Dec. 6, which Victory was hyping relentlessly on social media<\/a> and even NPR.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then\u00a0<\/a>this<\/a><\/em>\u00a0happened<\/a>, with \u201cno explanation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Pastor Dan McBride
Executive Pastor Victory Church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

No explanation <\/strong><\/em>pretty loudly suggests an explanation \u2014 as this TikTokker makes bluntly clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Victory genius of sleuthing discovered an acapella singing group might have gay people in it?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cno explanation\u201d thing typifies what institutions (secular and otherwise) do when they know they\u2019re wrong and stupid. Victory didn\u2019t want to say this in public:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWe\u2019re cancelling this concert you\u2019re all so excited about because we\u2019re shocked, shocked to learn some of the singers might be gay; and we can\u2019t have gay people infecting our congregation with their gay sound cooties as they celebrate, with beautiful voices, the birth of our Lord and savior.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So they said nothing.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Institutional bigotry is always cowardly before anything else \u2014 even before it\u2019s hateful.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, I\u2019m not going to bother contacting the cowardly secular institution of Victory Church to verify its unstated reason for this moment of fake religious cancel culture. Its leaders would just lie to me anyway. If they want to articulate their reason, they can email it; and I will<\/strong><\/em> print it verbatim, with my assessment of its veracity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While they\u2019re at it, if they want, Victory \u201cleaders\u201d can articulate who<\/strong><\/em> within Victory\u2019s congregation and\/or leadership bureaucracy had the power to go:<\/p>\n\n\n\n