Darrell Castle turns his attention away from the pressing issue of war and looks at Christians and Christianity as we near the end of Holy Week.

Transcription / Notes:

THE RESTORATION OF LIBERTY

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 3rd day of April in the year of our Lord 2026. I’m very happy that I have something to talk about besides war today. This is in fact Good Friday and in honor of that date and with Easter Sunday just a couple of days away I turn my attention away from the pressing issue of war and look at Christians and Christianity as we near the end of holy week.

First, I want to say a few words about the title of this Castle Report and where that title comes from especially since we are currently in the 250th anniversary year of America. My argument is that the founders rather than trying to build a utopian perfect world were seeking the restoration of liberties they once had. The Declaration, written by Thomas Jefferson but inspired by the thinking and writing of John Locke and by the life and words of Jesus Christ as expressed by Jefferson as nature’s God reflect that desire for the return of liberty.

They had witnessed the excesses of the French Revolution and the results of mob rule or what we today might call democracy and they sought to build something based on the rights of the individual rather than the collective and that is what for individuals is called liberty. They sought a way to protect the lives they had built in their world and the lives they fought for from the reach of foreign imperial rule. That is one reason why I cringe when America today goes abroad to impose its will on others especially when there seems to be no provocation.

Speaking of foreign imperial rule an incident occurred this past Palm Sunday in the ancient city of Jerusalem in modern day Israel. There is a church located in the Christian quarter of the city known as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. That church was built in the 4th century on the site where Jesus’ empty tomb was believed to be located. In other words, it is about 1800 years old and it is one of the holiest sites in all of Christendom.

It is simultaneously the seat of the Armenian, Greek Orthodox, and Catholic Patriarchates of Jerusalem. Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, those gentlemen wanted to go inside the church to do a live simulcast to their congregations on that Palm Sunday but they were barred from doing so by the Israeli police. The announcement was made that it was for “security reasons” but no synagogues were closed that day. The church has a long history of remaining open even during two World Wars so the explanation was doubtful.

Denial of the Church to the people was so outrageous that even U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee was critical. Huckabee is usually a spokesperson for the Israeli government and so his words stung a little. My understanding is that when Israeli authorities heard his mild rebuke they rescinded the order. I don’t know if that is true or not but in any event the Palm Sunday opportunity to minister to their worldwide congregations was lost.

Meanwhile back in America a couple of incidents happened this Holy Week that are worthy of note. A young professional basketball player named Jaden Ivey lost his job because of his refusal to remain silent in the face of what he considered intimidation by his team regarding its affiliation with the LGBTQ community of activists and especially Pride Month celebrated in America in June.

Jaden was raised in a basketball family and I guess it is in his DNA because his mother is currently the head coach of the Notre Dame women’s basketball team. He had a stellar college career and was drafted by the Detroit Pistons where he spent several seasons. He also was selected to play on the U.S. national junior team. In February of this year, he was traded to the Bulls where he played in 4 games before suffering a season ending knee injury.

He started to speak out against what he considered to be forced imposition of the LGBTQ agenda within the NBA. He said as a committed Christian he considered it “unrighteous.” He said a few other things such as he thought Catholicism to be a false religion. He made all these comments on his private twitter account but if you are an NBA player nothing you say is private so the Bulls quickly released him. To their credit they didn’t try to lie and say it was because of injury, etc. They announced the reason as conduct detrimental to the team which triggers a clause in his contract that permits them not to pay him his contract balance.

So, they are, in effect, saying that expressing one’s Christian faith is conduct detrimental to the team. The problem for Jaden is that with a knee injury no one will sign him until they see proof of complete recovery so he should consider filing suit for religious discrimination and recovery of the balance of his contract. My guess is that on the contract at least, they would pay him.

So, Christians are not welcome in the NBA or at least no vocal ones. It would be some justice if no Christians bought tickets or watched the team on TV so we will see. People voice their disapproval but nothing will change until we stop buying tickets.The Christian persecution, so evident in the NBA has also infected the NFL. Yes that’s right the mighty NFL bends its knee to the even mightier LGBTQ lobby. It seems that Jaden had some friends in the NFL who knew him and who respected his Christian faith.

A player named Treveyon Henderson with the New England Patriots chimed in on his friend’s behalf. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’s sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, Mathew 5:10.” Well that created quite a stir and in his required news conference New England Coach Mike Vrabel was asked about it. He made a long statement about how much he liked and respected Treveyon and how we want them, meaning players I guess, to be able to express themselves but we want them to be “educated.” My guess is that Treveyon’s education matches up quite well with his coach so I submit that what he really meant was reeducated. Perhaps the NFL is trying to bend to Communist China as the NBA has done. I understand they do some reeducating in North Korea as well. The Germans used to call it “ideological education.” So, Coach Vrabel is in good company when he wants his player to be educated.

There seems to be a growing number of players across professional sports who are Christian and more and more are willing to say it publicly, but it is very obvious that their leagues and this modern immoral society would prefer that they remain silent. Well, this is Easter weekend and I’m paraphrasing now but when Jesus rode into Jerusalem and the people cheered for him didn’t the Pharisees say rebuke your disciples and then he replied If they remain silent the stones along the rode will praise me.

Finally, folks, I bring this Good Friday Castle Report to an end with a statement, just a feeling really and that feeling is that there is something going on in this world now that is different. Not just the open persecution of Christians or the obvious belief that the persecution is OK or even desirable, but the fact that this Mideast war seems different. The major religions of the world are looking at it from different positions and they see it through different books but they are saying this might be what our book has been pointing to.

The Restoration of Liberty would help though.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.