Instagram brands Christian worship ‘harmful’
By: Dr. Michael Brown
This big tech discrimination against and censorship of Christian praise, music, prayer, and quoting Bible texts is beyond ridiculous. It’s time to do as the author here suggests and peaceably rise up and protest against the intellectually lazy weak minddd bigotry against expressions of hope and peace in troubling times.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The headline to this article is not sensationalistic. It is not click bait. It is truth. Shocking truth. Yes, Instagram has designated videos of live worship on the streets to be in violation of community guidelines, calling the content “harmful.” Let the outrage be felt and heard.
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Sean Feucht is a worship leader and songwriter who recently ran for political office in California. He is also a conservative Christian.
On June 23 he tweeted, “This is what we’ve come to in America!
“Instagram is now classifying my WORSHIP videos as ‘harmful or false information’
“Religious Liberty? Freedom of Speech? Big Tech censorship?”
Included in the tweet was a screenshot from Instagram, explaining that the company had removed his video post because it was violation of Community Standards. (Oh, those dread community standards again!)
Specifically, Instagram stated, “Story removed for harmful or false information.”
What on earth does this mean? What can it possibly mean?
Feucht’s tweet got the attention of Missouri’s Senator Josh Hawley who tweeted , “Cancel culture meets #BigTech. Now @instagram is censoring a Christian worship leader who wants to post videos of praise and worship from places where there has recently been unrest. And that doesn’t meet ‘community standards’? Can’t wait to hear the explanation for this.”
Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He is the author of 25 books and hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire. As of this writing (late Thursday night, Eastern Time, June 25), we are still awaiting explanation.
A few years ago, I repeatedly challenged Facebook for censoring some of my posts for alleged violation of community standards, exposing the rank hypocrisy of their decisions.
For example, my factual, fairly-worded post dealing with LGBT issues would be deemed hateful, while the most blasphemous, unimaginably profane, anti-Christian Facebook pages were allowed to operate without restriction. Seriously?
Thankfully, in most cases, with the help of an internal contact, Facebook reinstated my posts (or, restored my status). But other colleagues of mine did not fare so well, having their pages permanently shut down for alleged violation of the dreaded (and oh so ambiguous) community standards.
It seems that “hate” meant one thing for one group and something entirely different for the other. (For a recent, video exposé, see here .)
When it comes to YouTube and Google, the battle continues, with large channels like Prager U still experiencing discrimination and unequal treatment. (Where are all the social justice warriors calling for equality? Somehow, they don’t seem to be raising their voices for Prager U.)
In my own experience, after having over 1,000 of my channel’s videos branded unsuitable for advertising in a single stroke (!), YouTube has actually been fair with me, even surprising me at times by what it approves for monetization. At the same time, we know that the other shoe could drop at any moment and suddenly, we could be banned.
It is a big mistake to put our trust in Big Tech.
What happened with Instagram, though, seems even more bizarre and extreme. What on earth were the all-powerful censors thinking?
There are endless videos on Instagram showing disturbing clips from the recent protests and riots, all of them somehow in conformity with community standards. (Right now, over on Twitter , I’m watching a video of the “CHOP” call from Seattle, with specific reference to guillotines . I imagine similar videos can be found on Instagram.)
But when a video is posted showing Christian worship in the midst of these protests, it is removed for alleged “harmful or false information.”
Since there is nothing “false” about the video, then it must be considered “harmful” – hence the headline to this article.
Is this actually what Instagram meant? Could they possibly be claiming that worshiping the Lord on the streets of our divided cities is harmful?
If so, I would encourage every worship leader and every worship team to hit the streets of their own communities, posting similar videos and sharing them as widely as possible, starting on Instagram. (Hey, it’s a great thing to do anyway and just what America needs.)
If Instagram has made a mistake, I hope they own up to it and say, “We totally blew it! There is no excuse.” Otherwise, this means war – as in spiritual war.
So, no hatred. No carnal aggression. No fleshly anger. And, of course, of course, of course, no violence.
But lots of prayer. Lots of worship. Lots of preaching. And lots of standing up and being heard. If not now, then when?
Ironically, as if to drill the point home, as I was writing this article, I spotted another tweet from Sen. Hawley a few hours ago. He wrote, “Now @Twitter is actively censoring Bible verses? Seriously? Why?”
Hawley retweeted another tweet from Sean Feucht, stating , “Not only is big tech blocking worship videos, now they’re blocking Bible verses about PEACE!
“RT if you believe social media needs more peace, more worship, and less censorship of Jesus followers.”
Feucht included a screenshot of tweets from Beni Johnson, then using the handle @prayfor5, which at present is not appearing on Twitter. Her tweets, posting Bible verses, were blocked, with the note, “This Tweet may include sensitive content.”
So, worship is deemed “harmful” and Scripture verses about peace are deemed “sensitive content.” Really?
Let us, then, flood Big Tech with the Word and worship. And let us report and challenge every unjust infraction about the practicing of our faith.
It’s beyond time.
(For my 10-point, winning strategy for believers leading into this volatile election, see my new book Evangelicals at the Crossroads: Will We Pass the Trump Test? )
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Probably because they weren't social distancing and I think that I only saw one mask
That's interesting considering the Christian worship was taking place during racial protests.
The real history, that liberals don't want the public to know, is that the institution of slavery was destroyed and civil rights for the Black population was established by white Protestant Christians. Science was used to perpetuate slavery. Democrat's defended slavery. And the Black population contributed little to the struggle for civil rights.
Instagram is perpetuating a phony and false history preferred by liberals. White Protestant Christians are at the heart of civil rights in the United States. Without WASPs there wouldn't be a history of civil rights in the United States. The history of civil rights in the United States hasn't been secular and hasn't been liberal.
Bullshit, Nerm. Southern white churches supported slavery. The Southern Baptist Convention supported slavery (was actually founded for that purpose) and Jim Crow. It didn't renounce racism until 1995.
Wow.
The liberal history is dishonest bullshit. Northern Protestant churches were buying military arms and recruiting people to move to Kansas to fight slavery and die, if necessary. Northern Protestants operated the Underground Railroad. Northern Protestants protected runaway slaves. Northern Protestants didn't support abolition; they fought and died for abolition. Northern Protestants did what the government would not do.
The Civil War began in the 1850s in Kansas territory. Not on the east coast. One of my ancestors died in Kansas in 1855. So, don't lecture me on your bullshit version of east coast liberal history.
And what the fuck do you think Southern Protestants were doing?
Your version of history leaves out a lot of racism, Nerm. I wonder why you choose to propagate it?
Never mind. I see your racist comments elsewhere, too.
Some aren't.
Claiming that blacks contributed little to the struggle for civil rights is. It's also untrue.
I didn't say they were here.
Don't try to put words in my mouth. It's dishonest.
And so he did. One of several. Ignore it if you choose.
Your question was meant as an accusation.
What conflict and bitterness? Calling out racist comments? Is that now somehow a bad thing? Do you think we should be accepting of such?
Progressives like to pretend abolitionism wasn't primarily a religious movement both here (Rev. Beecher, William Loyd Garrison) and internationally (William Wilburforce). It was very much a moral crusade largely entertained with the evangelicals..
If so, I would encourage every worship leader and every worship team to hit the streets of their own communities, posting similar videos and sharing them as widely as possible, starting on Instagram. (Hey, it’s a great thing to do anyway and just what America needs.)
So get after it Xx, get out there on the streets and video your worship !
Michel Brown says:
Needless to say, I would like more explanation of the deletions on Facebook and Instagram from sources other than Brown, Fox News, or the Christianpost.com
Is it possible that the deletions occurred because of previous behaviors?
Enquiringly mimes want to know.