RFRA: An opportunity for Mark Harris?
It’s been a long while since we heard from the Baptist preacher from Charlotte. Harris jumped into the 2014 GOP primary for US Senate appealing to religious conservatives and Tea Partiers. Some saw him as a stalking horse meant to split the Tea Party vote and help establishment favorite and fellow Mecklenburgian Thom Tillis. (I was initially in this camp. But I began second-guessing myself after meeting the man and interviewing him during the campaign.)
When the smoke cleared after May’s vote, Harris was a good soldier and endorsed Thom Tillis. He even campaigned for the GOP nominee. But since Tillis’s win in November, we haven’t seen a whole lot of Rev. Harris. I know. He’s got a family and a congregation to look after. He’s a busy guy.
But the left is going wild on the cultural front here in North Carolina and across the country. We’ve got a real leadership void out there on the conservative side of the culture wars. During the 2014 campaign, Harris spoke about the importance of people of faith getting involved in the political process.
Yet, since November, he’s faded into the background.
Gay activists pushed hard for gender-neutral bathrooms and other radical ordinance changes before the Charlotte City Council. Rev. Franklin Graham stepped into the breach and blasted it all for the lunacy it truly was. But where was Harris?
During the Senate campaign, Harris spoke proudly of his leadership in getting the marriage amendment to the state constitution approved. Since then, a federal judge has tossed out the amendment. Gay marriage is being shoved down our throats.
We’ve got a Religious Freedom Restoration Act — meant to protect people of faith from the P.C. gestapo — sitting in the legislature. The lefties and their drive by media comrades are tearing the RFRA to shreds. The politicians are running and ducking for cover. Who is out there speaking for the little people frustrated with the cultural rot being nurtured and spread by the political left from sea to shining sea?
Mark Harris could be that leader. If he was truly serious about wanting to be a political leader, HERE is his chance.
Proof he was a fake. Why isn’t he out there going after burr? Greg Brannon is speaking out against the vaccine Bill.
I just saw Harris this past Saturday at the Mecklenburg GOP convention in Charlotte. He voted against a proposal to repeal a rule passed by Tillis and his supporters at last year’s convention which prohibits delegates from introducing resolutions about legislative issues.
Adam,I am glad to hear this that he is standing on principle.
Perhaps you didn’t understand what I said. Last year a proposal was passed by the Meck GOP censor the content of resolutions, not allowing anyone to present a resolution which addresses a public policy issue.
This year, a motion was introduced to repeal that censorship rule. Harris voted AGAINST repealing the gag rule.
What kind of stand on principle is that?
I guess Pastor Harris is not as much for freedom as we had hoped. Thanks Adam for attending these events and letting us know what is going on.
Here’s 12th district chairman denouncing that rule at the Mecklenburg convention.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10101863099515797
Although the rule was passed with a majority, the aftermath is depressing convention attendance. I would not be surprised if Mecklenburg sends fewer than 50 delegates to the state convention, because they could not credential anywhere close to their allotment.
Conventions are supposed to be money makers for the local party… This rule may have cost them $1000 or so in lost delegate fees.
Suppressing the grassroots is not a good way to build a party.
I wonder: Any large building fund donations lately?
Is Harris’s congregation involved in settling illegals into our once sovereign country?
It is over. The gays have won. Best to move on.
Move on to what? What is next for freedom?
Harris made a drop in at the Civitas Leadership Conference to do an invocation before dinner. Whoopdedoo. Sounded like a televangelist before and still does. All smoke and mirrors = no substance.
When religious liberty is under serious attack in our state and nationally, Harris goes AWOL? That tells us all we need to know about him. He will not stand up even on his core issue. North Carolina desperately needs some Christian voices speaking up on this issue, as do other states.
In the UK, Christians, even liberal ones fully understood what homosexual marriage would bring and fought against it, even the liberal Archbishop of Canterbury of the Church of England. The head of the Catholic Church in the UK, the Archbishop of Westminster, warned that adopting homosexual would lead to a greater persecution of Catholics than occurred under Henry VIII.
Where are our religious voices standing up for religious liberty in North Carolina?
Southern Baptists in NC have taken a strong biblical stance against all forms of sexual immorality and were virtually alone among churches defending NC’s Marriage Amendment. Baptist lobbyists in the General Assembly are working hard for passage of a RFRA in our state. They are getting no help from other denominations. The Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, and others are nowhere to be found. But the Baptists are there everyday working the legislators.
Mark Harris is MIA. This is shocking news (not really). Many NC Conservatives knew he was a fake in his run to help Thom Tillis win the U.S. Senate seat last year. He had difficulty articulating even the most basic of conservative values. And oh, his groupies, were the nastiest, most hateful ppl. They alienated the candidate and themselves from most of the top conservatives in the State. Wonder what they’re all doing now? One thing for sure, the good preacher is MIA…and that’s a fact, Jack.