Jack Denton: Conservative Christian Warrior on the College Campus

TRINICY.org

Image: Alliance Defending Freedom

​If you are a conservative Christian college student in America right now, then odds are you have heard the name Jack Denton. For those who don’t know who Jack is, here is a very brief summary before we get into all of the details: Jack Denton, senior at Florida State University (FSU), was removed from his position as Student Government Association (SGA) Senate President due to leaked private group messages he sent to friends expressing his views on the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and other organizations through the lens of his religious Catholic ideology. Denton is now suing FSU for violating his First Amendment rights. ​
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TIMELINE OF EVENTS

• June 3, 2020: Within the FSU Student Government Association (SGA), a vote of no confidence took place in an attempt to remove SGA President Jack Denton from his position. This vote was initiated in light of comments Denton made on a private conversation within texting app GroupMe that have been described as “transphobic, racist, and anti-abortion.” These screenshots were leaked by a member of the group chat and shared with a FSU SGA Senator; Denton’s comments in the screenshots can be viewed here. The vote to remove Denton was unable to reach the 66 percent required for removal. 
• June 4, 2020: An article was written in Spire Magazine, a publication whose mission statement describes itself as a “progressive publication with a focus on social justice centered issues affecting Florida State University and the Tallahassee area,” calling Denton “unfit” to lead FSU’s student senate. The authors, Emily Pacenti and Alanna Felton, describe Denton’s words as sending “a dehumanizing message to womxn, trans, queer, and black students at FSU.” Later that night, Denton addressed the SGA. In this address - the transcript of which can be read here - Denton neither expressed remorse for his beliefs nor did he recant his statements. Instead, he implored his fellow SGA members to remember the oath they swore when they joined Student Government to uphold the rights of the Constitution, to recognize the injustice it would be to remove him as President on the basis of religious ideology, and to plainly “consider voting ‘No’ on this vote of no confidence” to remove him. 
• June 5, 2020: According to a change.org petition update (yes, there was a change.org petition active to have Denton removed from SGA that received more than 7,600 votes…), during a Special Senate session that night, Jack Denton was officially removed from his role as SGA President with 86 percent of voters in favor of his removal. 
• June 18, 2020: Denton hired an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and formally appealed his removal before the SGA Supreme Court. Shockingly on the same day, ANOTHER vote of no confidence took place to remove Denton’s recently-appointed Presidential successor, Ahmad Daraldik, based on anti-Semitic and anti-Israel social media posts. This vote, of course, failed to remove Daraldik from the Presidency. Following the failed vote, Daraldik released a formal apology to the student body for his multiple years-worth of anti-Semitic posts on social media. 
• July 22, 2020: Denton’s attorney, Tyson Langhofer, addressed the FSU VP of Student Affairs, Dr. Amy Hecht, in a formal letter. This letter served to bring attention to the SGA student senate’s violations of its own rules on Judiciary Committee nominations between July 8 and July 14. According to Langhofer, these violations were purposely enacted in order to avoid addressing Denton’s appeal. Within the letter, which can be viewed here, Langhofer equates this refusal to hear Denton’s appeal as a denial of said appeal and, as a result, Denton is now filing an appeal of this denial before Dr. Hecht. Included is a deadline for response, July 29, and Denton’s official written statement for the appeal. 
• August 31, 2020: After receiving no response from Dr. Hecht, members of SGA, FSU President John Thrasher, or any other official at FSU, Denton and ADF filed a lawsuit in federal court (Denton v. Thrasher) on the basis of a violation of Denton’s First Amendment right to free speech based on religious convictions. ADF released a one-page summary of the case. 
• September 1, 2020: Denton wrote a commentary for ADF entitled “I Was Ousted as Student Senate President for My Faith—Now I’m Taking a Stand.” 
• September 2, 2020: Denton’s removal from SGA became national news, as Fox News ran an article titled “Florida State University's ousted student senate leader, in lawsuit, says he was targeted for his religious beliefs.”
• September 6, 2020: Matty Mendez, staff writer for FSUNews.com, responded to the lawsuit with a colorful piece defending all actions of the SGA to date, making sure to double down on the SGA’s woke accusations against Denton. Matty ended the piece in the most hackneyed way possible: By quoting Matthew 7:12, the Golden Rule, directly at Denton. 
• September 13, 2020: Denton wrote a second commentary for The Daily Wire entitled “Cancel Culture Kicked Me Out of My College Job Simply Because I Was Catholic.” ​​

WHAT DID JACK SAY THAT WAS ACTUALLY PROBLEMATIC?

What did Jack say that was bad enough to have him removed from this SGA position? He said three things: 

1. Black Lives Matter “fosters a queer-affirming network and defends transgenderism”; 
2. the ACLU has been historically supportive of abortion rights; and 
3. Reclaim the Block “claims less police will make our communities safer and advocates for cutting PD’s budgets.”

All of those things are true and are very public information. They are ultimately innocent statements of fact. The issue with having said this is that he made these statements in defense of not contributing monetarily to these organizations because they support a “grave evil,” as he went on to mention later in the screenshot message. 

That is the real issue: He called these organizations and their causes evil. 

The nail in his Presidential coffin was that he typed these statements in the presence of a leftist who took offense and sold him out, full-blown SJW-style. 

Jack had a choice when these screenshots were made public. He could apologize and retract every factual statement in those screenshots, or he could stay true to his convictions despite the consequences. Luckily, he chose the latter. Why would he do this, knowing it would potentially cost him his reputation and role within SGA? I believe there are two reasons. 


JACK KNEW HIS ROLE WITHIN THIS WORLD

And, he knew what was at stake.

What I am about to say will sound exclusive and subsequently offensive, but the fact is that the Gospel is specific to believers. We are all God’s creation, but we are not all God’s children. God’s children have been chosen from this world. Jesus said it Himself in John 15:18-19: 
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“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” 

The Bible also confirms that we are set apart by describing the wisdom and discernment given only to those who follow Christ (Romans 1:28, Romans 12:2, Proverbs 1:7, Philippians 1:9-10). In 1 Corinthians 2:6, Paul says:

“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.” 

Based on these two passages of Scripture, we as believers are set apart from the world; we are called to be different. We will have views and reasoning for our worldview that those separated from God cannot understand. One of those views is that we acknowledge that anything God has called “sin” is evil. This includes our own sin. All sexual sin is evil. The homosexual lifestyle and any sexual deed outside of God’s intended view of marriage is evil, including premarital, heterosexual sex, and pornography. Abortion is evil, as the Ten Commandments tell us that we shall not murder. Jack is correct in using the term evil in this context. In Ephesians 5:11, Paul says that we are to “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” That’s exactly what Jack has done, and what we should all strive to do. Expose the evil. Call sin what it is. 

We as Christians can acknowledge these things as evil and hold these beliefs while simultaneously realizing that we live in a fallen, broken world where not all will accept this message. Therein lies the disconnect between Jack and the SGA members who removed him: Just because we as Christians hold a worldview that believes certain acts are sinful does not mean that we are against the people who commit those sins. We sin, too. We all need a Savior. 

Christians are not homophobic nor transphobic for holding a traditional view of marriage. We are not racist for refusing to support BLM. We are not bigoted for believing in the Bible and its teachings. We do not want to remove anyone from the role in which they find themselves. 

We are more tolerant than the Left. We are not a threat. The only ones being intolerant and threatening in any way are the SGA members who ousted Jack from this position.

Later on in those screenshots from Jack’s conversation lie the message we should not miss:
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“If I stay silent while my brothers and sisters may be supporting an organization that supports grave evils, I have sinned through my silence.” 

That is powerful. May we all feel that same conviction for our brother and sister in Christ to speak bold truth to everyone around us!

WHAT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS ON THE COLLEGE CAMPUS?

Jack is fighting a now-national battle at the moment on behalf of ALL Christians on the college campus to set a precedent against ousting college students from elected positions within the university on behalf of religious expression. We should all be encouraged and emboldened by his willingness to risk it all. We must all acknowledge that we are the counterculture. We must be prepared ahead of time, or we will be destroyed by those who seek to cancel us. 

If you are unaware of the situation into which you are walking before you step foot on that campus, you will be overtaken. Many conservative and/or Christian students who were prepared beforehand have stood boldly for their convictions and have, in turn, faced similar persecution or attempted cancellations. 

None of this is to say that we as Christians on the college campus should elevate Jack to any sort of pedestal. We exalt Jesus alone, and we acknowledge that Jack is a sinner just like the rest of us. Nonetheless, he has set a great example through his words and actions for those of us facing persecution on campus for our faith and ideology. 

Likewise, I acknowledge that our battle as Christians is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12). We as Christians must acknowledge that Jack’s refusal to be bullied out of his faith-based convictions by those who are of the world is a real life application of a battle “against the cosmic powers over this present darkness” that is wreaking havoc on our culture.

We cannot let our disdain of politics or our lethargic “we win in the end” mentality as Christians keep us from seeing this situation for what it really is. If we are unable to support him and pray for him in this fight for biblical truth, then why are we Christians? Keep going, Jack. You are inspiring thousands and leading a revolution on the college campus. 


YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE CANCELLED

To the college student who is conservative and/or Christian, Jack Denton and I are unapologetically and boldly here to tell you that you do not have to be canceled. 

You do not have to give in to the mob.
You do not have to bend the knee to anyone. 
You do not have to be a doormat or a punching bag for anyone. 
You do not have to be bullied into silence.
You do not have to be forced out of a position in which you have every right to be on your campus. 

We all must refuse this intolerant removal of ourselves and our ideas from the college campus.

Our voice and our ideals matter. They are important, they are not dangerous, they are not threatening, and they are not marginalizing. 

If we lose our status, our job, our friends, our position, our relationships, our comfort, our money, our health, or any worldly possession in order to glorify the name of Jesus Christ, may we consider none of it a loss. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Continue to press on and stand firm.

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11