I mean, is it the case that liberals believe that artistic performances \u201d\u201d theater, music, and so forth \u201d\u201d must be limited only to people who share their moral and political views? If I were worried that the Trump administration was going to be hostile to minorities and gays, I would have gone out of my way to make Mike Pence feel welcome at Hamilton, and hoped and prayed that the power of art moved his heart and changed his mind. But that\u2019s not how the audience saw it. They wanted to show Pence that he is not part of their community, and the cast took it upon itself to attempt to catechize Pence at the end of the show. (And people say Evangelical movies are bad because they can\u2019t let the art speak for itself, they have to underline the moral and put an altar call at the end!).
Let\u2019s think about it in religious terms. If you were a pastor or member of a church congregation, and a Notorious Sinner came to services one Sunday, would you boo him as he took his seat in a pew? Do you think that would make him more or less likely to value the congregation and accept the message from the sermon? And if you were the pastor, would you think it helpful to single the Notorious Sinner out among the congregation, and tell him, in a bless-your-heart way, that you hope he got the point of the sermon (him being a bad man and all)? You should not be surprised if the Notorious Sinner left with his heart hardened to the religion and that congregation. Any good that might have been done toward converting him to the congregation\u2019s and the pastor\u2019s way of belief would almost certainly not come to fruition.<\/p>\n
Look, I\u2019m not saying that churches should downplay or throw aside their sacred beliefs to be seeker-friendly. Sure, congregations should treat visitors with respect, but the church exists to fulfill a particular purpose, to carry out a specific mission. Its behavior must be consonant with that mission. Nevertheless, a church that repudiates hospitality to guests, and thereby chooses to be a museum of the holy, violates its purpose, and diminishes its power to change the world.<\/p>\n
So, do liberals want theaters (and campuses) to be museums of the holy, where the already converted commune with each other? Does one have to be baptized into the mystery cult of liberalism before one is allowed in the door? Because that\u2019s the message from last night\u2019s display at the Richard Rodgers Theater. And if this kind of thing keeps up \u201d\u201d Trump will do nothing to stop it, because it benefits him and his tribe \u201d\u201d America will lose one more gathering place for all of its people.<\/p>\n
This is by no means only the fault of the left.<\/p>\n