Homosexuality and Islam poses challenge to Christian broadcasters, says NRB president

Jerry Johnson, the president of National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), has warned that homosexuality and Islam poses a challenge to the freedom of Christians broadcasters in America.

In his opening address to attendees of the NRB's Proclaim 17 meeting in Orlando, Fla., on Monday, Johnson stressed the importance of First Amendment rights of religious broadcasters.

He noted that Christian broadcasters are facing challenges from homosexuality and Islam, and he urged Christian leaders and broadcasters at the event to connect, discover and advance the future of Christian content, according to The Christian Post.

Johnson further noted that in other countries, broadcasters and other religious communicators can face penalties for discussing same-sex marriage and Islamic intolerance in a manner displeasing to authorities or certain segments of societies.

The NRB head pointed to incidents when Christians were ostracized in the U.S. due to their objection to same-sex marriage. He highlighted the cases of Kelvin J. Cochran, the Atlanta Fire Chief who was laid off because of his beliefs, and the Benham Brothers, who lost the chance to host a show on HGTV because of their remarks that were deemed to be "anti-gay."

On the subject of Islam, Johnson warned that terrorism and violence were not the only problems. "But it's the intolerance. It's the sharia. It's the blasphemy codes," he said.

"Is there any country where the majority is Islam [and] it's safe for someone to convert from Islam to Christianity? Is there any culture dominated by this worldview, where you can critique Muhammad or the Quran? It is absolutely antithetic to freedom of speech, freedom of religion or freedom of the press, and we must be aware of this and alert to this," he added.

Johnson also highlighted a case in Canada when one NRB member had his license pulled and was ordered to pay a fine for using the word "Muslim" instead of "Islam" during a show. He warned that the quickest way to lose the freedom of speech is to refrain from using it.

"We can and we must make and we will make NRB to the First Amendment what the NRA is to the Second Amendment," he said.

This year's convention, in which the NRB celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, featured speakers such as Devon Franklin, R.C. Sproul, Lee Strobel and Eric Metaxas.