Glenn Beck backs Ben Shapiro as Beto O'Rourke wages war on religious, parental rights

Glenn Beck tweeted his support for Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, who is under fire from both left-wing media and politicians for defending America's religious freedoms during his podcast Friday.

Shapiro was responding to Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's statement last week, during a CNN town hall on LGBTQ rights, in which the former Texas congressman said colleges, churches, and charities should be stripped of their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage.

Shapiro reminded O'Rourke that freedom of religion is one of "the fundamental rights that the Constitution was created in order to protect," adding that "people are not going to stand for" a national policy that infringes on a parent's right to choose a school or church for their children.

"[I]f you come to tell me that you're going to indoctrinate my kids into a particular policy and that I can't pull my kid out of a school and send my kid to the school that I want to send them to, that I can't go to the church or synagogue that I want to go to, and if you make that national policy, not just California policy where I can move, but national policy -- people are not going to stand for that," said Shapiro.

"And if you send a truant officer to remove my child, I have two choices at that point, right? If I have no place to move because you have now made this national, federal policy, I now have two choices: One is to leave the country utterly. Two is to pick up a gun. Those are the only choices you have left me," he added.

"It's not extreme to defend the fundamental rights that the Constitution was created in order to protect. These rights pre-exist government. My right to raise my child in my faith is my right. That is a First Amendment right. There is only one reason the government exists: to protect those rights, not to invade those rights. It is my right to raise my child with the moral precepts that I find to be beneficial for my child. Beto O'Rourke does not to get to raise my child — and if he tries, I will meet him at the door with my gun. That is insane."

Media Matters and others on the Left have framed Shapiro's comments as a call for violence, claiming he "threatened" O'Rourke with a gun. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) even went so far as to call for "red flag" laws to be used against the "lunatic" conservative.

"The problem is, we've somehow come to believe that the only way to solve any perceived ill in the world is for a government to act. That is against the Constitution," Glenn said on Monday's radio program.

"Have we fallen that far, that we all somehow believe that our duty as a citizen is to let our children be psychologically, and philosophically molded by some government stooge, into sexually active, gender and sex orientation fluid agents of change? They're our children!" he asserted.

I don't know about you, but as for Mr. Shapiro: I'm with you, Ben. I'm with you," said Glenn.

"Beto, don't show up at my door demanding my kids learn about developing a sexual plan at the age of twelve. Because if you do, we're going to have a serious disagreement. And you'll also have a serious disagreement with me and many of my neighbors about the Second Amendment as well.

"The Second Amendment is not there for hunting. It's not there for sport. It is there to keep tyranny at bay. It is there for the citizens, so they have a way to rise up against an out-of-control government that wants nothing more than tyranny. They want the guns because that way they can control the populace," he added. "It is never outrageous or radical to defend the Bill of Rights. Don't be a babysitter. You are a parent. Do your job and do not surrender this ground. Beto, stay out of my house. Stay out of my home school. Stay out of my kid's lives. You're not welcome there."

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