Father Calvin Robinson is a British priest. He has also been a media figure and an outspoken opponent of England’s crackdown on free speech, its radical pro-abortion policies, and the Islamization of the country. As one would expect, he was not a popular person with the powers that be in the U.K.
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Last year, he moved to the United States and took a position as a priest at a church in Michigan. On Jan. 25, he was one of the speakers at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, D.C. He ended his address with the same “my heart goes out to you” gesture as Elon Musk.
This, I see as the last stand for the West.
This is the last stand for Christendom.
It is make or break time. pic.twitter.com/CAnT99Mgax
— Calvin Robinson (@calvinrobinson) January 30, 2025
And, of course, the backlash followed.
Today I received hundreds of nasty calls, texts, voicemails and emails today from very bitter, angry, vile leftists.
They are often the very thing they accuse you of.
I am not a Nazi. But I forgive you of your ignorance.
My heart goes out to you! 🫡💙pic.twitter.com/6n2oufaMbw
— Calvin Robinson (@calvinrobinson) January 29, 2025
Praying these people are released of whatever demonic influence they are under.
My heart goes out to you. 🫡💙 pic.twitter.com/6TRyu90YHw
— Calvin Robinson (@calvinrobinson) January 30, 2025
Lost amidst all of this is the plethora of photos that appeared on X of prominent Left-wingers making the exact same hand gesture. No one has accused Tim Walz, AOC, and a slew of other politicians of being Nazis.
The Left, at this moment, is terrified that the monopoly it has held on the government from the top down and the media is under attack. It isn’t just terrified of Donald Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., or Kash Patel. It is, as we all know, terrified of Elon Musk, and by extension, it is terrified of you. It is shaking in its boots that it is no longer the gatekeeper of information and is kept up at night thinking about what you might do with that information.
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That is why the Left took a screen capture of Musk and insinuated that it was a Nazi salute, and on cue, the sheep began lining up to bleat the party line. Never mind that what they were bleating wasn’t true. Never mind that the line was a complete fabrication by an angry, desperate clutch of people who ignored the context. That clutch of people knows that it still has enough power to make other people blink by screeching “Nazi!” at the top of its collective lungs. And it worked.
As usual, the hordes of Leftist media outlets picked up the ball and ran with it. The Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) terminated Robinson’s position as priest in charge at St. Paul’s Anglican Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, Mich. The church issued the following statement:
At approximately 3:00 pm today (1/29), members of the College of Bishops of the ACC were made aware of a post made on X showing the end of a speech made by Calvin Robinson at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, DC. In it, he closed his comments with a gesture that many have interpreted as a pro-Nazi salute.
While we cannot say what was in Mr. Robinson’s heart when he did this, his action appears to have been an attempt to curry favor with certain elements of the American political right by provoking its opposition. Mr. Robinson had been warned that online trolling and other such actions (whether in service of the left or right) are incompatible with a priestly vocation and was told to desist. Clearly, he has not, and as such, his license in this Church has been revoked. He is no longer serving as a priest in the ACC.
Furthermore, we understand that this is not just an administrative matter. The Holocaust was an episode of unspeakable horror enacted by a regime of evil men. We condemn Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism in all its forms. And we believe that those who mimic the Nazi salute, even as a joke or an attempt to troll their opponents, trivialize the horror of the Holocaust and diminish the sacrifice of those who fought against its perpetrators. Such actions are harmful, divisive, and contrary to the tenets of Christian charity.
Finally, we pray that God will give us grace to lay aside our unhappy divisions, and we commend our nation and ourselves to His Almighty protection.
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One can understand the ACC’s position since, as a church, it is tasked with bringing the Gospel to the world. I would guess that it has been on the receiving end of a ferocious barrage of emails, phone calls, and social media posts. And Robinson likely knew that the gesture would enrage certain segments of the population.
From the administrative and reputational standpoints, one can see the ACC’s point. It has a desire to avoid controversy. After all, it’s not like it is the Episcopal Church or anything. Whether or not the ACC can allow the pro-choice mob to silence pro-lifers over a joke is a matter for the church’s collective conscience.
Still, it isn’t the gesture that has the Left throwing fits. As noted above, Democrat politicians have made the same gesture time and again. It wasn’t that Elon Musk made the gesture; it was his support for Donald Trump and the fact that he liberated X from one-party rule. The truth is that it wasn’t Robinson’s gesture (even if it was meant as a comical troll); it was the speech he made before the gesture that made the Left so angry. If you watch it in its entirety in the first post above, you will see what has sent the Left into another tailspin.
Had Robinson done the “my heart goes out to you” move after an impassioned plea for abortion rights, no one on the Left would have batted an eye. He might have even gotten a few kudos. The Left’s problem isn’t the what. It’s the who. And to be fair, it’s also the content. And frankly, that speech was spot-on. Furthermore, the Left knows that it now has another tool to enforce submission to the mob.
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Information is power, and the ability to control it is paramount to the Left’s agenda. That’s how it was able to come after Robinson and declare that it found Nazism where none exists. At PJ Media, we oppose that kind of monopolization and, for that matter, bastardization of the truth. And we can use your help.
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