The Church is where we can take the strongest stand against the left’s attempt to fundamentally change the values of this great country; the Church has historically been where we have stood up for what’s right, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-NC) said on the Todd Starnes Show.
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The following is a rush transcript from The Todd Starnes Radio Show. Listen to the program live Monday – Friday from 12 p.m. until 3 p.m. Click here to listen to the full interview.
TODD STARNES: [00:45:02] Alright, that is the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson. He was speaking at a church and that video, which we have on our website, you can see it for yourself, it is making headlines all over America, and it is an issue that every single state, every single town, and every single city is having to grapple with. I want to go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line. We are honored to have LT. Gov. Mark Robinson with us said for the sake of full disclosure, Mr. Lieutenant Governor, you and I have shared the platform a time or two and a number of meetings across the country. [00:45:41][38.6]
LT. GOV. MARK ROBINSON (R-NC): [00:45:42] We have, and it’s good to be here with you again today, sir. [00:45:45][2.2]
STARNES: [00:45:46] I want to start out here, and I don’t mean to state the obvious, but I hope you know that a lot of these news outlets in North Carolina and Raleigh do not like you, Mr. Lieutenant Governor. [00:45:56][10.1]
ROBINSON: [00:45:57] Yeah, I know they didn’t like me after I did the speech in Greensboro. They’re going to continue to not like me, but I want them to know with all sincerity, I do not like them either. I think that they are abusing their First Amendment right. I don’t think that they’re doing their jobs. I think instead of following me around to find out where I’m preaching at the next church to exercise my First Amendment Constitutional right to practice my religion, they should be tackling the substantive issues that North Carolina is dealing with. The high gas prices, supply chain issues, and these deep, serious issues that we have in our education system. And from where I’m sitting, they’re not doing that. They need to get back to it. [00:46:35][37.4]
STARNES: [00:46:35] I want to go back to the remarks you gave at the church. Do you have any regrets for anything you said? Are you standing by everything you said? [00:46:43][8.0]
ROBINSON: [00:46:45] Absolutely not. I have no regrets whatsoever, because when we’re speaking in church, we’re not speaking from a political angle. We’re speaking from a spiritual angle, from a spiritual perspective. We have a First Amendment right to do that, and we want to encourage folks in church to speak up with their religious views. You don’t see anybody going down to the mosque trying to stop them from preaching their religion. It’s always pointed at the Christians and trying to get us to stop preaching our gospel and stop standing up for what we believe in. I believe we should stand up with strength for what we believe in as any other religion is allowed to do, and we’re going to continue to do that. [00:47:25][40.9]
STARNES: [00:47:26] You know, it really is amazing, Mr. Lieutenant Governor, when you look at the culture, every time they say this issue has been resolved, it really doesn’t matter what that issue is, it’s never resolved. The line that they draw continues to get moved. And you do wonder where is all of this going as a society? And it just seems to me that society itself is really unraveling. [00:47:50][24.2]
ROBINSON: [00:47:53] It is, you know, I think it all goes back to the Left’s attempt to unravel our society, just like you said, to fundamentally transform this nation, to break up the nuclear family, to destroy our traditional values in this country, the values that made this country great. It’s just a huge attempt to do that, and we have got to push back against it. And I think one of the places we could make our strongest stand is within the church, because it has traditionally been in the church that America has stood up and proclaimed what is right. [00:48:29][35.9]
STARNES: [00:48:30] And it’s interesting you bring that up, because people get really riled up on the left when they hear Christian churches, evangelical churches hosting a Republican like yourself. But if you go back in time and throughout history, the church has been used for political purposes and quite frankly, the civil rights movement was actually birthed in the Church House. [00:48:53][23.1]
ROBINSON: [00:48:54] Absolutely. You know, I tell people this all the time, if you don’t believe that the Christian religion and politics is inextricably linked, then you have not read the gospel, you know? All you have to do is go to the gospel, the story of Jesus Christ. In order for Christ to be crucified, the last step that those folks had to take was to speak with the governor. And so, all politics and religion are linked at the hip, and you can’t on unlink them. And for those folks who say the church should not be political yet run to the church every time they want the church to promote their leftist ideals are more than hypocritical. [00:49:27][32.5]
STARNES: [00:49:28] You know, I was just fascinated by your story. You’re a hardworking guy, married, you’ve got kids. You spent some time serving in the Army Reserve and then 2018 came around. And I’m curious, you know that infamous city council meeting where you stood up and you defended gun rights and people all over America immediately knew who you were. Did you have any inclination before that that you would go into politics? [00:49:58][29.9]
ROBINSON: [00:50:00] I did not. I was making plans at that time to become a history professor. That is what I planned to do, and at some point, I would still like to do that, but that’s what I was doing. I was working full time and going to school full time, and I was on a track to try to become a history professor at the college level. Politics and being a politician were in nowhere in the picture. [00:50:22][22.1]
STARNES: [00:50:22] It was amazing. No political background, you went in on that 2020 campaign, what 30 percent in in the primary, you cleared the 30 percent threshold. There was no runoff needed. You’re the first black lieutenant governor in the state of North Carolina’s history, and you’re making a significant impact in the state. I’m curious, what’s that been like for you? [00:50:50][27.3]
ROBINSON: [00:50:51] It’s been fantastic. We’ve been able to do some things, particularly in the realm of education, with exposing some of the garbage that has been spread throughout education to our children. We’ve highlighted that, and there are other people all around the nation now, all the governors and lieutenant governors who are joining in this fight and raising it up to the next level. You know, I tell folks all the time, I say, what can we do about fixing education in this state and in this nation? It takes moms and dads, and people getting involved, and that’s what we see all across the nation. And if we can continue to be a driver of that, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. [00:51:28][37.0]
STARNES: [00:51:30] And again, it’s a crazy world we’re living in, Lieutenant Governor, especially when it comes to what we’re teaching the kids and this idea that you’re going to be talking to preschoolers, I don’t care if it’s about straight sex or gay sex. I don’t care. Kids that young have no business learning about those concepts. And that’s what concerns me. Why are we going into preschool and the kindergarten and talking about these ideas? [00:51:58][28.9]
ROBINSON: [00:52:00] Again, I think there’s a myriad of reasons why it’s happening. I think each individual that is for it has their own individual reasons, but I think the overarching reason for it is to tear down the traditional values of this nation, to fundamentally transform this nation, and the way you do that is to fundamentally transform the minds of its youth. And in this vein, when you’re talking about looking at little children, number one, in sexualized terms is disturbing enough. But to think that you actually have the unmitigated gall to talk to small children about sex, you know, that’s the person that we used to, back in the old days, we used to call that person a pervert. And for my money, that’s exactly what these people are. Little children should not conjure up images or imagery of sex or sexualization in any way. We should be teaching these children how to read, how to write, how to do mathematics, and teach them how to get along with each other. That does not include what goes on in somebody’s bedroom. It is inappropriate, and quite frankly, it’s evil as far as I’m concerned, and again, it’s not about a grown up’s sexual preference. A grown up has a right to choose what sexual preference or what sexual activity they’re going to be involved in as long as it’s with a consenting adult, that’s nobody else’s business. But you’re not going to bring that trash into the school rooms and spread it among these children. It’s not right, and we’re not going to sit still. [00:53:26][86.0]
STARNES: [00:53:27] And I think that is a great way to frame that argument, Lieutenant Governor. One final thing, and again, I’ve been able to spend time with you, and folks, I can tell you, I know the lieutenant governor’s heart. He is a good man, and he wants the best for this great country. And they’re coming after you, because you’re making an impact, Lieutenant Governor. That’s why they’re doing this. But they brought up something that you referenced back in 1989 and you had a really a fundamental change on your position on the issue of abortion. And I want you in your own words to explain your transition to the pro-life movement. [00:54:08][40.8]
ROBINSON: [00:54:09] So in 89, I was completely politically unaware, number one, and had just recently come to know Christ. I was still very, very spiritually immature. I tell the story all the time but many years after I got saved, I walked with one foot on one side, and the other on the other side, as I say. But I had just met my wife, and when she became pregnant, we made the unfortunate decision for her to have an abortion, and it has affected us greatly. We have carried that guilt and shame for many years between us almost in silent. And its one reason why both her and I are so pro-life right now, because we know the pain and guilt that abortion can cause. It is one of the reasons why. The number one reason why is because of our faith, because we have grown so far in our faith, and we have come so far in our walk to know how wicked abortion is. But the other reason why, and it just reinforces it, is because we know the pain, and we’re not ashamed of that a bit. And those people who think that they discovered that or that was going to be some kind of knock on me, they’re sadly mistaken, because I welcome anyone to ask me about that, because I’d be glad to share with them with the story of how that’s affected me and my life. And hopefully it can help some young person out there or some person out there somewhere to not make that mistake and not fall into that trap. [00:55:39][89.3]
STARNES: [00:55:39] Well, said. And you know, as we’re heading into the midterms, so many churches, and I call them ‘wokevangelicals,’ lieutenant Governor, they’re telling Christians to disengage. What is your message to the Christian voters of America as we head towards the midterms? [00:55:54][14.5]
ROBINSON: [00:55:56] You know, Jesus Christ didn’t disengage. He went right out to the people, and he even tackled the people and the leaders in the church and challenged them to be better. That’s exactly what we need to be doing as Christians now. We need to be following his example. We need to be going out into the marketplace. We need to be challenging the leadership of these churches, and we need to tell them they need to be doing better. We need to stand up for our children in our schools, and we need to stand up for what’s right in the halls of our government. If we do not, we’re going to find ourselves being dictated to by wicked people. And that is what has happened so far. That’s why the wicked folks have so much power, because the Christians have laid down their power at their feet. We need to pick it back up, and we need to move forward to take it back. [00:56:38][42.8]
STARNES: [00:56:39] Alright, Lieutenant Governor, we have to end it there. Great word. I’m still waiting for you to get over to Memphis. I have a table reserved at the Commissary and a rack of ribs awaits you, sir. [00:56:49][10.0]
ROBINSON: [00:56:50] Well, look, I think I’ll go ahead and start making my making my reservation. [00:56:53][2.8]
STARNES: [00:56:54] Well, I’ll pick you up at Memphis International. [00:56:56][1.6]
ROBINSON: [00:56:57] You got it! You got it! [00:56:58][1.0]
STARNES: [00:56:58] Alright, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson – great having you on the program and God bless you, sir. [00:57:03][4.9]
ROBINSON: [00:57:04] Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. [00:57:05][0.7]
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