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Kurt Mahlburg
Kurt Mahlburg is a husband, father, freelance writer, and a familiar Australian voice on culture and the Christian faith. He is the Senior Editor at Australia’s largest Christian news site The Daily Declaration and a Contributing Editor at Mercator. His writings can also be found at Intellectual Takeout, The American Spectator and the Spectator Australia. He has authored or co-authored five books, including his breakout title Cross and Culture: Can Jesus Save the West?
I regret to announce that the tolerance brigade is at it again.
Earlier this month, a Catholic man gave a Catholic speech to Catholic students at a Catholic college, prompting woke secularists to spend the next week berating him to “stay in his lane”.
I’m not sure how much narrower a lane could be apportioned to Harrison Butker.
Earlier this year, Harrison Butker helped his team, the Kansas City Chiefs, to a second Super Bowl win in as many years. As kicker, Butker — or ‘Butt Kicker’, as he is fondly known — played a crucial role in the most recent victory, scoring 13 points, three of which were earned via the longest field goal ever kicked in Super Bowl history.
There is nothing about being an NFL player, however, that prevents players from having other passions in life. And Butker has made it quite clear over the years that his faith and his family rank as higher priorities for him than football.
It was the themes of faith and family that landed Butker in hot water for the commencement address he gave at Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts college an hour out of Kansas City.
Backlash
In the days since, the NFL has distanced itself from Butker — an ironic move from a league that goes silent any time the approximately 50 NFL players per year entangle themselves in drugs, assault charges and domestic violence.
Butker has faced a barrage of misrepresentation in the media, been the subject of petitions aimed at having his contract with the Chiefs terminated, and even been doxxed by the official Twitter account of Kansas City.
What did he say that so upset the powers that be?
Butker’s speech began with a critique of leadership failures seen in the culture, particularly during the Covid era, and he wasted no time addressing some of the great shibboleths of modern America.
“Bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues,” he said. “Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values and media all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.”
He took particular aim at President Joe Biden.
“Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally.
“He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that, I’m sure to many people, it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice.”
Courage
Butker then landed his point: “Being Catholic alone doesn’t cut it.”
He went on to provide constructive advice for the young people in his audience whose leadership might help shape a better America.
“If we are going to be men and women for this time in history, we need to stop pretending that the ‘church of nice’ is a winning proposition,” Butker explained. “We must always speak and act in charity, but never mistake charity for cowardice.”
To the men, Butker had some hard words.
“As men, we set the tone of the culture,” he urged. “And when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos… plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation.”
“Be unapologetic in your masculinity,” was Butker’s advice. “Fight against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy.”
Wives and mothers
It was his words to the young ladies, however, that earned special scorn from regime voices.
While acknowledging that many of the women present would likely lead very successful careers, he ventured to guess “that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”
Butker made it clear that he was not speculating, but speaking from direct experience.
“I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”
Choking back tears, he added,
“I’m on this stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation. I’m beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me. But it cannot be overstated, that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.”
There it is — Butker’s spiciest takes. He expressed what basically everyone in past generations believed, even if they are written off as right-wing extremism today.
The legacy press accused Harrison Butker of leaning into the “culture war” — the same culture war, by the way, that the woke left wages every day of the week.
Like most conservatives these days, what Butker is really in trouble for is noticing. Noticing the failures of the West’s appointed leaders. Noticing the hypocrisy of the man in the White House. Noticing the cultural chaos surrounding us. More importantly, noticing the solution to our maladies: a return to God’s design for men, women, gender, family and marriage.
The ideas Butker shared might be on the nose to the hoity-toity, but the masses know which way is up. By last Friday, his number 7 jersey became the most popular Chiefs shirt on the NFL site, even outranking those of his superstar teammates, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift’s other half.
“The world around us says that we should keep our beliefs to ourselves whenever they go against the tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Butker observed during his speech — qualifying that the Christian faith has “always been countercultural”.
Ne’er a truer word spoken.
Inspiring stuff.
Read Harrison Butker’s full speech here.
Do you agree with Harrison Butker? Tell us in our comments section.
