One of the Left’s many big lies comes most often from the LGBTQ lobby. They claim that all they want to do is live and let live. “Let us be who we are.”

These were powerful arguments during the debate over changing the 3,000-year-old definition of marriage from the union of a man and a woman to the joining of two people of the same sex.

But we have discovered over and over again that as soon as the LGBTQ movement gets power, the live-and-let-live attitude toward Christians goes out the window, replaced by an iron fist that demands we sacrifice the teachings of our faith. And it isn’t only homosexual issues.

Don’t forget, President Obama tried to force Catholic nuns—nuns!—to subsidize abortions. His attack on religious liberty was eventually overruled by the Supreme Court.

Joe Biden tried, too. Biden’s Department of Education threatened every school district in the country that if they did not allow boys into girls’ bathrooms, he would cut off their school lunch programs for poor students. Unbelievable! By the way, most of the media ignored this outrage.

There are hundreds of examples like this, and JDFI has been in many of these battles. Here is an example from Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music.

Eric Rivera is a Christian school teacher who taught first-grade students at KIPP Antioch College Prep Elementary School. Mr. Rivera was reviewing the Language Arts curriculum that he was assigned to teach in his class to little seven-year-olds. He was shocked when he noticed that one book selected for the curriculum was about a same-sex couple raising a child. The book is called Stella Brings the Family. It is a story of a little girl with two dads who is concerned about how, since she has no mom, she is supposed to celebrate Mother’s Day. The curriculum committee decided that little children who should be learning their ABC’s were going to learn their LGBTQ’s instead.

Mr. Rivera believed he would violate his conscience as a Christian if he exposed his first graders to the LGBTQ book. So, he asked a fellow teacher, who had no such qualms, to stand in for him and read the book to the class.

Mr. Rivera soon found himself in the principal’s office, where he says he was threatened with loss of his job unless he relented. The First Liberty Institute, a Christian nonprofit law firm led by our good friend Kelly Shackelford, came to Mr. Rivera’s defense. In a statement provided to the Christian Post, First Liberty said, “Requiring a teacher [to] violate their religious beliefs in order to keep their job is blatant discrimination that violates the Civil Rights Act.”[1]

The letter also explains that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it “unlawful for an employer to discriminate against any individual with respect to religion and also requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless doing so would impose an ‘undue hardship.’”[2]

First Liberty also believes that KIPP Elementary may have violated the U.S. Constitution, as well as Tennessee law, by failing to provide parental notification of “sexual orientation” curriculum.

This battle is likely headed to the courts, and I am optimistic about the final outcome. The Supreme Court has recently ruled in favor of parental rights and religious liberty. But don’t miss the big picture: The radical secular left wants Christians to kneel at the Left’s altar or they will punish us.

The Left’s agenda is not the libertarian theme of “live and let live.” It is to force Christians to participate in their decadent agenda.

If you live in a city controlled by the political left, in a liberal state, your religious liberty is constantly under attack. Many of your other rights are in jeopardy as well. Even if you live in an increasingly liberal city like Nashville in a conservative state like Tennessee, your rights as a Christian will come under attack.

Every nation selects a group of values and norms it will promote in its culture, and identifies what must be rejected. The default position in America used to be to promote values rooted in Judeo-Christian civilization. Our Founders themselves said only a virtuous people could remain free.

Today, there are powerful forces that seek to marginalize those biblical-based values. They intend to replace them with a secular, godless worldview that is at odds with faith, family, and freedom.

This is why the James Dobson Family Institute continues to “fight the good fight” for faith, family and freedom, just as Dr. Dobson did his entire life.

[1] “First-Grade Teacher Threatened with Termination for Refusing to Read LGBT-Themed Book: Attorneys.” The Christian Post, February 22, 2026. https://www.christianpost.com/news/teachers-job-threatened-for-refusing-to-read-lgbt-book-lawsuit.html.

[2] “Eric Rivera – Cases.” First Liberty, February 19, 2026. https://firstliberty.org/cases/eric-rivera/#simple2.