‘The Notebook’ novelist Nicholas Sparks apologizes for religious values since mob-rule says Christian schools are wrong

A New York Times bestselling romance novelist and proud Christian who founded a Christian school in North Carolina about a decade ago has been forced to apologize for trying to uphold Christian values within his Christian school and keep non-Christian ideas and concepts out.

Novelist Nicholas Sparks’ efforts to center his Christian school on Christian values were outed by The Daily Beast, a radically far-left “news” purveyor dedicated solely to left-wing thought and “news.” It’s unclear whether the outlet has ever looked past its own bubble and made efforts to, say, hire a conservative. What’s known is that when CNN dared to hire a conservative earlier this year, The Daily Beast rushed to impugn the site for bringing on a “partisan political operative.”

Sparks is known primarily for writing the highly popular 1996 romance novel “The Notebook.” The book was later adapted into an award-winning Hollywood film:

On Thursday, The Daily Beast published internal emails from Epiphany School of Global Studies that show Sparks pushing back on efforts by the academy’s former headmaster and CEO, Saul Benjamin, to transform the Christian school into a mecca of homosexuality.

In a lawsuit filed five years ago, Benjamin claimed that Sparks hired him in 2013 to “take our little school and make it amazing, global and open-hearted.”  But when Benjamin subsequently sought to “diversify” the school’s student body, he was met with “veritable cauldron of bigotry toward individuals who are not traditionally Christian, and especially who are non-white” from both Sparks and other members of the school’s Board of Trustees, his lawsuit claimed.

“Sparks is a raging homophobe, an anti-Semite, a racist and a bully, who willfully kept minority students out of the North Carolina private school he founded in 2006, warned employees against publicly associating with blacks, banned students’ exposure to non-Christian religions, and discouraged faculty from assisting bullied LGBT students,” The Daily Beast reported at the time.

Sparks has long denied these allegations, and the emails obtained and shared by The Daily Beast last week did little to boost Benjamin’s claims, except for in one regard. The emails show that Sparks did make efforts to keep the LGBT agenda from infiltrating the school.

In one email, he reportedly chastised Benjamin for “what some perceive as an agenda that strives to make homosexuality open and accepted.” In another, he made efforts to stop two lesbian girls from holding a coming-out ceremony during a chapel service.

And in the most telling email of all, he slammed Benjamin for his “misplaced priorities at the school level (GLBT, diversity, the beauty of other religions, as opposed to academic/curricular/global issues, Christian traditions, etc.).”

These emails appear to show that Sparks wanted his Christian school to function as, you know, a Christian school. That The Daily Beast would make an issue out of this isn’t surprising given the left’s hatred for Christianity, Christians, Christian beliefs and Christian schools.

Earlier this year the left began waging a war against Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen, after she accepted job at a Christian school. CNN chief national correspondent John King went so far as to suggest Karen should be denied Secret Service protection because of her new job.

Listen:

The only other notable email that The Daily Beast uncovered shows Sparks speculating privately that Benjamin may suffer from some sort of mental disorder.

“[I]n another obtained email, the romance writer laid out a case for diagnosing him, citing forgetfulness and an ‘obsession’ with what he characterizes as ‘non-relevant’ issues,” the outlet reported.

“‘While I am not a doctor–and as scary as this may sound to you–I do believe that [Benjamin] is suffering from a mental illness of some sort,’ Sparks wrote in the message. ‘What that is–Alzheimer’s, a variance of bi-polar, something else–I have no idea.'”

Benjamin believes this private email makes Sparks liable for defamation

In response to the release of these emails, the novelist issued a lengthy apology on Facebook.

“As someone who has spent the better part of my life as a writer who understands the power of words, I regret and apologize that mine have potentially hurt young people and members of the LGBTQ community, including my friends and colleagues in that community,” he wrote Monday.

See the full apology below:

As someone who has spent the better part of my life as a writer who understands the power of words, I regret and…

Posted by Nicholas Sparks on Monday, June 17, 2019

HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE MISSING …

Note how he attributed his past efforts to policy differences and not ideological differences. He also vowed that he is “an unequivocal supporter of gay marriage, gay adoption, and equal employments rights.”

It’s unclear how gay marriage and gay adoption fit into the Christian worldview. As internationally renowned Christian evangelist and missionary Rev. Franklin Graham noted in a couple tweets back in April, according to the truths outlined in the Bible, homosexuality is a sin that should not be “flaunted, praised or politicized,” and that “marriage is between a man & a woman.”

He posted these truths in response to openly gay Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg’s claim that “God does not have a political party.”

Look:

That Sparks was so quick to kowtow to the left suggests that he cares more-so about his public image (and selling books?) than he does about standing up for his religious convictions. That’s unfortunate. If he truly believes the words of the Bible, then perhaps he should consider following the lead of Graham.

Just saying …

HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE MISSING …

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Vivek Saxena

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles