Unless you live under a rock, you are probably aware of the controversy surrounding Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who delivered a commencement speech at Benedictine College. He spoke to a Roman Catholic audience about the supposed faith of President Joe Biden, the leadership failures of the Roman Catholic Church, and other controversial topics such as abortion, IVF, surrogacy, diversity and inclusion, “pride month,” and the vocations of women and men as mothers and fathers.

While we live in a polarizing political climate, of course, anyone will receive backlash if he is courageous enough to stand upon religious convictions and push back against our godless government and corporations plaguing society with regressive ideologies. Butker received the most vile, delusional, and intense backlash from his comments to the female college graduates about their potential future vocations as wives, mothers, and homemakers.

This has even led to over 200,000 people signing a petition for his dismissal from the Chiefs, whom he has helped win three Super Bowls in the last five years and emerge as the greatest dynasty since Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Before I get into how Butker is being attacked and dragged through the streets of social media and legacy journalism for what he did not say, we should discuss what he did say.

“For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.

 

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. I'm on the 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.

 

She is a primary educator to our children. She is the one who ensures I never let football or my business become a distraction from that of a husband and father.”

To anyone who is not trying to take his wife’s story or any of his comments as a blanket statement for all women in all situations, this all seems pretty harmless and aligned with his beliefs, and presumably those of the female graduates in the audience.

Without Butker specifically identifying what he means about “diabolical lies” women are being told, I would guess that he is speaking about feminism, which has has led to an attack on traditional values and has influenced young women to believe that marriage is not worth pursuing, that children are more of a burden than a blessing, and that their careers should be prioritized over the vocation of a wife and mother.

Let us return to what Butker did say. As you can imagine, the term “misogynistic” has been thrown around more than the pigskin at a typical Chiefs game. But is this true? Let’s discuss point by point.

Accusation: Butker believes women shouldn’t be educated and that a college degree is useless.

Answer: “Congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives.” Butker neither said nor insinuated that what these women accomplished as graduates is worthless and should be thrown away.

Accusation: Butker thinks women should not pursue a career.

Answer: “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world.” Butker never said that women must not pursue careers. He explained his experience and shared the words of his own wife, who said any notion of “career success” is not as fulfilling as her vocation as the “primary educator” of their children.

Accusation: Women will never find happiness and value in the workforce.

Answer: “I have seen it firsthand how much happier someone can be when they disregard the outside noise and move closer and closer to God's will in their life.” Butker never said his wife never felt value, purpose, or fulfillment in her career, but rather that she found much more value, purpose, and fulfillment leaning into her vocation as a mother.

Accusation: Women’s sole value comes from being a wife and a mother.

Answer: “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. I'm on the stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation.” Butker’s words affirm what his wife personally believes: her life is more purposeful as a stay-at-home mom than as a childless career woman. Nowhere did Butker say or insinuate that the “Handmaid's Tale,” where women are basically slaves and merely used for providing children, is an ideal world. He affirms the biblical standard, laid out in Genesis 2 and Ephesians 5, that women and men are equal in value as made in the image of God but not the same because they are made as complements to each other.

Accusation: Single moms and others in tough life circumstances with kids should quit their jobs and be stay-at-home moms living from government assistance.

Answer: I will not even provide a snippet of the speech here because this is an emotional argument based on a major stretch in logic. This is an argument from silence that leads one into believing another “diabolical lie” that men like Butker do not care about women living in unfortunate life circumstances.

As you can see, Butker is being unfairly persecuted and treated as a “sexist” monster who wants women’s rights to work, vote, and make personal life choices about where and whether they work stripped away. In the meantime, Butker’s jersey is the bestselling NFL jersey online, and thousands are signing another petition to support him and his right to voice his religious convictions. Clearly Butker is not alone, no matter the noise being raised by his detractors.