BIRMINGHAM — 1819 News hosted the first-ever Albert Patterson Gala, dubbed an "Evening of Courage," where the outlet presented the Albert Patterson Courage Award to U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, "2000 Mules" producer and True the Vote partner Gregg Phillips, and Drs. Jordan Vaughn and Stewart Tankersley of Concerned Doctors, before hearing from the gala's keynote speaker, author Eric Metaxas.
Nearly 400 people gathered at the Barber Motorsports Museum in Birmingham to hear presentations from 1819 News CEO Bryan Dawson, Attorney General Steve Marshall, and Metaxas. They described the effect 1819 News has had on the state during its three years of operation.
Marshall began the evening by telling the story of the gala's namesake, Albert Patterson, who was assassinated before he could take the mantle of Alabama's attorney general.
Patterson ran on cleaning up the rampant organized crime, prostitution and gambling in his hometown of Phenix City, which earned the title of "Wickedest City in America." Patterson was gunned down outside of his law office on June 10, 1954, eight days after being declared the victor in the attorney general's race.
Marshall connected Patterson's struggle against corruption in Phenix City with the aim of 1819 News, which was to shine a light on corruption and avarice in Alabama.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Alabama is better off because of the organization that we are here tonight to celebrate," Marshall said. "Thank you for allowing me to share a moment of Albert Patterson, and may we all aspire to live with his courage, with his principle and with his passion."
Dawson was next to the stage to present the Albert Patterson Courage Awards to the night's honorees.
Tuberville received the award for standing up to federal overreach after the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year. Despite immense political and media pressure, Tuberville, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, continued to hold up the mass approval of Biden's military appointees until the DOD rescinded its abortion policy assisting female soldiers in obtaining abortions, even paying for out-of-state travel costs if the soldiers lived in a state with abortion restrictions.
"That took guts," Dawson said. "That took a true dedication to the unborn and to representing the will of the Alabama people. Thank you, Senator Tuberville. God has truly blessed our state with you representing us."
Phillips was next to receive his award for his work after the 2020 election, which highlighted suspected voter fraud, produced the controversial documentary 2,000 Mules, and exposed the alleged malpractice of the poll worker management software company Konnech. Phillips claimed Konnech stored poll worker information on Chinese servers and allowed the Chinese government to access it.
The subsequent Konnech investigation and defamation lawsuit led to Phillips and his partner Catherine Engelbrecht being thrown in jail for contempt of court by a federal judge for refusing to name a confidential source in the Konnech debacle. A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned their jailing.
Tankersly and Vaughn accepted the award on behalf of the Concerned Doctors, who formed in reaction to the government's response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The group of medical doctors endeavored through the pandemic to shine a light on the perceived lack of evidence-based responses to the pandemic by state and federal health officers, namely, the insistence on social distancing, masking, and vaccines while suppressing other treatment methods the group found to be effective in clinical practice.
After the awards, Metaxas drew from his bestselling works to coincide with the evening's theme, admonishing American Christians to put their faith into action with courage to face the political and cultural challenges of our day.
In his book Letter to the American Church, Metaxas contrasts America's current political climate with that of Germany in the 1930s. His other bestselling book, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, details the life and actions of the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who attempted to overthrow the Third Reich from within German borders. Metaxas's central theme of the evening was parallelling the complacency of the German church in standing up to Hitler's rise with the complacency of the American church in standing up to government tyranny during the COVID-19 pandemic and the cultural degradation of the U.S. through its institutions.
"The parallels that I saw to the story of Bonhoeffer staggered me, staggered me, absolutely staggered me," Metaxas said. "I said, 'What happened in Germany in the 30s is happening in America today.' The failure of the church to be the church, the most harmful thing imaginable, I saw that happening in America, that's why I wrote my book, Letter to the American Church."
"If the church had stood together, linking arms against the Nazis, had understood what was going on and said, 'it's our job to stand against this,' without a doubt, the satanic evil of the nazis would have been defeated."
He continued, "The church gave the same excuses in the early 30s as the American church has given in our time. 'We don't want any trouble. We just want to preach the gospel. We just want to do evangelism. We just want to do church.' Well, I'm here to tell you folks, the devil also wants you to just do evangelism. The devil wants you also not to do all the other stuff that God wants you to do; just focus on your little religious thing there that makes you feel good about yourself, but it's not the Lord's will."
Metaxas concluded by offering a gameplan for American Christians, imploring them to become directly "involved in everything" in public life to restore America to its historic Christian roots.
"We need to win the culture," Metaxas emphasized. "We need to be involved in everything. It's the Lord's will, again, not that we stay in some little religious corner, that we confine ourselves to Sunday morning and to little sermons that don't touch on the world outside of church. No. The Lord wants us to take our faith into every single sphere. Into news. Into media. Into absolutely everything. It's the Lord's will that we get busy. It's the Lord's will that we fight.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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