The truth can set us free.

We need not be trapped by our prejudices.

Last week, this once again became clear to us as we wrote about a conference called “Return to Liberty Under the Constitution Seminar” held at a New Scotland Bible camp, Camp Pinnacle.

William Tryon, who hosted the seminar, opened it by introducing Camp Pinnacle’s director, Stephen Flach. Alluding to state and federal guidance to wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Flach said, “I understand that most of you have a medical exemption. Thank you for exercising your rights.”

His comments drew laughter. He was playing to the crowd in front of him, which Tryon estimated at about 180.

The truth is — backed by scientific research — that masks prevent the spread of COVID-19. Wearing masks in the midst of a pandemic saves lives. Encouraged by former president Donald Trump, large swaths of Republicans did not and do not wear masks, endangering us all.

Later in the seminar, George Langdon, a Republican Albany County legislator representing Coeymans, spoke, again playing to the crowd before him. He talked of the need for more conservatives to get involved in local politics, turning toward the church and the influence it has over its congregants at the ballot box, and the need to to support candidates that “support our lifestyle, our way of thinking.”

At the end of his speech, Langdon talked about “where this country’s going” and about the “gender issue.”

“Everything God does is sustainable; it’s sustainable,” Langdon said. “It goes on and on and on; it’s perpetual. Sorry, when you have homosexual relationships, it’s not perpetual. Give them an island; they’ll be gone in 40 years.”

If we ignore for a moment the vile hatred in Langdon’s words, we can see, quite simply, his words are not true. No matter what god we believe in or whether we don’t believe there is a god, it is simply untrue that homosexuals would disappear from the Earth if they were isolated on an island for 40 years.

Whether it was intended by a god or not, a simple biological fact is that heterosexual couples give birth to gay and lesbian children. One of the lessons I learned when I was pregnant was that I had to accept all of the possibilities of the life that was growing within in me — my child could be male, female, or non-binary; my child could be gay or straight; my child could have disabilities or abilities beyond my wildest imaginings.

It is a lesson I have since carried with me — to try to accept the whole of humanity, not just the parts that are familiar or comfortable, not just the parts that “support our lifestyle, our way of thinking,” as Langdon put it.

Another relevant lesson I learned from motherhood is that love is not finite. I worried when I was pregnant before my second child was born how I would love her as much as my first. It turned out I didn’t have to love one less to love the other more.

Our economy, too, is like that. Having more workers doesn’t mean less for others. Like love, the economy grows as more people participate. It is not a zero-sum game. We make our country stronger by including others, not excluding them.

Because the conference at Camp Pinnacle was videotaped, Langdon’s words spread far beyond his intended audience to a wider, more inclusive world. Local leaders of both political parties rightly called out Langdon for his hateful and divisive speech. And on Monday, Langdon resigned.

Last Wednesday, as we were working on our story about Langdon’s speech and receiving emailed statements from politicians condemning it we were also receiving statements on the death of Justice Paul Feinman.

“The first openly gay person to serve on the Court of Appeals, he was a lifelong champion of fairness, progress, equality, and justice — the very cornerstones of our state’s history and our country’s democracy,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo who had appointed Feinman to the state’s highest court.

“And just as importantly, he was a mentor, friend, and role model to countless LGBTQ attorneys, helping to shepherd us out of an era where being openly LGBTQ could mean disbarment and into an era where government embodies the public it serves.”

As we’ve written on this page before, our society can evolve; it can also devolve. The hate that filled Camp Pinnale the last weekend in March, the hate that applauded Langdon and his comments will continue despite his resignation unless each of us does what we can to stop it. We need to continue moving forward in accepting the worth of all of our citizens to build a better democracy.

Truth will be our guiding light.

An integral part of our lead story last week was on the host of the Camp Pinnacle conference, William Tryon, who was arrested March 30 by the FBI “for his role in the riot and assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” according to a tweet from the FBI field office in Albany.

“The patriotism was neck deep,” Tryon told us of what he felt as part of the crowd in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. He is convinced “it was the other side” that caused harm.

This simply is not true. The fatal insurrection at the capitol was carried out by a mob inflamed by Trump with rhetoric that the election had been stolen. Tryon has been part of local “stop the steal” rallies.

Again, this simply is not true; the election was not stolen. Some of the rioters at the capitol may have believed they were patriots, fighting to stop the ongoing count of electoral votes, deceived by a leader who repeatedly lied, but that does not make it true.

Joe Biden won the 2020 election by over seven million popular votes and solidly with Electoral College votes, 306 to 232. Trump’s election challenges were dismissed or overturned in over 50 court cases. Before Trump fired Christopher Krebs as director of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Krebs said that the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history.”

Ignoring the truth has consequences. Currently, Republican legislators in 43 states have drafted voter suppression bills, following the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen.

Tryon told us last week that he has been fighting for 25 years to defend the principles on which the United States was founded. “I love my government. I love my country. I love my children’s future …,” he said. “Things seem to be falling apart.”

Tryon, who is 71 and had worked as a farmer and excavator, is writing a series of books with stories that focus on the mid-20th-Century, in his youth, when things to him seemed right with the country. “It was such a different world ...,” he said. “Now we live in a time of chaos.”

Over the last two decades, Tryon has written letters that have been printed on our opinion pages. What used to seem like fringe views became front and center once Trump was elected president. Some white men felt cheated or angry about an America they felt entitled to and longed for a status quo where they felt centered.

The truth is the United States is a nation of immigrants. Our diversity — with two painful exceptions: Native Americans and Africans brought here in chains — is largely a result of people leaving the familiar behind to build a better life in America.

To truly love our government, love our country, and love our children’s future, we must embrace our diversity and work together to keep things from falling apart.

We are writing this on Easter Sunday. Seventeen years ago, in this space, we gave our opinion on a modern-day Passion Play William Tryon had written that was performed by a small Feura Bush congregation.

Here’s what we wrote in 2004:

“The play is called ‘Who Do You Think You Are?” The tale is one of intolerance where vehement men and women rail against God’s laws and attack Jesus on his way to Calvary. The stance is not one of gratitude but of accusation.

“Gone are the familiar and resonant words of scripture, replaced with simplistic caricatures of relevant speech. The Biblical story is misused.

“Cardboard characters, labeled by the cast simply as ‘gay girls,’ ‘pregnant girl,’ ‘nasty lawyer,’ and ‘druggie,’ are portrayed as ‘sinners’ who pound the nails into Jesus’s hands and feet.

“The earnestness with which they spewed their lines of hatred made us feel as if we couldn’t breathe; we felt both frightened and angry. We also felt sorry for the children who were being imbued with such hatred. We don’t believe that lesbians, pregnant women, or drug addicts are sinners crucifying Christ.

“The language was so formulaic that stark stereotypes prevailed. A great deal of unintentional irony arose between what Jesus was saying and what the players were doing. We felt comforted when we heard Jesus speak the familiar words, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’

“One scene portrays a lesbian couple, the ‘gay girls,’ who say they love one another and want to be married. When this is forbidden as sinful, one of them tells Jesus he can’t understand; he’s never been married. 

“‘Who do you think you are?’ she yells with intensity and later pounds a nail with the same intensity into Jesus’s outstretched hand.

“We worry that such lines, screamed in hatred, will breed more hatred. And that an audience will come away not with the idea, embodied in scripture, of Christ’s love and sacrifice, but rather of a narrow-minded hatred that could play out, off stage, in ugly ways.”

We believe now that such hatred has indeed bred more hatred and played out in ugly ways. We need to embrace this truth: Our strength as a nation lies in accepting our diversity.