Idaho Bar Owner Who Defied the Left, Gets Excommunicated From His Own Church for Defending Christianity
By Matt Funicello | 1:10 PM on September 22, 2024The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.
Old State Saloon, located in Eagle, Idaho. (Credit: Mark Fitzpatrick, used with permission)
Mark Fitzpatrick is no stranger to controversy, after successfully fighting the leftist agenda machine when he hosted Heterosexual Awesomeness Month at his Idaho bar, Old State Saloon, this past June. However, his problems started months before he hosted the month-long event a is bar. Mark’s church was not happy about what he was doing at his bar, and they “canceled” him over it. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Fitzpatrick and he shared his story with me.
Being Straight Is Great: Celebrating Heterosexual Awesomeness Month
Fitzpatrick is a recent conservative Californian transplant to Eagle, Idaho. He is a strong and passionate conservative and Christian and is very active in his church, which he helped establish when he and his wife moved their family to Eagle approximately six years ago from Southern California. Mark quickly saw success in private real estate and other business ventures. One of those ventures was his acquisition of an established bar in downtown Eagle, which is a small suburb located approximately 23 miles northwest of Boise. The bar, then called "The Gathering Place," was built in 1908, and after talking with the owner, Mark purchased the bar and opened it in February of 2023, renaming it "Old State Saloon."
Originally intended to support his wedding venue business with a liquor license, Fitzpatrick quickly saw more potential in the bar and adapted it to serve as a hub where people could come and talk about politics, hot topic issues, current events, and more. He began hosting a weekly event dubbed “Braveritas,” which is a combination of the words brave and veritas (veritas being Latin for truth), now called "Old State Salooncast," where guests were invited to present different topics, some of which were controversial, but nothing was off limits. Religion, specifically Christianity, was also discussed, and Mark used these discussions to spread the Christian message.
https://redstate.com/mdempsey/2024/09/22/idaho-bar-owner-who-defied-the-left-gets-excommunicated-from-his-own-church-for-defending-christianity-n2179613#google_vignette
