Today, the far-right website WorldNetDaily interviewed Fox News host Gretchen Carlson and Fred Thompson, the former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, about their roles in the new film “Persecuted,” a thriller about looming anti-Christian oppression in the U.S.
While Thompson pointed to Obamacare and the Hobby Lobby case as examples of the government persecuting Christians, Carlson once again highlighted the real force crushing the freedoms of Christians in America: Seinfeld.
She told WorldNetDaily that “Festivus,” the secular holiday popularized by the 1997 Seinfeld episode “The Strike,” is helping “erode” America’s “heritage” and “strip our society of certain things that have been in existence for a long time.”
Carlson also pointed to a lack of Christmas spirit and a dearth of tourists viewing a copy of the Bill of Rights on a recent visit she took to Washington D.C. as a sign of looming anti-Christian oppression.
“The movie is not a documentary,” Thompson told WND in an exclusive interview. “It is a takeoff on governmental power and those in government who legislate what they feel like is a good idea – on how people ought to conduct themselves, promote their religion and the message they should be delivering.
“Whether you’re talking about on the airwaves and ‘equal time’ or Obamacare or things of that nature, we’re in that territory now,” Thompson warned. “So again, this is not a documentary; it shows what can happen.
…
With a provocative title like “Persecuted,” WND asked Thompson and Carlson just how realistic is the film and the concept of “persecution” of Christians in America?
“More realistic than some of the space movies that get popular,” Thompson joked. “But it’s realistic certainly to the extent that these things are possible. The idea of those in government and powerful positions being able to carry out nefarious activities is more than possible, and in this particular case, though we haven’t seen anybody go to the extent they go to in this movie, the notion of a religious person preaching the gospel running up against the government and governmental policies – or those who want to carry out a business and running up against governmental regulations and rules – is not far-fetched at all. In fact, we’re seeing that happen as we speak in the Hobby Lobby case and in some other cases coming down the pike.”
“Over the last decade, I do believe there has been more emphasis on trying to strip our society of certain things that have been in existence for a long time,” added Carlson, “such as lawsuits to take crosses down in the western part of our country, lawsuits to take out the word ‘God’ from our money or not allowing our kids to say it in their valedictorian speeches, forces pushing for atheists to lead campus Christian groups and petitions at state governors’ offices during the Christmas season to put up a ‘Festivus pole’ – from the made-up holiday of ‘Festivus’ from the ‘Seinfeld’ TV show – next to a Christian crèche on public lands.
“As a journalist, I see these stories frequently,” she said, “and I just want to make sure Americans realize if you don’t stand up and take notice of some of these things happening, before you know it, our heritage starts to erode.
“For me, during the Christmas season, I don’t want to take my kids around in the car to see all the crèches in the town where I live in and hear them say, ‘Mom, where are they? I don’t see them anymore,’” Carlson said.
Her concerns are widely shared, but do those stories actually rise to the level of “persecution”?
“In most countries in the world, we’re seeing persecution [against Christians] in the extreme – people are losing their lives,” Thompson told WND. “While that sort of thing is not happening in the United States, we have the potential. Sooner or later, it can be done.
…
“When I was in Washington, D.C., just recently with my children, seeing the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, we had an interesting experience,” Carlson related. “Our tour guide noted security guards standing next to the Declaration and Constitution, and that’s where the long lines of people were, but when you go over to the Bill of Rights, there are no security guards and the lines start to diminish.
