I often joke about how Fox & Friends is America's only "news" network show that also serves as an old time morning bible show. That they are, indeed, actively involved in Christian proselytizing was demonstrated on this morning's show which also reinforced the Christian right/Fox victimized Christian meme. The discussion centered on evil atheists who complained about a statue, on the grounds of a public high school, that featured Christian bible quotes. Earlier this month, Elisabeth Hasselbeck's one sided validation for these persecuted Christians included an interview with a Christian football player who was "fighting" to keep the verses. The evil atheists, however, got their way and the verses will be removed. So this morning, Fox & Friends updated us on this atheist outrage and, for added spiritual pleasure, provided the aforementioned high school football player with a pulpit to again share his faith and, of course, the gospel according to the curvy couch!
Brian Kilmeade began the patented Fox & Friends "Fight for Faith" segment with the backstory of how a Georgia football team has had a "tradition" of touching a statue, with Christian bible verses, before the games and atheists are "furious." The chyron reinforced the narrative: "Atheists Outraged By Bible Verses on HS Football Team Statue." Doocy chimed in that the atheists "claim that two bible verses engraved on the statue violate the Constitution." (Ya think!) Doocy sighed as he reported that the school board unanimously voted to alter the statue. He introduced his guest, Christian football player Sam Bartlett who, you might recall, provided Elisabeth Hasselbeck with inspiring Christian thoughts about why Christian verses, on a statue on publicly funded property, is no big deal!
Doocy channeled what the school board members were thinking: "Look, we're gonna get sued, let's just change the statue." As he spoke, a photo of the statue sporting a New Testament "Romans" quote was shown. Doocy said uh-huh as Bartlett claimed that the board was "kind forced" to take this action because of lawsuits that they might face. The chyron, in utilizing a sports metaphor, declared that "God Got Sacked." Bartlett praised the school personnel and when he declared that he was proud to live in a county that has "such strong Christian leaders," Doocy did another uh-huh.
Sports guy Kilmeade noted that Bartlett "fought hard" but "ultimately lost" and then moved in for the - drum roll please - principal propaganda point which is that public schools cave to atheists because they don't have enough money to fight them - as opposed to the clear unconstitutionality of the statue. He asked "how disappointed are you in a system where it's just too expensive to get what you want and fight this through?" (I suspect that any of the organizations, frequently seen on Fox, that specialize in persecuted Christians, would be happy to do this pro-bono.) The chyron continued to advance the agitprop with a chyron, "Fight Over Faith and Football," that framed the issue in typical Fox dualistic terms while conveniently ignoring the crux of the issue which is about the "wall of separation."
Bartlett said that while he was disappointed, this allowed him the "great opportunity" to come on Fox & Friends to "show my faith and the gospel with millions of people." He added "that's how God works..." Doocy responded that Bartlett is "certainly getting the message out." As the chyron, in utilizing another football metaphor, read "Football Foul," Doocy asked Bartlett to opine about the atheists who "complained." Bartlett fumbled the propaganda ball (badda boom) when, in not feeding into the patented Fox & Friends atheists suck message, said he wasn't upset. In the fine Fox & Friends tradition of trying to say that "tradition" overrides the law, the chyron read "A Proud Tradition, Football Team Touches Statue Before Games." Rather than diss on atheists, Bartlett preached about how his god is "so real" and thanks to Fox & Friends "his name can be glorified." The chyron, "Gift of Faith, Statue Was Privately Donated to Football Team" - a totally irrelevant fact given that the statue still stands on public property. Kilmeade, in closing, congratulated Bartlett on his "fight."
As in the earlier Hasselbeck piece, the Constitutional ramifications of the issue were ignored. But the question remains - how do you think the Fox & Friends gang would react if a public school had a statue with Koranic verses? Just saying....