In an interview with Iowa talk radio host Simon Conway yesterday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal took advantage of a discussion of the attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, to bring up his favorite topic: how a secular America is persecuting conservative Christians.
He somehow managed to link the two topics by implying that liberals are not concerned enough about radical Islam and only think it’s okay to discriminate against Christians like Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson.
“In America, there used to be a time with the left, and the media even, celebrated diversity and tolerated free speech and religious liberty,” he said. “Simon, the sad truth is that’s no longer true. They tolerate anybody that agrees with them and nobody else.”
Criticizing President Obama for avoiding publicly linking terrorism with Islam, he claimed that liberals are being more lenient on terrorists than on evangelical Christians: “You saw this with Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty, he made some comments that they didn’t like, they wanted to get his show canceled on A&E, they wanted to get Duck Dynasty removed from A&E. The left doesn’t tolerate those that disagree with them anymore. Hollywood, the media elite, the left, they want us all to act, think, talk like them, and it starts with a secularized America. And it certainly does not allow you to call radical Islamic terrorism the problem.”
When Conway brought up the hubbub over Andres Serrano’s “Piss Christ,” which drew the Religious Right’s ire when it was exhibited at a 1987 show that was partially sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Jindal said that that episode disproved President Obama’s remarks about violent religious extremism during the Crusades. “Despite the president’s concern about medieval Christians and crusaders, I don’t recall there being violence at the time” of the Serrano incident, Jindal said.
“The only group, it seems like, that the left is willing to discriminate against today is evangelical Christians and others with traditional values and beliefs,” he concluded, citing cases of business owners sued for refusing service to gay and lesbian customers.
“I would think the left, even if they don’t share our Judeo-Christian heritage or views or beliefs, they would recognize in America, one of the great strengths in this country is the diversity and the tolerance for others that disagree with them, and it’s sad to see their hypocrisy today,” he said.
