Fox News host Elisabeth Hasselbeck recently connected atheist groups imposing their beliefs on Christians to the violence that has escalated in Iraq on an edition of "Fox & Friends."
"It looks like two groups might not get the Bible," Hasselbeck stated. "There's a war on religion going on, you know it. And right now Bibles are booted from Navy base guest rooms, and an atheist group is telling a Georgia high school football team to punt the prayers."
Earlier this week, the United States Navy announced it would remove all religious materials from Navy guest lodges after the Freedom From Religion Foundation called the practice was unconstitutional. A few days later, the Appignani Humanist Legal Center threatened to sue Chestatee High School in Georgia for the "illegal" religious practices for using prayer and Bible verses to inspire football players.
"I don't know how having a Bible in a hotel room in a drawer is forced on anyone," Fox News co-host Eric Bolling added. "You don't want to read it, leave it in the drawer. How is that implicating the Navy in any way, shape or form?"
"You would think that a federally run organization would be able to make their own decisions," co-host Brian Kilmeade said. "But its atheist organizations that are pushing back on that."
Many viewers responded in agreement, noting that atheists "wanted more rights" than Christians. In response, Hasselbeck warned that infringing on religious
freedoms is a dangerous path to go down.
"You know, in light of what's going on in the world and the persecution of Christians right now, how close do we want to get to eliminating religious freedom in the globe?" she asked. "Particularly here."
Bolling added that he carried a copy of the Constitution in his pocket "every single day," and he was pretty sure that atheists were "overstepping the bounds."
The personalities of Fox & Friends aren't the only ones to slam atheist's attempts to snuff out Christianity.
One day after the atheist group filed a complaint against the highschool in Gainesville , GA, 200 people turned out in defiance of the group's demands Wednesday morning for an impromptu prayer rally in the middle of the Chestatee High School football field.
Later, Parents of football players also expressed their support for the team on a local news radio station.
"I am a mom of two of the football players on the CHS football team and I consider it an honor and a privilege to have my boys on a team that is led by men that believe and trust in God," one caller said. "I think it's a shame for one person to try and take that away from them."
Congressman Doug Collins, who represents Georgia's ninth congressional district, also released a statement opposing the atheist's actions.
"The liberal atheist interest groups trying to bully Chestatee High School kids say they have a reason to believe that expressions of religious freedom are 'not an isolated event' in Northeast Georgia," Collins wrote in a statement. "They're right. In Hall County and throughout Georgia's 9th district, we understand and respect the Constitution and cherish our right to worship in our own way."
