Jindal: HGTV shows left’s war on religion

A liberal “war on religion” is to blame for HGTV’s decision to cancel a television show over comments against homosexuality made by one of the hosts, according to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R).

HGTV canceled “Flip it Forward” without explanation this week, but the move came after a liberal watchdog group slammed host David Benham for comments he made about “homosexuality and its agenda that is attacking the nation.”

{mosads}Jindal, in remarks he is slated to make Saturday at Liberty University, says this shows how the faithful are under siege for their beliefs.

“There was a time when liberals in this country believed in debate,” Jindal, a possible White House contender in 2016, will say according to excerpts of his speech released Friday. “But that is increasingly not the case for the modern Left in America. No, the modern Left in America has grown tired of debate. Their new strategy is simply to try to silence their critics.”

Jindal has been burnishing his conservative credentials in recent months, something that could help him with social conservatives in the 2016 Republican primary season. Last year, he also defended “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson he was temporarily suspended over remarks he made about homosexuality in a GQ article.

At the time, Jindal said he found many of Robertson’s remarks offensive but said people are entitled to express their own views.

David and Jason Benham, the “Flip it Forward” co-hosts, both attended Liberty University.

David Benham attended a prayer rally outside the Democratic National Convention in 2012, and Rightwingwatch.org also posted a clip of his protests outside an abortion clinic. 

The brothers’ father, who heads an anti-abortion group Operation Save America, has previously been convicted of stalking an abortion doctor. 

Jindal said it is another demonstration of intolerance from the entertainment industry.

“If these guys had protested at the Republican Party Convention, instead of canceling their show, HGTV would probably have given them a raise,” Jindal will say.

The brothers have said it is a lie to suggest they hate homosexuals. They said they hold no animosity toward HGTV’s “business decision.” 

Liberty University is a speaking stop for a number of potential presidential candidates. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) gave a speech there in April in which he warned religious liberty had never been more under assault in the United States. 

During his speech, Jindal will say under that President Obama’s administration, individuals have protection under the First Amendment but that it does not always extend to businesses. 

“This war is waged in our courts and in the halls of political power,” he will say. “It is pursued with grim and relentless determination by a group of like-minded elites, determined to transform the country from a land sustained by faith — into a land where faith is silenced, privatized, and circumscribed.”

Most of the Obama administration attacks are aimed at conservative Christians, Jindal is expected to say.

“Christians are the last group that it is OK to discriminate against in America,” he will say. “But so what? If God is with us, who can be against us?  Don’t see yourself as a victim, America has enough people who see themselves as victims.”