NBC Censors NFL Rookie Who Praised Jesus Christ in Postgame Interview after Victory After Saturday’s historic win, Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud wanted to make sure God got the glory first. The NFL’s Rookie of the Year finalist led the team to victory and was immediately interviewed by NBC to talk about the team’s trip to the playoffs. “First and foremost,” Stroud said, “I just want to give all glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Stroud is well known for his athleticism, but he’s also known for his deep Christian faith in real life and on social media. As journalist Bobby Burack wrote, “Stroud is rightfully front and center of the sports conversation. And so is his faith.” In a world of intense politicization, Stroud is determined to identify unabashedly as a follower of Christ. But not without censorship from the media.

The “Sunday Night Football on NBC” account posted the interview on X, but the line where the football player praised God was edited out. They captioned the post saying, “CJ Stroud has a lot of love for his city.” But those who knew the player was proclaiming his love for God are calling out the network for removing the comment about Jesus. Lenny Dykstra, former New York Mets star, said, “I have a feeling there are going to be a lot more post-postseason win interviews with him that the dinosaur media is going to have to edit as well.”

Citizen Free Press criticized the decision. “It’s disconcerting to realize NBC is actively censoring a player praising Jesus after a massive win. Would NBC have censored his speech if he praised transgenders or Palestinians?” Another user said, “These are the same people who have no problem showing BLM propaganda all over their show. Because that’s OK and acceptable. Mentioning Jesus Christ? That’s considered hate speech.” And many other fans continue to express their disapproval of NBC’s tampering.

But Stroud has made it clear that his faith comes first, and he continues to reiterate that, no matter how the media reacts. “It’s what’s kept me grounded through my season,” he said earlier last year. “Football has a lot of ups and downs, it has a lot of twists and turns, but at the end of the day, it’s all about your foundation. And something that’s set my foundation is my faith.”

Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at Family Research Council, shared with The Washington Stand that “it’s not unusual for a player to thank God publicly during comments after a game,” but what we’re seeing is that the “priests of the sexual revolution are uniquely triggered by the name of Jesus.”

He continued, “They’re more inclined to tolerate someone who thanks God because it’s vague. The name of Jesus is not vague. It’s likely C.J. Stroud would have been tolerated, if not celebrated, for letting his authentic self be seen if he had thanked ‘Mother God’ or the ‘divine light within.’ But his words glorifying Jesus obviously triggered someone” at NBC.

Backholm explained that Stroud is an example for other believers of how Christians should live. “It’s clear he has made a conscious decision to deflect praise from himself to Jesus, which is good for his soul,” he said. “But it’s also encouraging to everyone watching to see people speaking publicly and favorably about Jesus in a context many would see as secular.”

As he pointed out, “If this happens often, it becomes normal and easy to do. If it happens rarely or never, it becomes strange or difficult to do.” So, standing boldly in faith as Stroud uses his platform for is significant “because it makes it easier for other people to do likewise.”

Sarah Holliday The Washington Stand

Survey: Two-Thirds of Elites Say There’s Too Much Freedom in America The nation’s ruling class holds deeply authoritarian opinions widely divorced from the rest of the American electorate, finds a survey out this week. It found nearly 60 percent of American “elites” think there is too much individual freedom in America. Meanwhile, nearly 60 percent of registered voters have the exact opposite opinion, reporting the United States has too much top-down control, limiting liberty.

The study, titled “Them Vs. U.S,” defined the American “elite” as “having a postgraduate degree, a household income of more than $150,000 annually, and living in a zip code with more than 10,000 people per square mile.” Such people account for about 1 percent of Americans. The study also examined a sub-sample of the 1 percent who graduated from Ivy League schools or other name-brand institutions such as Northwestern, Duke, Stanford, and the University of Chicago.

The study from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found ruling class opinions on climate policies were particularly harsh and despotic. More than two-thirds of the 1 percent support rationing vital energy and food sources in an attempt to control the globe’s weather. That number jumped to nearly 90 percent among the Ivy Leaguers. Around two-thirds of normal registered voters, however, oppose rationing vital resources.

Limiting food and water consumption is a serious proposition to global leaders. For example, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, an environmentalist organization of city leaders across the globe, has proposed annihilating meat and dairy consumption by 2030.

“An astonishing 72% of the Elites – including 81% of the Elites who graduated from the top universities – favor banning gas cars,” the study authors continued. “And majorities of elites would ban gas stoves, non-essential air travel, SUVs, and private air conditioning.”

Elites’ view of other elites is very different from regular registered voters’ view of elites. On the education front, “Two-thirds (67%) [of the 1 percent] say teachers and other educational professionals should decide what children are taught rather than letting parents decide.” Only 38 percent of registered voters felt the same.

“About six of ten elites have a favorable opinion of the so-called talking professions—lawyers, lobbyists, politicians, and journalists,” wrote the study authors. Additionally, “In stark contrast to the rest of America, 70% of the Elites trust the government to ‘do the right thing most of the time.’” Unsurprisingly, “about three-quarters of these cultural elites are Biden supporters.” While only 20 percent of Americans say they are better off financially under Biden, nearly three-quarters of the elites say they are better off under Biden.

The study comes as global leaders meet in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting to discuss draconian climate policies and crackdowns on freedom of speech and therefore freedom of thought. So far at the conference, elites have discussed establishing a “new world order,” lobbied for censorship in the name of “disinformation and misinformation,” and labeled farming and fishing “ecocide.”

The WEF policy proposals and the results of this survey reveal what the Committee to Unleash Prosperity describes as a “Grand Canyon-sized chasm” between regular citizens and those who largely claim the expertise and power to rule over others with or without their consent.

“These results confirm what people have long suspected,” wrote the study authors: “Today, there are two Americas. One is wealthier, more highly educated, and attended the best schools. They put much more trust in big government ‘to do the right thing’ and, by their own admission, benefit from more expansive government policies. They have also been hurt far less by the high inflation of the Biden presidency than those who live from paycheck to paycheck and are in the lower and middle classes.”“ And last of all, State Representative Jim Olsen has filed a bill to place the Ten Commandments in every classroom. I remember well that my first-grade teacher, Jewell Nichols, started every day with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Now prayer has been banned, but it is okay to promote pornography and perversion. Anything spiritual is “dangerous” to our students but drag queens are somehow “beneficial.” Our country was in much better shape when we honored God instead of perverts.