Tucker Carlson, J.D. Vance, and Foundational Truths to Fight Christian Persecution in America

Restoration News was privileged to attend a gala hosted by the Center for Christian Virtue in Ohio, where media star Tucker Carlson and Sen. J.D. Vance laid out a roadmap for Christians to save America and end the secular Left’s tyranny.

This reporter has covered countless topics and written thousands of stories for national outlets. Yet after traveling to Ohio in September to hear my old mentor Tucker Carlson speak about faith, I experienced something transcendent. A message detailing what it means to walk in the footsteps of Christ and the heavy cost we must pay to be saved by His mercy.

The theme of Tucker’s speech was how Christians, and many of their leaders, have buckled under the weight of fear and all but abandoned the pillars of our faith. The fight is no longer Right vs. Left, but right vs. wrong.

As a Catholic, I was relieved to hear Tucker’s message delivered to an audience hosted by the Center for Christian Virtue. It felt like a breath of fresh air after being locked in a dark, damp cell for years. It also shocked me at how dystopic our nation has become regarding the persecution of the faithful. Tucker spoke briefly with this reporter before the event about the importance of faith and how devastating the effects of fear can be and on the soul.

“Fearlessness,” and “boldness” Tucker told the crowd, serve as the baseline for “following the Gospel. And if you’re not doing that, you’re not doing it right. Okay?”

He added.” That’s the first thing: Don’t be afraid.”

Carlson Praises Vance Following Introduction

Sen. J.D. Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy and one of the most conservative members of the Senate, introduced Carlson on stage.

“I know how [Vance] is regarded in Washington [D.C.], which is literally as, a unique figure in the Senate. Out of 100, there’s one,” Tucker said following the introduction. “And [is] one person who truly doesn’t care what’s popular and is solely focused on what he thinks is right for the country and for the state. Period. There is just one.”  

He praised Vance’s verve and said he’s “grateful as an American,” that such a person is serving in the United States Congress.  

What makes J.D. unique I think, is that he went from [poverty] to Yale law school. So, I think the root of JD’s power is not that he’s representing the people he grew up with—which he is—but that he has contempt for the people who are trying to bring him to the dark side.

Carlson then dove into what it means to be a Christian in today’s modern world, and how America is no longer a haven for religious freedom.

We saw it during COVID when they were literally shutting down Christian Churches with—by the way—the full cooperation of the Christian ministers running those churches. While simultaneously allowing strip bars, and liquor stores, and weed dispensaries to remain open. There could not be a clearer signal of intent. ‘Your faith is a threat to us and we’re going to shut you down.’. . . And the cowards who ran those churches went along with it.

He said the mission of Christian leaders should be to minister “fearlessly” to their congregations and accused them of caving to government aggression.

Following in the Footsteps of Paul

Carlson spent most of his speech quoting Bible verses, pointing out that his “second favorite character” in the New Testament is the Apostle Paul, formerly the pharisee Saul, who was blinded on the road to Damascus for his role in killing Christians.

“I think, from what I can tell, the bulk of the New Testament is written by or about Paul,” Tucker said. “He’s a leading character in this drama, I would say . . . and I think he’s an amazing person because he was not a good person. He was a horrible person. He was on his way to murder Christians. Until he was knocked down and blinded, and then pivoted on a dime and devoted his life to spreading the Gospel.

I find it very inspiring that a truly awful person, could become one of the great people of all time—that’s reassuring. . . There’s not a letter he wrote, where he didn’t have a sword hanging over his neck. He expected at any moment to be murdered, and I think the consensus among historians is, in the end he was. . . as were all of his friends. But he lived with the certainty that he was going to be killed for his beliefs, every day. And he was totally unbothered by it.

Tucker urged Christians to follow Paul’s example by bringing lost members of the church back to God, and to have empathy for their brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted – even if they’re in a foreign country.

“I’m only suggesting that one factor that Christians use to assess the behavior of their government and other governments, ought to be the treatment of Christians,” Carlson explained. “We should have a soft spot for other Christians.”

The former cable news star outlined several situations abroad where Christians were being massacred—specifically when he covered the Iraq war in 2003. He blamed the Obama State Department for omitting Christian refugees from America when they tried to flee to the U.S. several years later—a decision that sealed their fates, Carlson declared.

“I’ll never forget going to Iraq to cover the war in 2003 and running into a Christian. I didn’t know there were Christians in Iraq. There’s 1.5 million of them actually,” he said. “It was one of the biggest and the oldest Christian communities in the world. And it’s gone now. 1.5 million Christians in Iraq in 2003. There are about 150,000 or fewer [today]. . . That kind of qualifies for genocide, I think. They’re gone. A lot of them were murdered. Not a lot of came [to America] because they were excluded–specifically excluded–by the Obama State Department.

He also shamed pastors, ministers, and priests—including his own—who saw fit to close houses of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic. He labeled them false vicars of Christ, due to their earthly fear of death.

“If you’re afraid to die, then you don’t really mean it do you?” he asked the crowd to applause. “Even I was like 50 years old at the time. . .  even I’m not afraid to die. I’m a talk show host. And [my pastor’s] afraid to die? Okay. She’s not a Christian. We stopped wasting our time on that [church].”

Offering Solutions and Hope for Salvation

Carlson also had a question and answer session with Center for Christian Virtue president Aaron Baer, who followed up on abortion and other aspects of Tucker’s address.

The Daily Caller founder mainly cautioned against arrogance and said humans must embrace humility if they wish to follow in the path of Christ. “Pursuing wisdom is the goal of this life, in my opinion, and [to find] wisdom [it takes] humility,” he said. “If you find yourself really wanting, if you fully appreciate your own ignorance and lack of foresight, then you are on the road to wisdom.”

He then condemned abortion, days after the gala, with a clip from the speech posted to his X (formerly Twitter) account, calling those who promote the practice “sick.”

Carlson’s strategy and instincts are correct. Christianity must put aside its petty difference, embrace our common goals and secure the future by inspiring others through example. As Christians, we must always be cognizant of our brothers and sisters who are persecuted in the name of Christ. We also have to find ways of connecting on common ground while relating to the teachings of Jesus.

Most of all, we should follow the example of Paul, who outlined what a meaningful Christian life should look like in Timothy 2:7: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”