Melissa Joan Hart, star of God’s Not Dead 2, appeared on Good Morning America, Thursday to argue that tolerance extends to Christians, not just other faiths. Surprisingly, the co-hosts of GMA touted her new movie as “powerful” and a “serious role” for the actress.
The film revolves around a Christian teacher persecuted for mentioning Jesus in the classroom. Reporter Paula Faris wondered “why you think it’s an important topic in 2016. Hart responded, “We need to be tolerant of all religions. If a Christian's right is subordinate to all other rights, than it's not a right at all. And so, you know, I think it's really about tolerance across the board for everyone.”
Hart also added that she received criticism from some Christians for her previous role in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. However, “now it's from the other way” for starring in a religious film.
Reporter Faris described the movie as about tolerance. Yet, it was ABC and NBC that have recently hyped the “growing backlash” against North Carolina for that state’s religious freedom law. On the March 30 GMA, Faris described the situation with no quotes or video from those supporting the law:
PAULA FARIS: And in North Carolina, hundreds of demonstrators blocked the streets of chapel hill. They are protesting the state law that eliminates anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgendered people. Dozens of major companies right now are urging state leaders to repeal that law.
A transcript of the April 7 GMA segment is below:
8:37
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We turn now to a powerful new movie from Melissa Joan Hart. She plays a teacher fighting for her faith in God’s Not Dead 2. And ABC’s Paula Faris sat down with her to talk about it.
FARIS: She’s played a sarcastic and funny adolescent on Clarissa Explains It All and a teen with magical powers on Sabrina: The Teenage Witch. But now Melissa Joan Hart is taking on a more serious role in the faith-based film God’s Not Dead 2.
MELISSA JOAN HART [clip from movie]: I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
FARIS: We met up the veteran actress for coffee at Sugar and Plum in Manhattan. So, you go from Clarissa to Sabrina to the persecuted Christian teacher. Quite the role reversal for you.
HART: Yeah. A little bit.
FARIS: How is this role particular role different than any particular role you’ve ever played?
HART: Well, first of all, it was challenging for me because, you know, doing comedy and doing television and anything else I've done, I've always driven the dialogue. In this case, she’s an introvert. She’s a woman who stands by her faith, a faith she came about on her own. She wasn’t raised with the faith and, so, she comes to her own beliefs and grows her own faith and then she has to stand by that conviction and, like, kind of unwavering.
FARIS: This is all about separation of church and state. In this particular movie the teacher is being persecuted because of her faith because of a question she was asked in class. Why do you think it's an important conversation to have right now in 2016?
HART: There shouldn't be any one religion represented in anything. But at the same time, we need to be tolerant of all religions. If a Christian's right is subordinate to all other rights, than it's not a right at all. And so, you know, I think it’s really about tolerance across the board for everyone. [Clip from movie.] I am not going to be afraid to say the name Jesus.
FARIS: Do you ever feel like you can't win? Because I know in a recent interview, you said now you’re getting grief from playing the good Christian woman.
HART: Well, before, I was getting grief before for being a witch by the Christian community. I was being persecuted for believing in witchcraft. But it was really about magic and it was silly and family friendly. But, yeah, now it's from the other way.
