Person of Interest and Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel recently offered his opinion that the ongoing closure of churches in the United States amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of Christians “being persecuted for their faith”.
On September 10th, Caviezel, a devout Christian follower of the Catholic faith, spoke with Breitbart News Daily about his upcoming film Infidel, a “contemporary Middle East thriller” that will star “Caviezel as an American kidnapped while attending a conference in Cairo, who ends up in prison in Iran on spying charges” whose “wife goes to Iran, determined to get him out.”
At one point in the interview, Caviezel turns to the topic of Christians “being persecuted for their faith, whether it be in Iran or in China or other parts of the world” and states that a prime example of this persecution is in “the United States where you’re not allowed to go into churches.”
He then pointed to “the inalienable rights, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and asked “Why can’t I go to church?”
Caviezel then related these current closures to “this character that I’m playing in Infidel, where his rights are taken from him”, and stated that “And you’re an American. You’re standing here, and say, ‘Why should I go to this film? What is going on here?’ Let’s put this together.”
The actor would then proceed to point out the hypocritical and inconsistent reasons being given for the ongoing closure of certain institutions, sarcastically noting that “You go into an airplane. You see a lot of people. They’re wearing masks. They’re right next to each other. But the COVID-19, for some reason, doesn’t spread. It’s so smart. It knows not to do that.”
“But when you go into a church, the COVID-19 goes everywhere,” he concluded.
Caviezel would then argue that “this is the conversation that we’re having right now” because “the media no longer represents a lot of American”, especially those that “still like this stuff”.
“But most of us, we don’t trust them anymore,” he continued. “And so when you tell me that I’m doing an anti-Semitic movie or a film on Infidel, that is somehow immoral. Tell me, you know, to quote Jesus, ‘If evil I have spoken, tell me what evil that is. If not, why do you strike me?’”
He would also relate the actions of his character in Infidel to the ongoing practice of ‘cancel culture’ that has gripped contemporary discourse.
Caviezel stated that “one of the interesting things about this script is that [the main character] stands up for what he believes in. And that is something that’s lacking today in cancel culture,” and identified the proponents of cancel culture as people who “are wanting to be liked so badly.”
He would then claim these individuals were misinformed, and suggested they look at “what Jesus spoke about, what love really is.”
“You know, it’s not going to be some communist or Nazi that takes away your freedoms,” warned Caviezel. “It’s going to be you giving them away.”
Related: Jim Caviezel Provides Update On Mel Gibson’s Sequel to The Passion of the Christ
At the conclusion of the interview, Caviezel also noted that the sequel to The Passion of the Christ, The Passion of the Christ: The Resurrection” is currently being worked on and “it’s going to be the biggest film in world history.”
Infidel is currently set for a theatrical release on September 18th in states that have allowed theaters to re-open.
What do you make of Caviezel’s thoughts on Christian persecution? Do you agree with his point about the lockdowns, cancel culture, or both? Let us know on social media or in the comments down below!