{"id":1076690,"date":"2021-12-02T13:28:35","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T18:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1076690"},"modified":"2021-12-02T13:28:37","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T18:28:37","slug":"fact-check-did-steven-levy-make-this-statement-about-religion-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-steven-levy-make-this-statement-about-religion-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Did Steven Levy Make This Statement About Religion In America?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-did-steven-levy-make-this-statement-about-religion-in-america%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1076690&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rodney.johnson.16144\/posts\/10219525649683182\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook post<\/a> shared over 600 times attributes a long statement about being religious in the U.S. to journalist Steven Levy.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: False<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>There is no evidence Levy made this statement. He has refuted the claim.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The lengthy post contends that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/author\/steven-levy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Levy<\/a>, a well-known technology journalist and the editor-at-large of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/author\/steven-levy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wired<\/a>, gave an impassioned speech on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbs.com\/shows\/cbs-sunday-morning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CBS Sunday Morning<\/a>\u201d about the need for religion in the U.S. in response to the White House allegedly referring to Christmas trees as \u201choliday trees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don\u2019t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians,\u201d reads part of the alleged speech. \u201cI think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, there is no evidence that Levy made this statement or anything resembling it. In fact, he published an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2014\/12\/how-i-became-an-unwilling-conscript-in-the-war-on-christmas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">article<\/a> for Wired in 2014 denying that he authored the message, which he called a \u201cderanged rant,\u201d or ever discussed the White House referring to its Christmas trees as a \u201choliday trees\u201d on \u201cCBS Sunday Morning.\u201d <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2018\/12\/05\/fact-check-tomi-lahren-fox-news-obama-festivus-christmas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Did Tomi Lahren Say, \u2018Obama Created Festivus To Destroy Christmas\u2019?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An internet search reveals part of the post is derived from commentary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/amp\/video\/stein-who-are-nick-jessica\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">presented<\/a> by conservative economist <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/ballot-box\/271513-gop-speechwriter-ben-stein-mulls-voting-for-dems-because-of-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Stein<\/a> during a December 2005 \u201cCBS Sunday Morning\u201d news broadcast, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lowellsun.com\/2008\/12\/25\/ben-steins-confessions-for-the-holidays\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lowell Sun<\/a>. Stein was not, however, speaking about how the White House supposedly referred to Christmas trees.<\/p>\n<p>Other aspects of the post, including the mentions of the late prominent atheist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/news\/local\/article\/true-crime-SA-kidnapping-murder-Madalyn-OHair-11017782.php#taboola-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Madalyn Murray O\u2019Hair<\/a> and the late pediatrician and author <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1998\/03\/17\/us\/benjamin-spock-world-s-pediatrician-dies-at-94.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Benjamin Spock<\/a>, did not come from Stein and are of indeterminate origin. Check Your Fact didn\u2019t find <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%22benjamin%20spock%22%20(from%3AStevenLevy)&amp;src=typed_query\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">any<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%22madalyn%22%20(from%3AStevenLevy)&amp;src=typed_query&amp;f=top\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">record<\/a> of Levy making those comments, either.<\/p>\n<p>No <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=White+House+%22holiday+trees%22&amp;oq=White+House+%22holiday+trees%22&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l2j0i22i30l7.9394j0j7&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">credible news reports<\/a> of the White House using the term \u201choliday trees\u201d to refer to Christmas trees could be found. The White House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/holidays-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website<\/a> repeatedly refers to \u201cChristmas trees\u201d on a section of the site dedicated to the holiday decorations displayed at the residence this year.<\/p>\n<p>While there is no evidence Levy made the statement attributed to him in the post, he has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/video\/what-to-know-about-twitters-new-ceo-following-jack-dorseys-exit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">appeared<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/video\/what-to-know-about-twitters-new-ceo-following-jack-dorseys-exit\/#x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CBS News<\/a> as recently as Nov. 29, where he discussed Twitter and former CEO Jack Dorsey\u2019s resignation as CEO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Facebook post shared over 600 times attributes a long statement about being religious in the U.S. to journalist Steven Levy.Verdict: False There is no evidence Levy made this statement. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1076690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1076690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1076690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}