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'We can't talk about Jesus': Legendary NFL star warns America is becoming 'more and more immoral'
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Terry Bradshaw, left, and Franco Harris pose in the audience at the fifth annual NFL Honors at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, in San Francisco. - photo by Billy Hallowell
NFL hall of famer and TV analyst Terry Bradshaw is worried about America, telling "Fox & Friends" he believes the country is becoming "more and more immoral."

"This country's getting worse and worse and more and more immoral and we're rotting from within," Bradshaw said on Tuesday. "All great empires die from within."

He specifically addressed his belief that Christians are being silenced and dissuaded from sharing their beliefs in the public square.

"We can't talk about Jesus we can't mention that anymore, so we say, 'I'm religious,' because if we say 'Jesus,' then you automatically are pigeonholed and kicked off the desk," Bradshaw continued.

The legendary NFL star made his remarks while discussing the controversial decision by San Francisco 49ers' backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick to kneel during the national anthem in protest of police misconduct.

While Bradshaw said he has no problem with Kaepernick bringing attention to the issue, he did say he takes issue "when people in this country don't respect our flag and national anthem."

Either way, he believes people like Kaepernick have First Amendment rights to express themselves rights he said he values.

"I am a man (who) loves the flag," Bradshaw said. "I love the national anthem."

Watch Bradshaw's interview in its entirety here.

There has been no shortage of public figures and faith leaders making their concerns known about current problems they see in American culture.

As Deseret News reported in July, Christian evangelist Ravi Zacharias warned that American culture is "at the cliffs precipitous edge and the fall could be long and deadly" and said the U.S. faces a "deep crisis of the soul."

"We have no recourse because the only cure has been disparaged and mocked by the elite and the powerful," he said in comments that mirror what Bradshaw stated about the absence of Christian values.

Author Eric Metaxas also issued a similar warning this summer in an interview with "The Church Boys" podcast, saying the U.S. is "at the edge" and that the nation has come to take America's greatness for granted over the past few decades.

Metaxas argued that faith and religious liberty are essential elements that citizens must understand in order for the nation to be healthy.

"You cannot be America in the sense that we have been for over 200 years unless you understand religious liberty is sacrosanct," Metaxas said. "There is nothing as important. ... Faith is necessary for virtue, virtue is necessary for self-government and freedom."

As for Bradshaw's claims about the poor moral state of America, research shows that many citizens agree with his assessment.

Gallup asked respondents back in May how they would rate the "overall state of moral values in this country today," with 43 percent selecting "poor," 36 percent saying "fair," 17 percent selecting "good" and only 1 percent saying that the current state of morality is "excellent."

More specifically, 73 percent of the nation apparently agrees with Bradshaw's claim that America is becoming "more and more immoral" based on a separate question Gallup asked; 20 percent said moral values are actually improving.
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