“. . . the other side hasn’t been able to do anything but thump the Bible.” – Bill O’Reilly talking about people who oppose homosexual marriage.
With these twelve words, the cockalorum—the Strident Conservative Word of the Day—of “the most-watched program in all of cable news” marginalized the opinion of nearly every Christian in America concerning their opposition to homosexual “marriage.”
After being called on his statement by Rush Limbaugh, Bill tried to back-pedal his “foot-in-mouth” comment in an interview with Laura Ingraham. In typical O’Reilly fashion, he refused to admit his error and ended up attacking her. In doing so, Bill—is it a coincidence that Bill and bloviating-blowhard all start with the letter B?—just kept digging the hole deeper . . . and deeper . . . and deeper.
If you’re going to stand up for heterosexual marriage, and exclude gay marriage if you’re going to do that, you’ve gotta do it outside the Bible. You can’t cite the Bible, because you’ll lose if you do.
We’re talking a policy deal here. Don’t you understand the difference between private beliefs and public policy?
Bible thumpers .. all they do is say I object to gay marriage because God objects to it. You don’t win a policy debate in America by doing that.
Apparently, Bill thinks that it’s OK for Christians to do whatever they want in the privacy of their own homes. They just need to keep their religion behind closed doors and out of the public square. You know, like they used to say about homosexuality.
By the way, Muslims oppose homosexuality and punish them with death. I don’t believe they hold that position because they believe in the Bible. Maybe Bill should put them in their place too. “Yeah, those Muslims are nothing but a bunch of Koran thumpers.”
And for the record, O’Reilly is being inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst. For instance, O’Reilly claims to oppose most abortions. What is his basis for this public policy position? It can’t be based on “thou shalt not kill.” That would mean he’s taking a position based on the Bible and we all know that O’Reilly will have none of that.
I’m always left a little confused by Progressives who claim that Christians aren’t allowed to rely on their faith as a basis for taking policy positions. Every policy position is based on someone’s morality. What difference should it make if that morality is based on the Bible? Is that any different from the atheist who bases his morality on . . . well, whatever they base their morality on? Why are Christians required to separate themselves from their beliefs while non-Christians are not?
Of course in Washington, objections to, and sometimes support for, making policies based on Christian beliefs or the Bible are usually done in the name of political convenience—that is to say, political correctness.
When Obama wanted to raise taxes on the rich, he defended it with scripture. When he wanted to regulate Wall Street, he defended it with scripture as well. Unfortunately, these were misquotes. Nonetheless, he credited his belief in scripture for his position.
There were no crys of outrage—a few laughs maybe—when Nancy Pelosi said that “the Word” was her favorite word, and how we needed to “give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the word.”
In the end, we shouldn’t be all that surprised over this battle of social issues. As America replaced God with government over the past several decades as the protector of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it was inevitable.
As many of you know, Bill O’Reilly is a former history teacher. Perhaps he missed the fact that many of the Founding Fathers not only found it acceptable to base policies on the Bible . . . they considered it vital (see more here).
JOHN ADAMS – SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE; JUDGE; DIPLOMAT; ONE OF TWO SIGNERS OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS; SECOND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law-book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. . . . What a Eutopia – what a Paradise would this region be!
____________________
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS – SIXTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; DIPLOMAT; SECRETARY OF STATE;
U. S. SENATOR; U. S. REPRESENTATIVEThe hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the Divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth . . . And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made “bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” [Isaiah 52:10].
References to the importance of the Bible to American law have also been made by several U.S. Presidents (see more here).
“That Book, sir, is the Rock on which our Republic rests.” – Andrew Jackson, Seventh President
“Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties, write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives.” – Ulysses S. Grant, Eighteenth President
“If you take out of your statutes, your constitution, your family life all that is taken from the Sacred Book, what would there be left to bind society together?” – Benjamin Harrison, Twenty third President
I found one such quote particularly apropos considering the continuing loss of liberty we are experiencing today. According to this former President, the Bible isn’t only fundamental to our laws and rights, but abandoning it will lead to a totalitarian government that will take everybody’s rights away.
“The fundamental basis of this nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and Saint Matthew, from Isaiah and Saint Paul…. If we don’t have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State!” – Harry Truman, Thirty third President
That’s quite a bunch of Bible-thumpers, wouldn’t you say?
The removal of God and the Bible from society continues to contribute to the decline and decay of what was once the greatest nation on earth. When blowhards like O’Reilly—who considers the Bible an allegorical fairy tale—attempt to silence those who believe in the Bible, they facilitate that decline.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, and for training in righteousness. – II Timothy 3:16
Did you just hear a “thump?”
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