Todd Starnes might be a pathological liar; but he's a good Christian who loves Jesus and thinks gays are going to hell; so, in the nation of Fox, he is an exemplary citizen. He was recently outed (!?) for, sweet mercy, yet another example of his propensity to break that commandment about bearing false witness - a commandment not highly regarded by the very Christian network which employs him. But seriously, should we be surprised?
Starnes' recent tall tale involved a Christian kindergarten student who, supposedly, was told, by a "lunch teacher," that she couldn't pray before eating her lunch. And just coincidentally, this student was the daughter of Marcos Perez who is publishing Starnes' new book, "God Less America: Real Stories from the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Starnes, initially, didn't originally disclose his connection to Perez; but after having been called out on it by "The New Civil Rights," an lgbt blog, he added the information to his article on the Fox website. Starnes did not, however, note that Perez is the Vice President of Sales for the Christian publisher, "Charisma House." Perez says he shared his story with Starnes because "I'm passionate about the cause.'
Perez even posted a video, before he spoke to the school, of his daughter recounting the story of her persecution at the hands of an obviously godless teacher or rogue cafeteria worker (The girl could not identify the person.) The school, however, says that there is no evidence that this happened because there were no witnesses and no teachers remember speaking to the child on that day. (But hey, you know how those Obama loving, Christian hating public school teachers lie, right?)
The school's principal (who is probably getting death threats as we speak) told the Orlando Sentinel that students have the right to pray as long as they're not disruptive. The family has engaged the Liberty Institute, a Christian advocacy group specializing in persecuted Christians, and is demanding an apology and a better investigation because, they say, the school is not taking this seriously. The child is now being home schooled.
So you have to wonder if it was just a coincidence that this incident happened to the daughter of a person with whom Starnes has a business relationship. And a good Christian would never coach a child to lie, would they? And a good Fox News Christian would never gin up a bogus "controversy" to push book sales, would he?