Bill O'Reilly lives in dualistic world of good and evil and black (!) and white. As the champion of the white (!) and the good, he sees himself locked in an eternal conflict with the forces of darkness. His paranoia about imaginary threats to his "traditional" America is reflected in his fondness for verbal pugilism and battle references ("War on Christmas?) It's no surprise that his treasured family heirloom and eponym is the "Billy club" used by his NYPD grandfather. And Bill wants you, too, to fight the evil powers. In last night's "Tip of the Day," Bill expressed disappointment that the "prayer discount" at a North Carolina restaurant was discontinued because the owner "caved" to the evil atheists. Bill suggested that she should have fought this obviously unconstitutional thing and that if our "strongly held beliefs" are under "attack" we need to stand up and fight!
Bill began his screed by citing how (the royal) "we praised" [which we covered] the owner of the diner who gave a discount to those who said grace before their meal." Bill said "surely a nice thing to do, there was no pressure to say prayers, no advertising about it, just a reward after the fact." He informed his audience that "an atheist sent a letter to the owner threatening legal action and Mary has apparently caved, taking away the discount." Shaking his head, he pontificated, "not good."
The FRFF did NOT "threaten" legal action. Their letter merely informed the diner's owner that her discount violated the federal Civil Rights Act. At NO POINT in the letter was a lawsuit even mentioned. They concluded the correspondence with this commentary: "We urge you to discontinue this discriminatory discount. If you truly wish to reward gratitude in customers regardless of religion, you must do so in a way that does not single out customers who pray for favorable treatment."
He then promoted two legal firms that specialize in cases related to aggrieved Christians, the virulently anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom and the Thomas More Law Center. America's Daddy preached "don't let barbarians push you around, Mary [diner owner] and everybody else. If you're not doing anything wrong, don't let them do it."
He proffered his pearl of wisdom: "Here's the tip of the day. When you stand up for any belief, you're going to get heat. Don't cave, especially if you're doing good things, being generous, like Mary. Stand and fight. Most of the time, you'll win. But even if you lose, you're dignity will be intact." (So Bill maintained his dignity after he fought the sexual harassment suit, brought be a fellow Fox employee? Funny, I didn't think he had any dignity to begin with!)
Funny, O'Reilly certainly didn't support the left wing "loons" who stood up for their opposition to the Iraq War. Yet, he seems to think that violating the Civil Rights Act which says that “the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation...without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, or national origin," is a good thing worth fighting for. Funny, the old plantation owners thought that slavery was a good thing, worth fighting for. Just saying...
BTW, O'Reilly didn't mention that those Freedom From Religion Foundation "barbarians" are urging their supporters to thank Mary "for honoring the Civil Rights Act and for stopping a discriminatory promotion that rewards believers as opposed to nonbeliever."
Beside that point, why provide an additional discount for someone who’s just going to tip you with a useless scripture card?