You don't need extraordinary powers of divination to predict the path that Fox "News" will take when evil, librul atheists get in Jesus' way. First, Fox's "fundamentalist barking dog" Todd Starnes writes about it on his blog. It then appears on Fox Nation where righteous Christian indignation can be further whipped up. And then it appears on Jesus' very own morning show, Fox & Friends so that persecuted Christians everywhere can nurse their perpetual victimhood. As reported by Starnes, a family owned PA restaurant is being investigated, after a complaint from a local atheist, for offering discounts to church going folks who bring in their church bulletin. Not surprisingly, the restaurant owner and her lawyer appeared on this morning's Fox & Friends where the friends were in total agreement that this is no big whoop. Not surprisingly, the Civil Rights Act wasn't mentioned. Just Fox & Friends doing the lord's work!
Alysin Camerota and Clayton Morris reported that this restaurant is "in trouble" for giving discounts to those who attend church. Just to make sure that the viewers know their enemy, the chyron proclaimed "Small Business Under Fire, Atheist Wants to End Restaurant Discount." (Ah, love that war rhetoric!) Morris mentioned that a suit has been filed by an atheist who feels that the discounts are discriminatory and that the state is investigating. He introduced the guests, the owner of the restaurant and her lawyer. Sharon Prudhomme, who doesn't feel that she did anything wrong, alluded to other discounts that she offers. She claimed that she's getting lots of support from folks inTexas and Georgia where this is done all the time.
As the chyron played up the atheist angle, "Atheist Files Suit," her lawyer said that if these discounts can't be honored, "it's like saying you can't honor the best traditions in American society." (Ah, so it is about religion?) He continued the religious focus when he noted that the reason why this case has received a lot of traction (from the usual rabidly right wing sources like Gateway Pundit.) with Americans "because we're tired of having the best of our traditions sort of relegated as a poison in society." (So attending church is one of the best traditions of our society?). It's worth mentioning that attorney Randy Wenger represents "Independence Law Center" which, like the Alliance Defense Fund and Liberty Institute, specializes in persecuted Christians. The chyron delivered the money message: Discount or Disrespect, Atheist: Church Bulletin is Discriminatory." He claimed that Prudhomme should be able to give to discounts to "whomever she wishes."
After Morris read a statement from the atheist, Prudhomme claimed that this discount is no different from contractor's discounts at Home Depot. She said that the atheist could bring in his "Freedom from Religion Bulletin." (Fox's favorite atheist group to hate, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, facilitated the atheist's complaint.) So one wonders if he can just copy their website page? In offering the discount to all religious and non-religious groups she averred that everybody has a bulletin which is an absurd statement because non-churchgoers and non-believers aren't part of organizations that have bulletins. Camerota validated the whole thing with her comment that "it's hard to see how this is discriminatory..." The chyron reminded folks of the evildoer behind this: "Atheist Files Suit." Morris said "right" as Wenger, once again, talked about how this is "honoring the best of American traditions."
As usual, the Foxies made no attempt to provide a rebuttal. If they had bothered to research the issue, they might have stumbled upon the Civil Rights Law which states that "All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation . . . without discrimination on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.” 42 U.S.C. §2000a(a). But who needs facts when atheists need bashing and persecuted Christians need validating. Welcome to the world of Fox & Friends.