Charles Krauthammer burst O’Reilly’s "Creeping Secular-Progressivism" balloon last night. O'Reilly tried to rile up Krauthammer over a billboard posted in Times Square saying, "Who needs Christ during Christmas? Nobody." But Krauthammer found no cause for alarm over that or any of the other "outrages" O'Reilly threw out in a futile effort to prove his "traditional values" victimhood. (H/T Andrew M.)
“Look, the United States is by far the most religious country in the west. It’s not even close," Krauthammer told O'Reilly. "And I don’t see any eruption of atheism upon the land.”
Although Krauthammer agreed the ad was “stupid” and “offensive,” he didn’t see it as persuasive. “I don’t think you’re going to get a lot of people who walk by that sign, have an epiphany and decide, ‘Oh, I think I’ll give up God’ as result of that.'” He added that there are “a lot of minority groups …who want to get attention.” But, he continued, “I would bet that the vast majority of atheists are silent atheists who move among us and don’t announce it and don’t wear it on their sleeve …and leave other people alone.”
O’Reilly agreed but he went on to complain about their “inordinate” power and what he characterized as a creeping progressive secularism. He cited the legalization of marijuana and permissive attitudes toward it as an example.
Krauthammer pushed back on that, too. “Smoking pot? I would bet there are people who believe in God who smoke pot and people who don’t. I’m not sure it means that you become an atheist (if) you’re smoking pot," he quipped.
O’Reilly countered by bringing up “unfettered abortion… for any reason, up until the birth process.” He claimed, “There’s a struggle …between, usually, people of faith and the secular progressives. And the secular progressives have the media in their pocket.”
“So much error, so little time,” Krauthammer replied. He cited the growing resistance to abortion among young people as one example. “I wouldn’t worry so much about the fate of the republic,” he said as the music began to play, signaling the end of the segment.
But Krauthammer ought to know that it’s not about the fate of the republic so much as it is an excuse to attack those who disagree – and play the victim as camouflage.
The anti-choice movement would obviously prefer that “young people” simply oppose abortion outright but groups like NARAL have shown that most “young people” tend to take abortion rights for granted, not having lived during a time when it was absolutely illegal (and the only women who could get abortions were “well-to-do” white women, simply by hopping a plane to a country where abortion was, if not fully legal, at least available for the right price). And most of the polling that I’ve seen of “young people” does seem to indicate that there’s no mass consensus to banning abortions—just that, for most of them, the topic doesn’t seem to come up that often. Then too, there’s the aspect of birth control which has made the topic of abortion a second tier concern. Presumably, the idea that you now use condoms more to avoid an STD rather than preventing a pregnancy pushes abortion to the back burner while girls tend to be expected to be “on the pill” (or using some other “back-up” birth control in case of condom breakage) so the idea that an abortion might be needed sometime down the road rarely occurs.
Yep. For a very long time, that’s the way it was for pretty much EVERYBODY, regardless of religious belief (or lack thereof). It seems to me that it’s only after the 1970s “Born Again” movement and the “Moral Majority” (with its intent focus on conservative Christianity) started that a lot of Christians started wearing THEIR religion “on their sleeve” and foisting it on everyone else. It only stands to reason that the last decade or so of atheists and agnostics and even other “minority religion” adherents began pushing back and wearing THEIR beliefs or faith system on their sleeves.
“Smoking pot? I would bet there are people who believe in God who smoke pot and people who don’t. I’m not sure it means that you become an atheist (if) you’re smoking pot," [Krauthammer] quipped.
Krauthammer’s right. In fact, there’s a whole religious movement that focuses on marijuana. It’s called rastafarianism. And it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that many “true” Christians—ones that BillO would approve of—use medicinal marijuana (admittedly, I don’t know what the various denominational stances are on the use of medicinal marijuana but I doubt there are many that actively oppose it).
This aging bog does not exhibit the behavior of a so-called ‘christian." He acts saintly on the air, but behind-the-scenes it’s a different image. If the saintly Billy does not get his way, he blows up like a volcano and curses like a sailor. His battles with the Second Floor is infamous.
Billy’s best Christian moments
Billy’s meltdown
http://youtu.be/Qy-Y3HJNU_s
Billy cursing at an Obama event
http://youtu.be/q15XRN1oyj8
NOTE TO BILLY
You are a joke to the Roman Catholic church.
atheists roaming the streets destroying everything Christian.
This fifties relic brings nothing to the table but the ravings of a delusional mind.
