Fox News' Garrett falsely claimed the Golden Rule, Obama's "favorite Scripture," is not, in fact, "exactly rooted in Scripture"

Summary: Reporting on Sen. Barack Obama's answer to a question about his "favorite Scripture," Fox News' Major Garrett asserted that "Obama's answer [was] not exactly rooted in Scripture but [was] in the ballpark," and then aired a clip of Obama saying: "[T]he Golden Rule. It's very simple. I mean, it's a very simple concept. I think what he asks of me is that I treat my brother as -- and my sister -- as I would have them treat me." Contrary to Garrett's claim, Obama's answer is, in fact, "rooted in Scripture."

On the April 28 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News correspondent Major Garrett noted that Sen. Barack Obama was asked for his "favorite Scripture" at a town hall campaign event. Garrett then asserted: "Obama's answer not exactly rooted in Scripture, but in the ballpark." Garrett then aired Obama's answer: "[T]he Golden Rule. It's very simple. I mean, it's a very simple concept. I think what he asks of me is that I treat my brother as -- and my sister -- as I would have them treat me." Obama's answer is, in fact, "rooted in Scripture." The Gospel of Matthew 7:12 states that Jesus, during his Sermon on the Mount, said, "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets" (New Revised Standard Version). This verse is described by the Vatican as the "Golden Rule": "This saying, known since the eighteenth century as the 'Golden Rule,' is found in both positive and negative form in pagan and Jewish sources, both earlier and later than the gospel."

The Gospel of Luke contains a similar verse. Luke 6:31 quotes Jesus as saying "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Additionally, in Leviticus Chapter 19, God instructs Moses to tell the people of Israel that, among other things, "[y]ou shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (verse 18) and "[t]he alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt" (verse 34).

From the April 28 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

[begin video clip]

GARRETT: Barack Obama will not debate Hillary Clinton before the May 6th primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. That's likely to spare him tough questions on his former pastor Jeremiah Wright's current national media tour.

OBAMA: We've got a gentleman right here.

GARRETT: Obama prefers town hall events like this, places where inquiries on Wright or other hot topics often take a backseat to softball such as this:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your favorite Scripture that you kind of lean on that sort of keeps you going?

GARRETT: Obama's answer not exactly rooted in Scripture but in the ballpark.

OBAMA: -- the Golden Rule. It's very simple. I mean, it's a very simple concept. I think what he asks of me is that I treat my brother as -- and my sister -- as I would have them treat me.

—R.S.K.