O'Reilly, appearing on 700 Club: Catholic Church "very silent in the culture war"
On the November 30 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's (CBN) The 700 Club, during a discussion about Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's views on a purported "culture war," 700 Club host Pat Robertson asked O'Reilly, "[W]hy don't ['traditionalists'] stand up and fight these people ['secular-progressives']?" O'Reilly replied that "I ask that question about my own church. ... The Roman Catholic Church has been very silent in the culture war." Robertson did not respond to O'Reilly's contention about the Catholic Church.
O'Reilly has previously had a different take on the Catholic Church's involvement in the "culture war." As Media Matters for America noted, on the November 14 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, during a discussion about U.S. immigration policy, O'Reilly declared that the Vatican has a "secular-progressive[]" philosophy, stating, "I think it is a one-world philosophy that a lot of secular-progressives ... really believe, that no country has a right to ban anybody or stop anybody from doing anything." When later challenged on that assertion, O'Reilly replied: "The Vatican wants all the illegals to come here, but it does want them to be Catholic." O'Reilly added that the Vatican "opposes any kind of punitive action against people who sneak in here, so ... the Vatican needs to wise up or shut up."
O'Reilly frequently attacks "secular-progressives" in discussions about contentious social issues, or in discussions about what he calls a "culture war" in the United States. O'Reilly's book Culture Warrior (Broadway Books, September 2006) is reviewed here by Media Matters.
From the November 30 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club:
ROBERTSON: When are the traditionalists going to get together? We're doing everything we can to mobilize people, but why don't they stand up and fight these people?
O'REILLY: You know, I ask that question about my own church, the Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church has been very silent in the culture war. Interestingly enough, the lead in the culture war has been taken by evangelical Christians. They're the ones that are most outspoken. But the regular folks and the Catholics, and things like that -- they're afraid. They're afraid because they see what happens to people like you and me. We are demonized across the airwaves, in the newspapers, and, you know, I really don't want that. I really don't want to put myself in the sling.
But I'll tell you what. You just think back. I'm talking to you, Reverend, and all your viewers today, to think back when you were in school, and how different the country is today than it was 20, 30, 40 years ago. And that difference is only going to accelerate unless we stand up and say, "We want our country, we want it to be a traditional country. We respect the value system that we have. We don't need these huge changes."
ROBERTSON: Well, Bill, I appreciate you, and this book, ladies and gentlemen, it's a blockbuster. Bill O'Reilly, Culture Warrior -- it's a gorgeous title, and they're selling like crazy. Is it number one on The New York Times or, or --
O'REILLY: Yeah --
ROBERTSON: -- close?
O'REILLY: -- it's going great. And I just want to say Merry Christmas to you, Reverend, and all your viewers. We can say that here on The Factor.
ROBERTSON: Sure can.
O'REILLY: And hopefully, we'll be able to say that for generations to come.
ROBERTSON: You keep up the fight, culture warrior, and we're right there with you. Thank you so much.
Chalk one up for the Catholic Church.
There are going to be a lot of disappointed Christians when they get to heaven and find out that the Catholics made it too.
I was brought up to believe that Catholics were akin to a cult (worshiping idols, etc.) Luckily, I was able to move past that, but I know a great deal of Christians that believe Catholics are going straight to hell.
Bill keeps pushing this anti-Christmas thing... ? I don't think anyone really cares. Honestly.
Bill has "coined" the alleged "secular progressive," like he did last year's war on Christmas which any sane individual knows is absolute BS. But it's a set of buzzwords someone of the intellectual capacity of Pat Robertson is able to grasp.
I'm going to write to Benedict and suggest that o'lielly be excommunicated. He's a dungheap to beat the band, now accusing the Vatican of being among the "secular progressives." Yeah, Ratzinger---errrr, Benedict---is a real radical.
But to his credit, he's a scholar of the capacity to disregard anything that sycophant liar (o'lielly) claims. But when o'lielly whores himself that much to accuse the Vatican of that "condition," then appear on Evangelical Gas, that's grounds to get rid of him.
Bye bye, billy.
Again and again the Catholic Church has re-affirmed its conservative values: No contraception, No gays (sure we love you, just don't ACT gay), No women in positions of authority in the church. They've not said one peep about Bush's war in the middle east.
I think what O'Really means to say is, "The Catholic Chuch doesn't foam at the mouth in public like I do, so there must be something liberal and unsavory about them."
The Vatican has issued statements about their opposition to the Iraq war. I don't know if they have under Benedict, but I know they did under John Paul II. It just wasn't very well publicized here, kinda like the Vatican's repeated calls for abolition of the death penalty in the US. Apparently the US media is very selective in their reporting of the Vatican's opinions, and only their stance against abortion and gay marriage seem to be heard here.
My brother is a pastor and laughs when people flip about "xmas." Xmas actually started in the early days of christianity, when the religoin was illegal. X was used as a symbol among underground christians
I see the jesuits have been making their voices heard. I am impressed!
Say what you will about the Catholic Church, but they are consistent. When they talk about being pro-life, they are pro-life for everything. They don't want wars, they don't want murders, they don't want death penalties, they don't want abortion. They are consistent, very consistent, unlike our evangelical Christian brothers and sisters who are pro-life for unviable fetuses, but pretty much kill everything else.
If O'Reilly and Robertson and the like really wanted to protect Christmas, they would be attacking the rampant consumerism that has come to symbolize the holiday. Face it, when you turn the news on and they are talking about Xmas, they are talking about the shopping... especially black friday ... here and there they have a piece on charity, but not much. If they started focusing on helping the poor, the sick, etc. which is what Xmas should symbolize, then they would be helping the holiday.
But that won't happen because people like Oreilly don't care about the poor, they don't think they should be given anything and that because they are poor it is their fault and they deserve it.
"Face it, when you turn the news on and they are talking about Xmas, they are talking about the shopping"
Can you not even bring yourself to say the word "Christmas?" Is it really that hard to do? And you think that there's no war on Christmas here in the U.S.A. I think you just confirmed that there is.
Can you not even bring yourself to say the word "Christmas?" Is it really that hard to do?
Um, "Truth" Detector, didn't you notice that he did write the word "Christmas" in the preceding paragraph?
And you think that there's no war on Christmas here in the U.S.A. I think you just confirmed that there is.
All that's been confirmed is that you either can't read or don't know anything about history. "Xmas" is a perfectly legitimate short form of "Christmas," and dates back to the earliest days of the church. The symbol "X" for "Christ" was just a form of shorthand.
Why, even O'Reilly doesn't claim that "Xmas" is an attack on "Christmas," which apparently means you're even more paranoid than he is. That's really saying something!
Fevered imaginations of wingnuts that WISH reality was in some way connected to their fantasies
what is the war on christmas? making it about shopping or "S-Ps" who say "holidays"? the former is something that even oreilly is guilty of. the later is something that even oreilly cannot really define.
[link to theleftresponse.blogspot.com]
And you think that there's no war on Christmas here in the U.S.A. I think you just confirmed that there is.
You're absolutely right. Ashenshard's use of the shorthand "Xmas" after previously typing out the word "Christmas" does, indeed, confirm that there is an all-out war on Christmas here in the U.S.A. That is all the proof any reasonable person could possibly require.
The shopping season is Xmas. The religious season is Christmas. There exists no war on Christmas, but there should be a war on Xmas.
XP as an abbreviation for Christ has been around for over 1700 years, and it comes from the first two letters of Christ in Greek: XPISTOS (basically, since no Greek letters allowed here). It's NOT a slur on Jesus any more than IHS (which, incidentally, are the first three letters of Jesus in Greek: IHSOUS).
You don't want to confuse the wanna-be persecuted with actual facts.
the Chi-Rho a very early Christian symbol
is exactly the same as the so called war on christianity. because it's the same people who are just not happy enough to be left alone to practice their beliefs. no one says you can't pray, put up religious symbols on your own property, say merry christmas, whatever you want to do. but they want to force the rest of us to participate in their religious hocus pocus. why do you hate the constitution? why do you align yourself with religious fanatics in other countries that you claim are wrong?
"Save Christmas: buy my book! Heck, buy 3! Give the others away as gifts!"
O'Reilly is creating false enemies to booster the illusion of his importance to the world.
So does the Paris Business Review.
We were trying to get laid and worrying about an immoral war back in the 60's too, the same as the kids in high school today.
Bill didn't need to worry back then. He had his plan in place to go to college, then teach until the shooting stopped. But now he's on the front lines of his "War on Christmas" and sucking up to the evil Pat Robertson. If ever two people deserved each other, these two do.
Whatever happened to the comment on Oprah that people don't have to agree with everything O'Reilly says to be a on his side? The Church disagrees with him on one issue and they are suddenly a progressive (I refuse to use the unobjective terminology of O'Reilly)? This guy is more inconsistent that Bible thumpers trying to explain scientific answers.
Because their is no "culture war" without FOX, BO, and crew. And the church knows it. They have said their piece on abortion, the death penalty, and the Iraq conflict -- "Why are they silent?" Because this culture war is only a way to divide the nation drummed up by international corporations and their heads with no loyalty to this country -- only their wallets. The Right got one thing correct Communism (as it evolved) was going to fail. That being the case we really had little to fear. It is the corporatists we should have feared all along. They had the inside track and the money to buy allies and in so doing finally destory this country -- something monarchies, dictators, and communists could not do, hell even we could not do it during our own civil war.
Bill O'Reilly is a FRAUD as a Catholic. Somebody needs to call him on this when he goes about waiving his Catholic flag and then insulting the Holy Father and the Church. You're a FRAUD, O'Reilly.
When did Bill O'Reilly decide he is a Catholic instead of a pagan flesh-eater?
Is there really any serious doubt about who O'Reilly really is anymore? Culture Warrior? What a joke. Now he a Robertson are hawking this fermenting excretement between two covers he calls a book. Pity the morons who buy it. Interesting that O'Reilly would make this backhanded indictment of Catholicism while clogging publicly owned bandwidth as he and Robertson "pinch another loaf" into the toilet that the corporate controlled media has become. In the last few years Robertson has condemned Hinduism as demonic. In fact he proclaims, any who worship a being other than his version of god are worshipping demons. What next? Take some time to read through a few quotes from Robertson and O'Reilly.
The fact that both men are mind numbingly stupid aside you can see that both are on the same page. They are resentful hateful men with a public platform and a willinglness to spout lies and nonsense at the drop of a paycheck. No pride. No self respect. No conscience. Both have so little impulse control that I doubt they are even properly toilet trained. It would be pitiful if they were not making so much money from it all. That part makes it truly sickening.
It is fitting that the Luffa-Meister team up with this third rate carnival huckster to push his latest paranoid delusional screed. As for the book, well I'll stick with the transcripts of the complaint of Andrea Mackris filed against O'Reilly in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. It is a better read. Then there are always Sponge Bob reruns.
Last year B. O'R. complained that the Catholic Church was silent about the "War on Christmas".
This year, he has a similar complaint about the culture war in general, as if that existed.
In fact, the Pope has complained about the commercialization of Christmas.
So, if a store does not say "Merry Christmas", Bill O'Reilly complains.
If it does, it is going against the wishes of the Pope.
I'm not Catholic, BTW.
Doctrine states the Catholic Church has one infallible leader. Bill O'Reilly is acting as if that's him.