The Trouble with O’Reilly

John F. Schmidt

1/5/2003

I have been a cautious fan of Bill O’Reilly and “The O’Reilly Factor” for several years. While I thought that he was a philosophical lightweight in comparison to a dreadnaught like Alan Keyes, I still gave lip service to his show and cheered him for his mostly conservative stands. He finally blew his credibility in his handling of Stephen Bennett on September 3, 2002.

Bennett, an affable recording artist and national speaker, was interviewed by O’Reilly on the “Factor,” to discuss Bennett’s criticism of O’Reilly’s support of homosexual adoption. Concerned Women for America (CWA), for whom Bennett is a spokesman, also criticized O’Reilly’s soft-pedaling the issue of homosexuality under the guise of even-handedness. CWA’s president, Sandy Rios, said “Bill O’Reilly is an exemplary example of the American Christian who does not know what God’s word said.” Perhaps it was the fact that Bennett is a recovered homosexual and ardent Christian activist offering freedom to those trapped in that destructive sin that so threatened O’Reilly that he “launched” on him that day.

Bennett himself perhaps says it best: “In those four minutes Tuesday evening, Bill O'Reilly revealed more to America about himself than in his six-year reign at Fox.”

I had been watching O’Reilly for several years. In that period, I have observed him attack more than one conservative Christian with the same approach. The president of the Southern Baptist Convention was clearly set up with questions like “Don’t you as a Baptist believe that Jews are going to Hell?” He pursued pretty much the same slant when he interviewed Jerry Falwell, and personal salvation surfaced as a topic. Mr. O’Reilly acts like he has a real sore spot where it comes to salvation and the authority of the Bible.

The standard approach is to set up a professing believer as a bigot against gays, for instance, by asking if the person believes “all homosexuals are going to hell.” Of course the correct answer is that anyone who does not put personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior is going to hell, regardless of race, creed, color or behavior. But the questioning is slanted to portray the believer as unbelievably bigoted to dare to presume to judge the salvation of another person. This, to O’Reilly, is the ultimate sin – Intolerance!

When so challenged, the guests are seldom allowed to explain their views but are continuously bombarded with hostile interruptions and characterizations. Revealingly, when trapped during one exchange with Bennett, O’Reilly backtracked and dismissed the Old Testament as a book that could not be taken literally. He dismisses any authority that contradicts his own ideas.

His ideas include gay rights, under the rubric of equal civil rights for all. By mixing “rights” rhetoric with moral issues, O’Reilly attempts to transform the homosexual lifestyle into a “right,” rather than an immoral “choice.”

Bennett took O’Reilly to task primarily because he has wrapped his Catholicism and his so-called Christianity around his pro-homosexual stand and attempted to link homosexual rights with the Bible.

Bennett has been threatened with a lawsuit because he has defended himself against the unfair charges O’Reilly used during the show, and is using a tape of the network show as an example. Fox claims that his use of the tape is an infringement on their copyright.

Rush Limbaugh and a number of other national conservative commentators have the same trouble as O’Reilly: they don’t know the Lord and they don’t think from a Biblical perspective. On many issues, they hold opinions that are congruent with a Biblical worldview, but as for the roots of their beliefs, they have only their opinions or utilitarian arguments. That is why you never hear them argue an issue from a Biblical point of view. Even the other normally excellent Catholic commentator Shawn Hannity was trounced during an interview with some PETA Vegans a few years ago because he did not understand the spiritual roots of this cult. Our friend Alan Keyes could have dusted them off in a few short sentences, but then he thinks Biblically, and these others don’t.

Poor O’Reilly isn’t even consistent with traditional moral conservatism because he has rejected his own professed Catholic theology and set himself up as the ultimate arbiter of what is right. Last time I checked, the Lord God Almighty held that position, and He isn’t about to abdicate His throne to Bill O’Reilly or any others, no matter how large their egos.

It is as true as ever: “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation.” Ps 119:99