Bill O’Reilly cries foul over calling Norwegian killer a Christian

Huffington Post:

Bill O’Reilly sternly criticized the media for describing Anders Behring-Breivik, the man who has admitted to committing the mass killings in Norway, as a Christian, saying that such a thing was “impossible.”

O’Reilly singled out the New York Times, which called Breivik a “Christian extremist” in an article. Breivik also referred to himself as a Christian, as did the Norwegian police, and his 1,500 page manifesto has been described as coming from a Christian perspective. In the manifesto, he writes that he does not have a “personal,” religious relationship with Christ, believes in Christianity “as a cultural, social, identity and moral platform,” which he says “makes [me] Christian.”

To O’Reilly, though, it was “impossible” that Breivik is a Christian.

“No one believing in Jesus commits mass murder,” he said. “The man might have called himself a Christian on the net, but he is certainly not of that faith…we can find no evidence, none, that this killer practiced Christianity in any way.”

I sure don’t recall O’Reilly howling over a man named Scott Roeder entering the church of Dr. George Tiller and gunning him down execution style.  Dr. Tiller was an abortion provider. 

Is it because O’Reilly had gone around for years before calling Dr. Tiller, “Tiller the Killer?”  Was Scott Roeder a Christian?   Is he not howling because Dr. Tiller is only one person?

Don’t people get to determine if they are Christian or not?  Isn’t it up to that person and his or her God to determine that?  I think we, as human beings, can certainly address ‘Christian behavior.”   We all have a pretty good idea what constitutes good Christian behavior and I think we are entitled to give our opinion on such behaviors.  However, I don’t think O’Reilly or any other human being gets to stand in judgement of whether someone else is a Christian or not.  That is a self-identifying task that no one else can do for you.

Belief that Obama is Muslim Continues to Rise

The Pew Institute released the following graphics to visualize the shift in perception regarding the religion of the president:

obama religion

The Pew Institute asked the poll question:

Now, thinking about Barack Obama’s religious beliefs… Do you happen to know what Barack Obama’s religion is? Is he Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, or something else?

Contrast the difference in opinion from 2009 to 2010 regarding the received religion of President Obama:

Perceived Religion of President Obama
Perceived Religion of President Obama

According to the Washington Post:

White House officials expressed dismay over the poll results. Faith adviser Joshua DuBois blamed “misinformation campaigns” by the president’s opponents…

Among those who say Obama is a Muslim, 60 percent say they learned about his religion from the media, suggesting that their opinions are fueled by misinformation.

But the shifting attitudes about the president’s religious beliefs could also be the result of a public growing less enamored of him and increasingly attracted to labels they perceive as negative. In the Pew poll, 41 percent disapprove of Obama’s job performance, compared with 26 percent disapproval in its March 2009 poll.

More than a third of conservative Republicans now say Obama is a Muslim, nearly double the percentage saying so early last year. Independents, too, are now more apt to see the president as a Muslim: Among independents, 18 percent say he is a Muslim, up eight percentage points.

Does it matter what the president’s religion is? Does it matter if a president attends church on a regular basis? Did either Bush attend church regularly? How about Clinton? Reagan?

Did the fact that Joe Lieberman is Jewish affect the outcome of his bid for vice president when he was on the Gore ticket?

What is your explanation for why the misperceptions about the president’s religion have shifted so much?

How much of the shift in perception is deliberate rumor mongering?

Is the Muslim issue in part because of 9/11? How much of the negativity is because it is perceived that President Obama is not Christian vs. Muslim?

Pew Institute Questionaire>

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