Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

MSNBC's O'Donnell: Catholicism Was Once 'The Most Murderous Force on the Face of the Earth'
NewsBusters ^ | February 6, 2015 | Matthew Balan

Posted on 02/06/2015 3:17:06 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

MSNBC's resident socialist Lawrence O'Donnell made a whopper of a historical claim on the Thursday edition of his program. In the midst of ripping President Obama's controversial National Prayer Breakfast speech from earlier in the day, O'Donnell asserted that "Catholicism was the most murderous force on the face of the Earth for hundreds of years," as he ripped President Obama's controversial National Prayer Breakfast speech from earlier in the day. [video below]

The left-wing host led the segment by mocking the breakfast as "the place where presidents go to pander to leaders of organized religions once a year." He continued by slamming the Democrat's address:

LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: If you ever want to search for the worst speeches given by a modern president, begin with the National Prayer Breakfast – the first of which was attended by President Eisenhower in 1953. President Obama, who is the most gifted writer and speaker in the history of the American presidency, today delivered the worst speech of his presidency. It was full of hollow pandering from start to finish, as politicians' speeches to religious groups always are.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

O'Donnell then turned to two secularized Muslims – author Zainab Salbi and former Wall Street Journal journalist Asra Nomani – as well as atheist University of Chicago professor, Jerry Coyne, for their take on the President's speech. After making his beyond outlandish statement about Catholicism, the host further criticized the politician by underlining that "the President seems to be saying that he knows what real Islam is. He knows that there is such a thing as real Islam...and that he can tell you what it is. And that is a frequent mistake that people who have not been very highly educated in religion make – thinking that there is an identifiable, real version of any religion."

The MSNBC anchor continued this line of argument moments later as he turned to Professor Coyne:

O'DONNELL: Professor Coyne, within every religion, there are arguments about what the proper tenets of a religion should be. Most Catholics, as you know, in the United States of America support abortion rights, and support that as an individual choice made by women, whether they be Catholic or not. The Pope says that is absolutely wrong, and that teaching is rejected worldwide by Catholics, and it's accepted worldwide by Catholics. And there are many other arguments within Catholicism. You used to be excommunicated if you got a divorce in Catholicism. Now, Catholicism finds ways of fixing that for people.

Religions move; they change. They have different sects – different dynamics. I would love to hear the President describe to us what true Judaism is. Is it Orthodox Judaism, or is it one of those temples where they have a female rabbi? This is just an amazing mistake that the President's speechwriters, and the President could make today – the notion that this president or anyone can specifically tell us what is real Islam or the real version of any other religion. We're going to have – we even have disagreements with two followers of Islam right here on this show about what is real Islam.

The atheist guest, who once blasted the Catholic Church for its "medieval morality" of condemning abortion, answer by repeating one of his points from a September 2014 piece from the New Republic – that ISIS's practice of Islam is as "true" as the supposed practice of Christianity by the Inquisition and the atrocities by the Israelites in the Old Testament:

JERRY COYNE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: Yeah, absolutely – and you are absolutely right with this. This is no true version of Islam that you can put your finger on. If you want to be legalistic about it, you can say well, it's – the true religions are what's in the scripture. And, in that case, Christianity – even though you have to reach back to find committing things like the Inquisition, even Christianity has an Old Testament that explicitly sanctions and approves of terrorism; of terrorism of innocents; of adultery; of rape; of genocide. How do Christians write that off as not being true Christianity when it's in the Old Testament – black and white?... -

The problem with saying that there is a true faith and that the true Islam has been hijacked by ISIS is not true. What's happened with Christianity is it's become tamer over the centuries, because it was hijacked by the Enlightenment values – the secular Enlightenment values that have gotten rid of all those horrible statements in the Old Testament. That's what needs to happen to Islam. It needs to be hijacked by Enlightenment values. No, in fact, ISIS has not hijacked Islam at all.

Professor Coyne made the same point earlier in the segment as the guests made their initial reactions to the President's speech:

ZAINAB SALBI, WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTL.: I wouldn't call it a (sic) worst speech at all. I would call it a measured one; a thoughtful one; and someone – a speech that knows what Islam is going through – an identity crisis; a historical moment in its implosion within itself. And all religion has gone through this, and this is now Islam's time, and there's a lot of work to do be done. But I would call it a wise speech, as a matter of fact.

O'DONNELL: Asra, what was your reaction to it?

ASRA NOMANI, JOURNALIST: It really breaks my heart to hear the words that President Obama said today. You know, with all due respect, I think that it's President Obama that needs to get off the high horse, and he needs to put his feet, plant – and plant them firmly on the ground, and acknowledge that there is a very serious interpretation of Islam in the world that is wreaking havoc on all of us. And we have to take it on, and be honest about what the problem is in our world today.

O'DONNELL: Professor Coyne, your reaction?

JERRY COYNE, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: I agree with the last speaker. Obama is slowly coming around to the realization that it isn't just terrorism involved here, but it's motivated by religion. He continues to say that faith does not justify the massacre of innocents, when, in fact, the Bible says exactly that in the Old Testament; and the Islamic faith – at least, this particular Sunni sect, says that. When he finally admits that this is a religiously-motivated horror, then I'll approve of what he says.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: catholics; demagogicparty; islam; jihad; lawrenceodonnell; memebuilding; obama; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; popefrancis; romancatholicism
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-99 next last
To: Vendome

THAT was EPIC! Thank you! I copied and pasted to my ever increasing arsenal of rebuttals for idiots on FB. Hope you don’t mind.


61 posted on 02/06/2015 4:24:20 PM PST by Mama Shawna
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Fightin Whitey

Never get between and goat humper and his goat...


62 posted on 02/06/2015 4:25:55 PM PST by Regulator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

In this day and age..one never knows!


63 posted on 02/06/2015 4:26:32 PM PST by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill ><>)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
President Obama, who is the most gifted writer and speaker in the history of the American presidency

In heaven, Ronald Reagan is laughing. Probably, very hard.

64 posted on 02/06/2015 4:28:49 PM PST by Colonel_Flagg (You're either in or in the way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
even Christianity has an Old Testament that explicitly sanctions and approves of terrorism; of terrorism of innocents; of adultery; of rape; of genocide.

The Old Testament sanctions the annihilation of peoples who existed at that time.

The Koran, on the other hand, sanctions terrorism, torture, violence against unbelievers for all time.

That is a huge difference.

65 posted on 02/06/2015 4:30:36 PM PST by Yardstick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Whatever it “has been,” it might just be again. So deal with it.


66 posted on 02/06/2015 4:30:48 PM PST by 9thLife ("Life is a military endeavor..." -- Pope Francis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Hey. Larry finally said something that got him in the news again.


67 posted on 02/06/2015 4:32:41 PM PST by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Slyfox

Atheism and Mass Murder

Joseph Stalin’s atheistic regime killed tens of millions of people.

Concerning atheism and mass murder, Christian apologist Gregory Koukl wrote that “the assertion is that religion has caused most of the killing and bloodshed in the world.

There are people who make accusations and assertions that are empirically false. This is one of them.”[1] Koukl details the number of people killed in various events involving theism and compares them to the much higher tens of millions of people killed under atheistic communist regimes, in which militant atheism served as the official doctrine of the state.[1]

Communist regimes killed 60 million in the 20th century through genocide, according to Le Monde, more than 100 million people[2] according to The Black Book of Communism (Panné, J.L., Paczkowski A. et al, 1999).[3] and according to Cleon Skousen[4] in his best-selling book The Naked Communist.[5]

It is estimated that in the past 100 years, governments under the banner of atheistic communism have caused the death of somewhere between 40,472,000 to 259,432,000 human lives.[6] Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term democide (death by government). Dr. R. J. Rummel’s mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to communism is that communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.[7]

The rest of the history

http://www.conservapedia.com/Atheism_and_Mass_Murder


68 posted on 02/06/2015 4:37:54 PM PST by Dqban22 (Hpo<p> http://i.imgur.com/26RbAPxjpg)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
works for me
69 posted on 02/06/2015 4:39:20 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -w- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Colonel_Flagg

As are Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Jimmy Madison, JFK and even FDR.


70 posted on 02/06/2015 4:39:54 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Catholic Church has never even been in the top ten.


71 posted on 02/06/2015 4:44:24 PM PST by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
If we fought wars like the Old Testament using modern warfare, islam wouldn't exist today.
The whole middle east would be covered in glass. And yes, I dream of that day.

And all those things being said from this idiot is about as ignorant as anybody can be.

72 posted on 02/06/2015 4:47:39 PM PST by MaxMax (Pay Attention and you'll be pissed off too! FIRE BOEHNER, NOW!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
President Obama, who is the most gifted writer and speaker in the history of the American presidency...

Okay, I understand now. It's satire!

/s

73 posted on 02/06/2015 4:48:25 PM PST by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vendome
Hindus have about 1.5 billion adherents and they don’t mess with us or anyone else.

Sorry, but you need to do some research. There are militant Hindus who are burning Christian churches and have put Christians to death. The current leader of India is a militant Hindu, causing great concern for churches in India.

Hindu Nationalist Group Seeking to Cleanse Christian Presence From India Is Not Unlike ISIS, Watchdog Group Warns

Christians Targeted in Violent Attacks

Four years after violent attacks, Christians still suffer

74 posted on 02/06/2015 4:49:24 PM PST by aimhigh (1 John 3:23)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Slyfox

Just dismiss it

Don’t try to reason it out

It’s like trying to reason the relativity of antebellum slavery with the self righteous

They don’t want a rational talk

They just see an easy cost free high road hammer


75 posted on 02/06/2015 4:53:09 PM PST by wardaddy (glenn beck is a nauseous politically correct conservative on LSD)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Catholicism Was Once 'The Most Murderous Force on the Face of the Earth'

Now it's the DemocRAT Party, right Larry? Murdering people by the millions with special emphasis placed on baby killing.

76 posted on 02/06/2015 4:55:00 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Look! Snowflakes! We're all gonna die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
President Obama, who is the most gifted writer and speaker in the history of the American presidency,...

Wow, so "get on our high horse" and "Marine corpse" trumps the Gettysburg Address and anything Washington and Jefferson ever said.

77 posted on 02/06/2015 4:56:36 PM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Regulator
Damn, that’s whut us Protestants been sayin’ for 500 years now! Then they followed us here...

Vikings were Catholic?

78 posted on 02/06/2015 4:59:40 PM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: workerbee
Talk about a headline that will cause consternation at FR. Side with Obama, or defend Catholicism. Hmmm. What’s a “bible believing Christian” to do?

Not get in the way. lol

79 posted on 02/06/2015 5:01:39 PM PST by Partisan Gunslinger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: The_Reader_David

‘What’s So Great About Christianity?’ Ask D’Souza

by Gary Bauer

D’Souza begins by busting the myth, pushed by so many atheist writers, that Christianity is on the wane in America. Armed with compelling statistics, D’Souza shreds the secularization narrative by explaining that while liberal church affiliation has plummeted in recent years, there has been significant growth in traditional Christian churches. And though we most often hear of Western Europe’s abandonment of Christianity, overall, there is “a global revival of religion,” and, contrary to popular opinion, Christianity, not Islam, is the fastest-growing religion in world today.

D’Souza then gets to the business of explaining just what is so great about Christianity. In a powerful passage, D’Souza highlights how Christianity has changed the world:
“The sublimity of Christ and his disciples completely reversed the whole classical ideal. Suddenly aristocratic pride came to be seen as something preening and ridiculous. Christ produced the transformation of values in which the last became the first, and values once scorned came to represent the loftiest of human ideals.”

Through Christianity, a new set of values (humility, compassion, charity, etc.) arose that served as the underpinning of the West’s most crucial institutions (monogamous marriage, family, basic human rights, etc.) and of American democracy. It is no accident that history’s great movements of conscience-abolition, desegregation, pro-life-have had firm roots in the faithful, who believe that all are equal in the eyes of God.

After stopping to debunk the lie that religion, and in particular Christianity, has been the source of most of the bloodshed throughout history (for example, only about 2,000 people were executed for heresy in the 350 year Inquisition, while the atheist regimes of Hitler, Mao and Stalin alone killed more than 100 million people), the author moves on to address what is for many the foremost obstacle to belief: The problem of evil.


80 posted on 02/06/2015 5:02:12 PM PST by Dqban22 (Hpo<p> http://i.imgur.com/26RbAPxjpg)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-99 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson