Christians feel Turner's roar

by Jeremy Reynalds

Daily Lobo columnist

It appears that CNN founder Ted Turner, well-known for his outrageous anti-Christian statements, just can't help himself.

You'd think that branding Christianity as a religion for losers would be enough, but, after an all-too-brief hiatus, Ted's back in the saddle again singing his same old song.

According to The New York Post, just prior to a party honoring retiring longtime CNN anchor Bernard Shaw, Turner turned to a few CNN employees who had ashes on their foreheads in observance of Ash Wednesday and made his blisteringly hostile anti-Christian remarks.

As the Post put it, "Sources said Turner turned to one (employee with ash on his forehead) and said, `At first, I thought you were in the earthquake" in Seattle that day. `But I realized you're just Jesus freaks. Shouldn't you guys be working for Fox?'"

Not surprisingly, the Post concluded its article with the words, "His remarks left his audience stunned."

Well, just a few days later, Turner apparently experienced something of a change of heart. According to media accounts, Turner did an about-face and described his totally inappropriate remark as "thoughtless."

Continuing his presumably self-imposed "penance," Turner told media, "I apologize to all Christians ... I do not believe in any form of prejudice or religious discrimination, especially any religious intolerance (so) please accept my apology for any pain my thoughtless comment may have caused Catholics and all Christians."

However, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights wasn't convinced. In a written statement commenting about Turner's "apology," League President William Donohue wrote that the league was "torn by what has happened. On the one hand, our religion teaches us the virtue of forgiveness and the necessity of penance. On the other hand, we don't like being played for a fool. So ... we'll bite our lip and drop the issue, skeptical though we are. But I am going to ask for a meeting with Ted Turner to see if I can find out what's bugging him ..."

And it's evident that something is troubling Turner about Christians. In another statement, Donohue called Turner a "recidivist (who) like all repeat offenders ... evinces an animus against a particular portion of the population. For him, it is Christians whom he despises."

Donohue pointed out that Turner is on record for not only labeling Christianity as a religion "for losers," but also for labeling pro-life Christians as "Bozos," insulting the Pope at a pro-abortion rally and blasting Christianity as being "very intolerant."

A couple of years ago, the corporate affairs people at Turner Broadcasting sent Donohue a copy of Turner's then-apology for mocking the Pope. Donohue accepted the apology and issued a statement saying that the incident was now closed.

But with this latest bullet from Turner's anti-religion stun gun, is it any wonder that Donohue has doubts about Turner's sincerity? I mean, wouldn't you be at least a little skeptical when dealing with a track record of someone like Turner?

In addition to irritating people globally with his insensitive remark, fallout from Turner's latest anti-Christian diatribe resulted in CNN losing air personality Stuart Varney, co-anchor of the network's "Moneyline News Hour."

The New York Daily News reported that while Varney had been feuding with Turner and other network brass over the direction the show was taking, Turner's "Jesus freaks" crack was the final straw for Varney. He resigned.

According to the News, the relationship between Varney and Turner had been souring steadily for more than a year. Apparently the sparks started to fly during an appearance by Turner on "Moneyline." As the News put it, "The conversation turned to pitcher John Rocker of the Atlanta Braves, also owned by CNN parent AOL Time Warner. Turner began saying that Rocker's inflammatory comments should be forgiven based on Turner's reading of the Bible. Varney then asked Turner about his views on Christianity soon after the media mogul's ex-wife, Jane Fonda, declared herself a born-again Christian. Turner declined to answer and sources said he was infuriated by the question."

Donohue did have a good point. He pointed out that while Turner may be "as dumb as John Rocker, in contrast to the Atlanta pitcher, Turner has a position of great influence in our culture.(His superiors at AOL Time Warner) might want to take a page from professional baseball and ship Turner off for some sensitivity training."

Way to go! If Turner were to put down other religious groups the way he mocks Christians, there would be more than calls for him to receive sensitivity training. We'd hear frantic wailing from some of the liberal media pundits about the need for increased "hate speech" laws. But when it's Christians who are being abused it seems that there's a deafening silence.

Strange, isn't it?