The Angry Fag

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Bill OReilly and American Family Association in a Huff Over Two Month Old Christ Cartoons

Posted on | May 20, 2006

A cartoon entitled 'Resurrection' depicting Jesus Christ kissing another man while both have erections.

Back in March, an alternative newspaper at the University of Oregon, The Insurgent, published cartoons depicting Jesus Christ in various situations attempting to emulate some of the controversial cartoons that depicted the Muslim prophet Muhammad that were the subject of massive rioting. The Insurgent was also responding to another alternative publication, the conservative-themed Oregon Commentator, publishing the Muhammad cartoons in its Mach Issue (PDF).

The cartoons The Insurgent published, unfortunately not online in their entirety that I could find, all mocked Jesus in some way. WorldNewsDaily, a right-wing news site, published an article on the issue as well. They apparently depict Jesus in a variety of situations such as using a cross as a pogo-stick and using a cross as a hang-glider. The more controversial ones depict Jesus sexually such as the one I have included to the right (Note: The work has been digitally altered by a 3rd party to distort the genitalia).

Apparently, because he had nothing better to talk about, the publication of the cartoons got the "O’Reilly Treatment" on Wednesday. O’Reilly made the broad statement that The Insurgent "hates Christianity" Claiming that University of Oregon President was "too afraid" to appear on the show and instead had two students offended by the cartoons on to discuss it. The Daily Emerald, the main-stream campus newspaper basically told O’Reilly to shut up in an editorial entitled "O’Reilly: Get a Copy of the Constitution". In answering the charge that University President Dave Frohnmayer was "too afraid", the Emerald says the following:

"As for O’Reilly’s charge that Frohnmayer was too afraid to appear, we doubt it. He argued and won six cases before the Supreme Court, showing an ability to use logic and persuasion. That’s more than we can say for O’Reilly."

One of my questions is why is this a big deal now? This is an issue that is two months old now. Was it really such a slow news day for Bill O’Reilly that he had to dig deep for something to blather about? I would have thought he would be planning an upcoming series on the "War on Christmas in July" or something.

But I imagine that it was O’Reilly’s program that grabbed the attention of Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association which sent out this "Action Alert" yesterday. Naturally Donald tries to play the gay card by mentioning that the University of Oregon’s Women Center would not toleratre homophobia. The AFA is encouraging its followers to contact the University of Oregon President and Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski about the matter. Just before Wildmon urges his followers to "take action", he notes that " Incidentally, the University forces all students, including Christians, to pay student dues of $191.00 per term, part of which goes to support the Insurgent." If Donald had done his homework like I did in writing this entry, he would have found a Supreme Court ruling from 2000 on an issue much like this. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled, in Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth (2000), that Universities can charge students fees and have those fees go to recognized organizations that may or may not be in-line with an individual’s beliefs. This means that "religious" students cannot sue to have their fees not go towards gay groups, liberal students cannot sue to have their fees not go to conservative groups, and so on.

The one thing I do not get is why these people are frothing at the mouth over this. The same laws that protect things like the American Family Association’s hate-speech also protects the publication of these cartoons. In case Donald Wildmon and those like him have forgotten, the First Amendment protects the right to free speech and expression with very few exceptions. So unless you can get those cartoons deemed to be obscenity you and your followers are just wasting time. Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASOU) has refused to apologize for the publication and rightly so. I am of the mind that no one needs to apologize or justify their expression. Just like the Oregon Commentator should not have to apologize for publishing the Muhammad cartoons.

Hat tip to Pam Spaulding.

Filed Under Religion |

Comments

2 Responses to “Bill OReilly and American Family Association in a Huff Over Two Month Old Christ Cartoons”

  1. Kate
    May 20th, 2006 @ 10:02 pm

    Well, in point of fact, he doesn’t have anything better to do. It’s not like there’s anything good to say about the Bush administration right now.

  2. Timothy
    May 22nd, 2006 @ 6:57 pm

    Thanks for the mention, the current staff posted the full Insurgent issue here.

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