"Radio and TV host Sean Hannity defended the presence of Bibles in nightstands at Iowa State University’s Hotel Memorial Union during a heated on-air clash with atheist leader Annie Laurie Gaylor Wednesday night.
While Gaylor claimed that the Bibles, which the hotel will officially remove from rooms by March 1, constitute a government endorsement of Christianity, Hannity pushed pack, saying people have the option to simply ignore their presence.
Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a church-state separatist group that sought the removal of the Bibles, said a public institution has no place having Bibles in its hotel rooms.
Hannity compared the Bible’s presence to television channels at the hotel that Gaylor also might not enjoy, quipping, for instance, that she probably doesn’t like watching his own TV show and likely simply avoids it.
During the exchange, Hannity accused Gaylor and the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s of having a financial motivation for their fight.
“I don’t believe for a second you’re offended. I’m sure your organization will raise money off of this and you’ll send out letters saying, ‘We took on Iowa University,’” Hannity said, later adding, “You get off on insulting peoples’ deeply held religious views.”
David French, senior counsel at the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, told TheBlaze that while Gaylor and her group argue the Bibles posed a constitutional violation, this isn’t necessarily the case.
“Assuming the university wasn’t rejecting including other offered religious texts in the nightstands, there’s no constitutional problem,” French said. “The ‘problem’ here is the classic problem of the offended atheist who is dissatisfied with the choice of not looking at the Bible and takes steps to make sure that no one will look at it.”" TheBlaze
While Gaylor claimed that the Bibles, which the hotel will officially remove from rooms by March 1, constitute a government endorsement of Christianity, Hannity pushed pack, saying people have the option to simply ignore their presence.
Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a church-state separatist group that sought the removal of the Bibles, said a public institution has no place having Bibles in its hotel rooms.
Hannity compared the Bible’s presence to television channels at the hotel that Gaylor also might not enjoy, quipping, for instance, that she probably doesn’t like watching his own TV show and likely simply avoids it.
During the exchange, Hannity accused Gaylor and the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s of having a financial motivation for their fight.
“I don’t believe for a second you’re offended. I’m sure your organization will raise money off of this and you’ll send out letters saying, ‘We took on Iowa University,’” Hannity said, later adding, “You get off on insulting peoples’ deeply held religious views.”
David French, senior counsel at the conservative American Center for Law and Justice, told TheBlaze that while Gaylor and her group argue the Bibles posed a constitutional violation, this isn’t necessarily the case.
“Assuming the university wasn’t rejecting including other offered religious texts in the nightstands, there’s no constitutional problem,” French said. “The ‘problem’ here is the classic problem of the offended atheist who is dissatisfied with the choice of not looking at the Bible and takes steps to make sure that no one will look at it.”" TheBlaze
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God:
for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be.
Romans 8:7
