DES MOINES, Iowa — A newspaper editor in Iowa has been fired for opining on his personal blog that the Queen James Bible is an attempt by homosexuals “to make their sinful nature ‘right with God.'”
Bob Eschliman has worked as the editor of the Newton Daily News since 2012, and has served as the publisher of the Clarinda Herald-Journal. But he found himself out of a job this past week when he spoke his mind about the Queen James Bible on his personal blog.
“It’s pretty easy to brush off a nonsensical contrived version of the Bible, but that’s not the deceivers’ end goal,” Eschliman wrote. “No, they want all Christendom to abandon their faith. They do that by ‘proselytizing’ to church leaders to change their view on homosexuality.”
“[Jesus] said there would be deceivers. He said those deceivers would cause Christians who remain true to His teachings to become reviled. He said false prophets would follow to deceive even more, and that lawlessness will abound,” he continued. “If you ask me, it sounds like the Gaystapo is well on its way. We must fight back against the enemy.”
However, journalist and commentator Jim Romenesko then picked up on Eschliman’s post and wrote about it in an online article entitled Iowa Newspaper Blasts the ‘Enemy Gaystapo’ and the ‘LGBTQXYZ’ Crowd.
Romenesko outlined in his brief report that he emailed Eschliman and inquired if he could write about homosexuality objectively because of his published views. Eschliman ignored Romenesko’s correspondence, but removed the post from his blog.
The Newton Daily News reported on Tuesday that management learned of Eschliman’s comments last week and placed him on suspension. On Monday, Eschliman was officially fired.
Shaw Media President John Rung, who owns the publication, issued a statement about the matter, asserting that Eschliman’s views could have harmed the newspaper’s reputation.
“Last week, Mr. Eschliman expressed an opinion on his personal blog that in no way reflects the opinion of the Newton Daily News or Shaw Media,” he commented. “While Mr. Eschliman is entitled to his opinion, his public airing of it compromised the reputation of this newspaper and his ability to lead it.”
“Mr. Eschliman has a right to voice his opinion. And we have a right to select an editor who we believe best represents our company and best serves the interests of our readers,” he added.
As previously reported, a similar situation occurred last year when FOX Sports Southwest commentator Craig James lost his job when officials discovered that he had spoken against same-sex “marriage” during a political debate.
“Same-sex marriage, if someone chooses to do that, that’s them,” he stated at the debate, which had been held the year prior. “And God’s going to judge each one of us in this room for our actions. And in that case right there, they’re going to have to answer to the Lord for their actions.”
“We just asked ourselves how Craig’s statements would play in our human resources department,” an unnamed FOX representative told the Dallas Morning News. “He couldn’t say those things here.”
FOX officials have since denied that James was fired because of his outspoken beliefs, but he has filed a complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission alleging religious discrimination.
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