Ted Turner Was an Abortion Activist Who Hated Christians

Ted Turner, founder of CNN, has died at 87. He had been suffering from a form of dementia, a brain disorder, for several years.

He was certainly a titan in the television industry, literally putting cable television news on the map. I enjoyed being a guest on CNN’s “Crossfire” and “Larry King Live” in the 1980s, and on many other of its shows for several decades.

Turner and I clashed a few times. But after we did, he acted responsibly.

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In 1999, he said that everyone should promise to have no more than two children. He failed to mention that he had five. He was influenced by Paul Ehrlich, the “population explosion” guru who was proven wrong on just about everything he ever predicted. As I pointed out at the time, what made Turner’s position so troubling is that he was a big donor to the pro-abortion industry. He made this remark upon receiving an award from an abortion-advocacy group.

Turner was on a roll that night. He opined that the Ten Commandments were “a little out of date,” and that “if you’re only going to have 10 rules, I don’t know if prohibiting adultery should be one of them.” He made his pro-adultery quip while married to Jane Fonda.

Next he took on Pope John Paul II. “Ever see a Polish mine detector?” Then he said the pope should “get with it. Welcome to the 20th century.”

The day after he made those comments, I slammed him. The day after that he apologized. I said, “Mr. Turner’s apology is accepted and thus it brings to a close this incident.”

Two years later, in 2001, Turner insulted Catholics again. On Ash Wednesday, he stunned CNN employees in Washington. After seeing ashes on the forehead of some workers, he said, “What are you? A bunch of Jesus freaks? You ought to be working at Fox.”

I jumped all over him again, bringing up some of his more recent offensive remarks. For example, he said, “Christianity is for losers,” pro-life Christians were “Bozos,” Christianity is “very intolerant,” etc.

Within 48 hours of complaining about the Ash Wednesday incident, Turner said, “I apologize to all Christians for my comment about Catholics wearing ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday. I do not believe in any form of prejudice or discrimination, especially religious intolerance.”

I accepted his apology, saying, “We hope this is the last time we have to press Turner for an apology.” It was.

May Ted Turner rest in peace. When he erred, he apologized, and that matters. Forgiveness has a special place in Catholicism.

LifeNews Note: Bill Donohue is the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.