What Would Jesus Do?

What would Jesus do? That's the subject of this evening "Talking Points Memo".

Last month, the St. Rose Catholic School in Queens, New York fired 26-year old Michele Mccusker for getting pregnant. The single preschool teacher told the school she's not going to marry the father of the child. And the school reacted by terminating her because she violated Catholic standards of behavior in a public way.

The New York ACLU chapter is filing a complaint on Ms. McCusker's behalf, saying her rights are being violated. We'll discuss the case with Judge Napolitano a little later on.

But last week, an editorial appeared in The Tampa Tribune entitled about the situation entitled, "So What Would Jesus Do?" The opinion piece ended this way. "It's hard to imagine that Jesus would want this woman fired. After all, his own mother once found herself pregnant and unmarried."

His own mother found herself pregnant and unmarried? Can you believe that newspaper? As everybody knows, Catholic theology states that Mary was a virgin and Jesus was the product of an immaculate conception. That's basic Christian belief. The Tampa Tribune knows that, but printed a fallacious comparison to make an editorial point.

Predictably, there's much outrage being directed at this troubled newspaper. But why would they do this? That's the question.

As you may know, a columnist for The Tampa Trib attacked me personally in a vile way for reporting on a controversy down there involving removing religious holidays like Good Friday and Yom Kippur from school calendars. The Tribune had to correct the irresponsible diatribe, but clearly, there's something very wrong at The Tampa Tribune.

What do you think would happen if that paper insulted Islam or Judaism the way it insulted the mother of Jesus? There'd be nationwide outrage. The mainstream media would be all over it, but the media has said little about this story. It's OK to marginalize Mary, OK to make an editorial point by distorting Christian theology.

"Talking Points" doesn't really care what The Tampa Tribune does or says. Clearly, publisher Gil Thelen has lost control of the paper, but that's his problem.

The larger issue is that a growing anti-Christian bias is now acceptable in this country in the media. That's what the diminishment of Christmas is all about.

The Tampa Tribune is owned by the Media General Company in Richmond, Virginia. Its president and CEO is Marshall Morton. We'd really like to know what Mr. Morton thinks about all this, but he won't say.

So if you like, give him a call. Send him a message. Media General, Richmond, Virginia. Make it nice and polite. But really, enough's enough, isn't it?

Christians are entitled to same sensibilities and courtesies every other religion receives in this country. Hope you agree.

And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

An illegal alien named Jorge Hernandez Soto apparently likes two things very much: booze and the USA. Soto has apparently entered the USA illegally dozens of times and has been convicted twice of DWI.

That didn't stop the guy. Last Friday, he was allegedly drunk driving again, killed an 18-year-old University of North Carolina freshman. The judge is now holding Hernandez on $1.6 million bond. It doesn't do the dead young lady much good, does it?

Control the borders, President Bush. To not do so is ridiculous.

—You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com