Did Phil Robertson Cross the Line With His Atheist Beheading Comments?

Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson is known for stirring the pot, yet some call him a modern-day prophet.

Robertson has prophesied over the future of America, made it ever-so-clear why America needs Jesus, engaged in the transgender bathroom battle against Houston’s lesbian Mayor Annise Parker, and claims he’s as much a homophobe as Jesus.

Robertson has a history of using strong—and sometimes very graphic words—to make his points. Perhaps the most memorable was his comments to GQ magazine about how homosexual sex is illogical. And last fall he concluded that the best solution to ISIS was to “convert them or kill them.”

Now, he’s addressing atheists and he’s getting a lot of flak for the verbal imagery.

Robertson’s latest ear-perking comments came at a prayer breakfast in Vero Beach, Florida. I wasn’t there to hear it, but his remarks were widely reported. The Houston Chronicle offered this transcript:

“Two guys break into an atheist’s home. He has a little atheist wife and two little atheist daughters. Two guys break into his home and tie him up in a chair and gag him. And then they take his two daughters in front of him and rape both of them and then shoot them. And they take his wife and then decapitate her head off in front of him. And then they can look at him and say, ‘Isn’t it great that I don’t have to worry about being judged? Isn’t it great that there’s nothing wrong with this? There’s no right or wrong, now is it dude?’

“Then you take a sharp knife and take his manhood and hold it in front of him and say, ‘Wouldn’t it be something if this [sic] was something wrong with this? But you’re the one who says there is no God, there’s no right, there’s no wrong, so we’re just having fun. We’re sick in the head. Have a nice day.'”

The Twittersphere went absolutely nuts. Some on the social media platform are comparing Robertson to Osama bin Laden. Others called him a psychopath. Still others decided he was a disgusting human being. And Laura Malouf tweeted: “As a Christian, I’m disgusted people are defending #PhilRobertson. My husband is one of the most moral people I know. He’s an #atheist.”

But what did Robertson’s hosts at the Vero Beach Prayer Breakfast have to say? John Bona, co-chair of the event, is absolutely defending Roberston.

“That graphic point, he applied it to murder,” Bona told The Blaze. “Every human being has ingrained in them a conscience and they know murder is wrong and people who deny their conscience, because they don’t have Jesus.”

Bona also said the media neglects to report the many times Robertson told the crowd that he loves all people.

“I think Phil was saying that we have laws against murder, because the people who made the laws back then had a high degree of the value of life and they believed it is wrong to murder,” Bona said. “What he was saying—if there’s no fixed point of morality, God’s law, that leads directly back to a God, then anything goes.”

What’s your take? Did Robertson cross the line or were his comments appropriate to illustrate a point? Sound off.

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Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening, Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still Small Voice of God, The Making of a Prophet and Satan’s Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.