When I read the news today that long-time radio talk show host and self-styled progressive Bernie Ward was indicted on child pornography charges, I was transported back about 15 years when I used to listen to him on KGO in San Francisco (I was living in Monterey, California at the time).
Ward had a Sunday morning show called “Godtalk” that I listened to while getting ready to go to church. One of the more amusing features on the show was the “Church of the Holy Donut,” of which Bernie was the high priest. People would call the show and tell him they wanted to join his church. He would tell them to splash some coffee on their foreheads (in mock baptism by sprinkling) and he would add their names to the church rolls.
At one point in the history of the show, one of his church members broke away and started his own “Church of the Cruller,” taking some of Ward’s faithful with him. The whole thing was all in good fun and was in no way sacreligious as far as I was concerned.
Ward also discussed more serious theological issues. His background as a former Catholic priest would seem to give him credibility, but I found his bias as a “recovering Catholic” a little hard to take at times. One thing he said that I tended to agree with was that most people’s religious education was frozen at the elementary school level.
Occasionally, Bernie would substitute for some of the regular evening talk show hosts. I actually called in once when he was discussing evolution. I started asking him to comment on the difference between “horizontal evolution” (adaptation within species) and “vertical evolution” (the development of higher life forms from primordial soup). Before I even got a chance to explain what I meant by the two terms, he cut me off and changed the subject. That was my first lesson in how a talk show host can control the debate.
After I left California in 1992, Ward went on to get his own evening show on KGO and even had national shows (first on ABC in 1995 and later on Air America). Always left-leaning politically, he apparently took an even sharper turn to the port side in recent years.
I’m not going to comment on his guilt or innocence regarding the charges against him; I simply have no way of knowing. But when I heard the name Bernie Ward, it took me back to a time when talk radio and I were both a lot younger.
Child Pornography. What a burning bag of s*** this post opens. I hadn’t heard this yet and would not have known who he was. I do know when I hear Catholic Priest I think celibacy then I think un-natural. Couple this with the “progressive” way the SC legalized virtual child porn, plus all the rulings striking down every effort to limit porn on the internet and what can we expect? See my next post.
Bernie left the priesthood even before I started listening to him, and according to reports, he’s now married with four children.
I happened to tune in to the Savage Nation as I was driving home from work tonight, and Michael Savage was talking about this topic. Although Savage and Ward are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and Michael has little regard for Bernie as a talk show host, he at least gave him the benefit of the doubt, if for no other reason that for the sake of his kids.
Obviously, if it turns out that Ward is guilty, he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But as we well know, what is first portrayed as a slam-dunk case can turn out to be something quite different (e.g. the Duke lacrosse team, the Haditha incident, etc.).
I am surprised at how many searches come in for Bernie Ward. For someone I had never heard of, he seems to be very popular.