Reality T.V. has become the cornerstone of the new generation of entertainment. Shows like Pawn Stars, Keeping up with the Kardashians and The Voice are all television series that document unscripted situations and actual occurrences, all while featuring a previously unknown cast. Typically, reality television feeds off of viewer’s unquenchable thirst for conflict and drama. However, there is a reality T.V. show that captures the lives of a family that is seemingly perfect and for the most part, drama free: Duck Dynasty.

Duck Dynasty follows the lives of the Robertson family, who are the owners of the multimillion dollar hunting company called Duck Commander. The company was started by Phil Robertson, who is seen as the Grandfather, and is currently being run by his son, Willie Robertson. Unlike regular reality T.V. shows, there are hardly any problems within the family. Sure enough, this was brought to the attention of the producers of the show on the A&E network, and parts of the show were edited to portray a much different story.

For example, each episode ends with the family praying. In order to not offend anyone with different religious beliefs, producers edited out the word ‘Jesus’. Producers also edited in bleeps to cover up foul language, but according to Phil, nobody in the Robertson family ever uses profanity, especially when on camera.

The Robertsons are a very Christian family with a lot of core family values that are centered around the religion. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, even with the family being on a national platform with millions of people watching whatever they do. Everybody has freedom of speech. But religion has no place outside of religion itself. If the producers at A&E truthfully did not want to offend anyone with non-christian beliefs, then they would not be showing any praying at all, regardless of whose name is mentioned.

In an interview with GQ magazine, Phil Robertson was asked what in his mind was sinful. Now, if you know the details of Christianity, you would know that there are plenty of controversial things that can be seen as offensive to some people. So asking this question is basically just like asking Phil to say something controversial. Phil delivered a light hearted answer, explaining his beliefs against homosexuality and premarital sex, but also stressed that those were his opinions and were not meant to be received in a negative way.

Major media outlets blew the story up, making sure everybody who was anybody knew that Phil Robertson is against gay marriage. Robertson was then suspended by A&E, but after a strong backlash from supporters of the T.V. show, A&E lifted the suspension. The only logical thing for the producers of the show to do now would be to remove any religious aspects of the show.

Regardless of what context it was in, Phil Robertson is not a bad person for saying he is against homosexuality. He is entitled to his opinion on the matter, and in no way whatsoever did he force his opinions on others.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Parkway School District.