America lost a cultural icon over the weekend with the death of Phil Robertson.

The patriarch of the Robertson family and founder of the Duck Commander business that spawned the most popular reality show in the history of television, Duck Dynasty, died Sunday, months after a public announcement of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

After spending much of his youth drinking, popping pills and “chasing tail,” according to Robertson, he turned his life around by devoting himself to Christianity.

With his spiritual life in order, he commenced building the Duck Commander company in the 1970s which evolved into a brand worth hundreds of millions of dollars today, between the t-shirts, bobbleheads, DVDs and the best duck calls in the industry.

And once the reality show debuted in 2012, Robertson and the rest of his family became household names.

Considering they are the 21st century version of ZZ Top with guns instead of guitars, with long, scraggly beards, the Robertsons instantly became known worldwide.

With 11 seasons of the widely popular show and several best-selling books, it didn’t take long for the world to become intimately familiar with Robertson’s beliefs and convictions. And as a devout, conservative Christian, that didn’t sit well with many.

In fact, after GQ ran a hack job piece disguised as an interview with Robertson, he was even briefly suspended from his show in 2013.

Why? Because Robertson committed the crime of adhering to Christian beliefs.

The headline from the Huffington Post announcing Robertson’s death summed it up: Phil Robertson, ‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Who Spread Homophobic Hate, Dead At 79.

Homophobic hate. Wow. That’s pretty emphatic, especially considering “hatred” is an essential component of homophobia. I guess the folks at Huffington Post, the liberal-print version of Newsmax, wanted to make sure readers truly understood why Robertson was especially evil, so they mentioned hate twice.

To back up the claim Robertson was a hateful homophobe, writers cited the infamous interview with GQ.

I remembered reading it when A&E first suspended Robertson, thinking at the time the suspension was absurd. I reread it this week after hearing about Robertson’s death and my opinion remains unchanged.

While it’s difficult to do, for the sake of argument, let’s ignore the fact the GQ writer made no attempt to disguise his disdain of Robertson and his beliefs. Whether making petty remarks about how family members look like rodents, criticizing them for using ghost writers, or blasphemously labeling the 14 million weekly viewers of the show as Robertson’s “disciples,” the writer’s condescension oozed from the paragraphs.

But we’ll overlook that and focus directly on Robertson’s words. Words that considering the reaction, should be inflammatory, filled with hatred and intolerance.

While the writer only needed four paragraphs to mock his Christian beliefs, he took the indirect approach to condemning Robertson as it wasn’t until graph nine he delivered the unacceptable: Robertson believes homosexuality is a sin.

That’s pretty much the big reveal from that article, unless you share in the writer’s fascination with the Robertson clan’s feet (Oh my gosh! They have bunions!).

There are other instances in which Robertson cites Biblical verses condemning homosexuality, and as such, condemning himself further in the secular court of public opinion.

“Don’t be deceived,” he said, paraphrasing from First Corinthians. “Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers – they won’t inherit the kingdom of God.”

Again, this is a fairly accurate recount of what The Bible says. And while some Christians perform theological gymnastics to avoid condemning homosexuality, many don’t, especially those who believe in the infallible nature of the Word of God.

And while those beliefs can be labeled literal, or traditional or conservative, they certainly don’t meet the criteria of “homophobic hate.”

Homophobia and hatred, and even homophobic hatred (whatever that is) has no place in our society. It shouldn’t be tolerated from either Christians, or Muslims, Buddhists or Athiests.

But yet, there should also be room in our society for someone to embrace unwavering truths. We should have the basic freedom of believing something is right and something else is wrong and never straying from those convictions.

And as Robertson accurately mentioned in the interview, the Bible has something to say about that as well.

“We never, ever judge someone on who’s going to heaven, hell. That’s the Almighty’s job. We just love ’em, give ’em the good news about Jesus—whether they’re homosexuals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort ’em out later, you see what I’m saying?”

No Phil, I don’t think they do.

Gregory Orear is the General Manager/Editor of the Lincoln County Journal, Elsberry Democrat and Troy Free Press. While he would occasionally tune in to watch Duck Dynasty, he doesn’t consider himself a “disciple.” He can be contacted at gorear@cherryroadmedia.com.