The Inbox...

Earlier this week, FTVLive told you how that KENS (San Antonio) Met Bill Taylor took time out from severe weather coverage to stop and pray.

A number of you weighed in on his actions, and interestingly, not one of the emails were in support of Taylor’s pause to pray.

Here’s a few of the emails we received.

Email:

Hi Scott,

In reply to your seeking of comment for the KENS (San Antonio) Met Bill Taylor took time out in severe weather coverage to stop and pray.

I think this incites pure, animal panic in viewers because if the person you’re watching for hard information and basic reassurance has just thrown up his hands and started praying on live TV… you know we’re properly fucked. It’s like if Walter Cronkite stopped mid-broadcast, looked dead into the camera, and started whispering the Lord’s Prayer the second the news broke that Khrushchev was arming the nukes. The entire nation would have collectively shit itself and started digging backyard bunkers with soup spoons.

Finally, if people are somehow cool with this, just replace the prayers to Jesus with prayers to Allah next time… and see how that makes viewers feel. It just so happens Texas already has a huge and rapidly growing Muslim population — roughly 313,000 to as high as 500,000 depending on the estimate, ranking 5th in the entire country, with mosques jumping from 224 in 2020 to over 330 by 2025.

“Allahu Akbar.”

O Allah, Lord of the heavens and the earth,

divert this tornado from the homes of the people. Make the warnings clear and make the people heed them. Spare every soul from death and injury.

But if You decree that some must perish… ALLAHU AKBAR!

Email:

Scott,

 No, I don’t need a weatherperson to pray during a tornado; I need them to tell me what is going on weatherwise and what I need to do to stay safe.  I do not need a weatherperson using their position on television to promote their belief about anything: religion, politics, brand of pickles they eat, etc.  I just need them to do their jobs as objectively as possible.

 Here in Nashville the Scripps station has a morning weather anchor who reminds us daily of her “faith” with many of her comments.  I don’t need that from her.  I don’t need her using her paid, high visibility position to push her belief system down my throat.  That’s the part that bothers me the most; none of the rest of us get our “paid pulpit” to share our thoughts.  Why should she or anyone else?  While many find this endearing, I for one, do not.

Email:

Scott,

This Texas met should be quietly shown the door after pulling that on the air. During a tornado warning, every second counts to save lives. I’ve watched some of the best in the biz do just that and have viewers thank them for keeping them alive through severe storms. Meteorologists have a duty to be the calm, steady voice guiding viewers with the latest facts as we know them. The job is not to scare the shit out of people by deferring to a higher power.