Help keep Salon independent

Bill O’Reilly wrote about Jesus because God told him to

The political commentator wrote "Killing Jesus" because of ideas he received in his sleep

Published

Salon Default

Verbal flagellator and dubious historian Bill O’Reilly has revealed the true inspiration behind his upcoming history book, “Killing Jesus”: God.

In a forthcoming interview with “60 Minutes'” Norah O’Donnell, O’Reilly emphasized that “there’s no religion in the book” and “it’s all about history,” but the work is absolutely a vision from God. “All of the ideas come to me in the middle of the night and one night, I just woke up and I went, ‘Killing Jesus,'” he told O’Donnell. “And I believe because I’m a Catholic that comes from the Holy Spirit. My inspiration comes from that…so I wrote ‘Killing Jesus’ because I think I was directed to write that.”

Evidently God’s ideas are profitable, too: Publisher Henry Holt and Co. awarded O’Reilly and co-author Martin Dugard, who have published two other best-selling history books, with an almost $10 million advance.

O’Donnell’s interview with O’Reilly airs on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 7 pm ET.

By Prachi Gupta

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com.

MORE FROM Prachi Gupta

Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Related Articles