Wolf Blitzer: We’re happy you’re here. You guys did a great job. You’ve gotta thank the Lord, right? Do you thank the Lord for that split-second decision?
Rebecca Vitsmun: I … I’m actually an atheist.
Wolf Blitzer: You are. All right. But you made the right call.
Rebecca Vitsmun: We are here, and I don’t blame anyone for thanking the Lord.
Wolf Blitzer Asks Atheist Tornado Survivor If She ‘Thanks The Lord’
by Braden Goyette
The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/21/wolf-blitzer-atheist-tornado-survivor_n_3316312.html
Wolf Blitzer put his foot in his mouth for a moment on Tuesday while interviewing a survivor of the devastating tornado in Moore, Okla.
“We’re happy you’re here. You guys did a great job,” Blitzer said to Rebecca Vitsmun, who escaped from her house with her 19-month-old son right before the twister tore through it. “You’ve gotta thank the Lord, right? Do you thank the Lord for that split-second decision?”
Vitsmun hesitates for a moment and smiles. “I — I’m actually an atheist,” she said, laughing off the awkward moment.
“You are. All right. But you made the right call,” Blitzer said.
“We are here, and I don’t blame anyone for thanking the Lord,” Vitsmun said.
Though Vitsmun handled the situation graciously, Blitzer would be well-advised not to assume that every interview subject believes in God. After all, America experienced a 13 percent drop in religiosity between 2005 and 2012, according to a WIN-Gallup poll published last year.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer tells atheist tornado survivor: ‘You gotta thank the Lord’
by Eric W. Dolan
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/21/cnns-wolf-blitzer-tells-atheist-tornado-survivor-you-gotta-thank-the-lord/
With the number of atheists continuing to rise, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday afternoon learned the danger of assuming on live television that his interviewee is a Christian.
“I guess, you gotta thank the Lord, right?” he told the survivor of a deadly tornado that ripped through Oklahoma. “Do you thank the Lord?”
“I — I’m actually an atheist,” the woman politely responded.
“Oh, you are? Alright,” Blitzer replied.
The woman, however, handled the embarrassing situation with grace.
“We are here, and I don’t blame anybody for thanking the Lord,” she told Blitzer.