Phil Robertson is not backing down. Despite the Duck Dynasty patriarch’s controversial interview with GQ and subsequent suspension from the A&E smash series, the reality TV star shared during a Bible study group in West Monroe, Louisiana on Sunday, Dec. 22, “I will not give or back off from my path.”

“We are a bunch of rednecks from Louisiana, but I am not uneducated, I have a degree from Louisiana Tech. But this week I have been called an ignoramus,” the Duck Dynasty star, 67, shared with the group, as reported by The Daily Mail.

“This week I have been asked, ‘Is this the first time you have brought up sin?’” he recalled during the religious meeting. “I said, ‘Are you kidding? I have been traveling to and fro spreading this message.’ Then he said, ‘Well do you invite yourself to go and get your Bible and tell people what you are now sharing with us?’ I said, ‘No they are inviting me.'”

Robertson added, “I love all men and women. I am a lover of humanity, not a hater.” He then lead the group in prayer and shared, “I will not give or back off from my path because you conquered death, Father, so we are not worried about all the repercussions.” The bearded television figure made no direct mention of A&E, which placed Robertson on hiatus from filming “indefinitely,” the network told Us Weekly.

As previously reported, the duck hunter sparked controversy last week after he made several homophobic and racially-charged remarks in an interview published in the Janurary 2014 issue of GQ.

After the network placed the father of four on suspension, his family released a statement on their website in support of him. “We have had a successful working relationship with A&E but, as a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm,” the Robertson family wrote. “We are in discussions with A&E to see what that means for the future of Duck Dynasty.”

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Phil Robertson Breaks His Silence After Controversial Remarks: “I Will Not Give or Back Off From My Path,” Duck Dynasty Star Says

We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. The family has spent much time in prayer since learning of A&E’s decision. We want you to know that first and foremost we are a family rooted in our faith in God and our belief that the Bible is His word. While some of Phil’s unfiltered comments to the reporter were coarse, his beliefs are grounded in the teachings of the Bible. Phil is a Godly man who follows what the Bible says are the greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Phil would never incite or encourage hate.

We are disappointed that Phil has been placed on hiatus for expressing his faith, which is his constitutionally protected right. We have had a successful working relationship with A&E but, as a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm. We are in discussions with A&E to see what that means for the future of Duck Dynasty. Again, thank you for your continued support of our family.

“Duck Dynasty” dad Phil Robertson has been suspended indefinitely by the A&E Network following his recent comments on homosexuality, the network announced Wednesday night.

“We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series ‘Duck Dynasty’,” the network said in a statement.

“His personal views in no way reflect those of A&E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely.”

Earlier Wednesday, Roberston had responded to critics who had slammed him for very graphic statements he made about his preference for heterosexual sex over homosexual sex.

“I myself am a product of the 60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior,” he said in a statement sent to FOX411.

“My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together.

“However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

In a wide-ranging interview with GQ, Robertson didn’t hold back when sharing his thoughts about homosexuality and sinning.

“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong… Sin becomes fine,” he said. “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”

Paraphrasing Corinthians he added: “Don’t be deceived. 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. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

The gay and lesbian rights group GLAAD was quick to criticize Robertson for his comments and called on A&E to take action.

“Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil’s lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe,” said GLAAD rep Wilson Cruz. “He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans – and Americans – who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples. Phil’s decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&E and his sponsors who now need to reexamine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families.”

Robertson also told GQ his family has lost its privacy since they were thrust into the limelight as the stars of the hit show, but it was well worth it because the series has given him a platform to spread his religious beliefs.

“For the sake of the Gospel, it was worth it… All you have to do is look at any society where there is no Jesus. I’ll give you four: Nazis, no Jesus. Look at their record. Uh, Shintos? They started this thing in Pearl Harbor. Any Jesus among them? None. Communists? None. Islamists? Zero. That’s 80 years of ideologies that have popped up where no Jesus was allowed among those four groups. Just look at the records as far as murder goes among those four groups.”

Still, he doesn’t expect his fame to last forever.

“Let’s face it, three, four, five years, we’re out of here. You know what I’m saying? It’s a TV show. This thing ain’t gonna last forever. No way.”

Though the network did not officially fire the Robertson patriarch, many fans are taking news of his suspension to mean his job as a reality star is done for good.

The Associated Press noted that classmates of Karl Pierson, said the 18-year-old who walked into his suburban Denver high school with a shotgun Friday, held communist views.

There’s now word that in a Denver Post profile of Pierson, a classmate calls the shooter “a very opinionated Socialist.” But when the story was updated, the article onluy describes Pierson as just “very opinionated.”

What happened to the “Socialist” adjective is anybody’s guess.

The Post’s story nevertheless contains some eye-opening information about Pierson and his views:

In one Facebook post, Pierson attacks the philosophies of economist Adam Smith, who through his invisible-hand theory pushed the notion that the free market was self-regulating. In another post, he describes himself as “Keynesian.”

“I was wondering to all the neoclassicals and neoliberals, why isn’t the market correcting itself?” he wrote. “If the invisible hand is so strong, shouldn’t it be able to overpower regulations?”

Pierson also appears to mock Republicans on another Facebook post, writing “you republicans are so cute” and posting an image that reads: “The Republican Party: Health Care: Let ‘em Die, Climate Change: Let ‘em Die, Gun Violence: Let ‘em Die, Women’s Rights: Let ‘em Die, More War: Let ‘em Die. Is this really the side you want to be on?”

The Blaze

An unexpected handshake. A selfie. A seat change.

President Barack Obama’s gestures at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in Johannesburg were widely scrutinized on the world’s stage Tuesday.

First, Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro as the U.S. president approached the podium at the soccer stadium to address Mandela’s mourners. The brief exchange, captured on video and photographs, sparked an immediate reaction online and on TV, with cable news pundits and Twitter users debating the significance of warmth shown between leaders of countries that have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1959.

The handshake also drew some sharp GOP criticism. Sen. John McCain likened it to shaking hands with Adolf Hitler.

“Why should you shake hands with somebody who’s keeping Americans in prison?” McCain told Public Radio International, adding: “Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler.”

“This wasn’t a preplanned encounter,” an Obama aide told Yahoo News on Tuesday. “Above all else, today is about honoring Nelson Mandela, and that was the president’s singular focus.”

At another point, President Obama posed for a “selfie” from his seat at the memorial with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. First lady Michelle Obama, seated to the group’s left, did not participate.

Tuesday’s event was not a funeral. But that didn’t stop the “Selfies at Funerals,” which documented the aforementioned trend, from categorizing the world leaders’ selfie as one.

“Obama has taken a funeral selfie,” Jason Feifer, the site’s creator, wrote. “So our work here is done.”

“Dear Obama,” Mashable’s Christine Erickson wrote. “Funerals are no place for selfies.”

Earlier, the first lady appeared to be less-than-thrilled with the president’s conversation with Thorning-Schmidt, and at some point, she switched seats with him.

It’s unclear whether the seat change occurred before or after the selfie, or if it came during Obama’s speech.

Before his handshake with Castro, Obama also shared a handshake and a kiss with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who has angrily condemned U.S. spying in her country.

Cuban-American lawmakers voiced disappointment Tuesday over President Obama shaking the hand of Raul Castro during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, calling it a “propaganda coup” for the Cuban government.

“It is nauseating,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who fled Cuba with her family when she was a child, told Fox News.

Speaking later at a hearing with Secretary of State John Kerry, the congresswoman held up photos of the handshake and said political dissidents would be “disheartened” by them.

“Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant,” she said.

Distrust of the Castro government runs deep in the Cuban-American community, particularly in Florida where many refugees still live.

Obama’s brief encounter with Castro, though — unlike the historic phone call earlier this year between Obama and Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani — was described as spontaneous.

An administration official said “this wasn’t a pre-planned encounter,” adding: “Above all else, today is about honoring Nelson Mandela, and that was the president’s singular focus at the memorial service.”

At the hearing on Tuesday, Kerry said Obama “didn’t choose who’s” at the Mandela ceremony. Asked by Ros-Lehtinen if Castro is upholding basic human rights, Kerry answered: “No. Absolutely not.”

Obama shook Castro’s hand as he made his way down a line of dignitaries, including South African President Jacob Zuma and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, on his way to deliver an address honoring the late South African leader.

In the speech in Johannesburg, Obama praised Mandela as the “last great liberator of the 20th century.”

“He changed laws, but he also changed hearts,” Obama said.

Ros-Lehtinen said afterward that Castro should have listened to Obama’s message about how some leaders praise Mandela without respecting human rights. “I think that was a message to Raul Castro,” she said, calling him a “thug.”

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also released a statement saying: “If the president was going to shake his hand, he should have asked him about those basic freedoms Mandela was associated with that are denied in Cuba.”

The handshake came amid a memorial service that lauded Mandela’s spirit of reconciliation. It’s unclear whether more will come of the gesture, as efforts by the Obama administration to thaw relations between Cuba and the U.S. have been slow-going.

The U.S. government in 2011 eased the embargo on the island by allowing some Americans to travel there. But the U.S. freeze on Cuba, dating back to when Fidel Castro took power, largely has remained in place – and Cuba’s human rights record, particularly its intolerance of political dissent, continues to draw the scorn of rights groups and western governments.

Hispanics are the most disappointed by President Barack Obama, according to a new Gallup Poll.

While the president’s job approval rating dropped 12 percent among the general population over the last year, declining from 53 percent last December to 41 percent in November, it plunged twice as much among Latinos.

Obama’s approval rating dropped 23 points among Latinos, from 75 percent in December, 2012 to 52 percent in November.

Latinos played a critical role in the president’s re-election, with 71 percent of the community’s voters casting their ballots for him.

The report on the poll results noted that the waning support for Obama among Latinos may spell trouble for Democrats running for office in 2014.

“It is…a troubling sign for the Democratic Party, given that Hispanics represent an increasingly important segment of the electorate,” the Gallup report said.

SUMMARY

While Republican resistance to his policies have played a part in President Barack Obama’s failure to move forward on various issues, Latinos have placed blame on the president for not doing a better job of fighting for immigration reform or making sure Spanish-speaking residents can sign up for the health care plan.

Latinos, the report said, have varied the most of any group on their feelings about Obama during the course of his presidency.

“That means their views of him are less firmly anchored than those of other groups, which may help explain why their opinions of the president soured more than any other group’s in recent months,” it said. “Despite the significant decline in their approval ratings over the past 12 months, a majority of Hispanics, 52 percent, still approve of the job Obama is doing.”

Still, Latinos have showed that they are willing to support Republicans.

Former President George W. Bush won about 44 percent of the Latino vote in 2004. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won 51 percent of the Latino vote in his recent re-election bid.

Obama’s approval rating showed above-average declines among low-income Americans, nonwhites, moderates, and moderates who identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party.

Obama was re-elected with a 50 percent job approval rating, rising to 53 percent a month later.
Battles with Republicans in Congress soon followed, hampering his ability to push forward policies and measures – such as immigration reform and the Affordable Care Act – that he had described as priorities.

“As a result, his job approval declined to 41 percent in November, matching the lowest monthly average of his presidency to date,” the Gallup report said.

While Republican resistance to his policies, to be sure, have played a part in Obama’s failure to move forward on various issues, Latinos have placed blame on the president for not doing a better job of fighting for immigration reform or making sure Spanish-speaking residents can sign up for the health care plan.

Many have been particularly critical of the record number of deportations that have occurred during Obama’s presidency. Latinos account for the vast majority of people who have been deported.

On Thursday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois, and Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, held a press conference in Washington D.C. in which they said Obama can take steps, on his own, to stem the deportations.

Following a firestorm over his recent comments about Sarah Palin, the MSNBC host Martin Bashir resigned on Wednesday, citing what he called his “ill-judged comments.”

Bashir had been listed as being on vacation while the network faced heated criticism for not taking disciplinary action against him.

The decision was prompted by a comment Mr. Bashir directed last month against Ms. Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential nominee, in which he criticized her for statements comparing American debt to slavery, saying she deserved the same kind of humiliating and degrading treatment that some slaves faced–that someone should defecate in her mouth.

Mr. Bashir later issued an apology on the air for the commentary. He then left for what was called a vacation.

In a statement the network released on Wednesday, Mr. Bashir said he had asked permission to take additional time around Thanksgiving. That led, he said, to “further reflection” and a meeting with Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC. Following that meeting, Mr. Bashir said, “I have tendered my resignation.”

He added that he hoped the network would be allowed to “focus on the issues that matter without the distraction of myself, or my ill-judged comments.”

Mr. Griffin issued a statement saying: “I understand his decision and I thank him for three great years with MSNBC. Martin is a good man and respected colleague — we wish him only the best.”

Mr. Bashir, who first established a career in television in Britain, joined MSNBC from ABC News in 2010. He had been suspended once while at ABC for making comments considered crude and sexist at a dinner for Asian-American journalists.

By BILL CARTER, New York Times