Catholic League

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

The Catholic Right, Part Sixty-nine

The Catholic League's Bill Donohue has truly outdone himself.

The Catholic Right ideologue who mocked evolution (even though it is embraced by the Vatican); attacked reason (although it forms the foundation of Catholic theology) and criticized as anti-Catholic a PBS documentary on the Inquisition (which was made in cooperation with the Vatican!), now he says we have to watch out for witchcraft!

In a September 25, 2008 Catholic League press release, Donohue proclaimed:

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Two seemingly unrelated recent events have something important in common. The dust-up between the University of Minnesota's P.Z. Myers and the Catholic League's Bill Donohue and the terrible shooting at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee each surface the dangers of highly charged rhetoric.

First, the Myers-Donohue flap.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

The Catholic Right, Part Sixty

On June 13, 2008 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a declaration condemning embryonic stem cell research. Bill Donohue's Catholic League issued an immediate statement of support, proclaiming, "The life issues, then, are of preeminent importance to Catholics. To discuss social justice, for example, while being dismissive of the life issues is profoundly un-Catholic."

But as a Catholic who both actively supports and would benefit from this research, I began to wonder, what does it take for something to truly constitute a life issue for the princes of the Church?

This originally was posted at Talk to Action.

A few posts ago I said of the Catholic League's Bill Donohue:

As the saying goes, even a broken watch is correct twice a day. Well, with the Catholic League's Bill Donohue's condemnation of Senator John McCain endorsement by Evangelical John Hagee, ole Bill is at least half right.

Well folks, I take back my conditional praise of Bloviating Bill: The hands have now completely come off the tempestuous Timex.

In light of Bruce Wilson's exposé on Pastor Hagee's outrageous comments about the Holocaust, comes a press release from the Catholic League's Bill Donohue that incredibly praises Hagee as "sincere" as well as describing him as "a genuine friend to Jews."

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

The Catholic League's Bill Donohue never ceases to amaze me - and not in a good way. Time and again, he has found ways to defend the indefensible -- and new ways to embarrass many fellow Catholics.

Now he is at it again: this time maligning a Catholic who has nothing but an inspiration for a better Church.

James Carroll is an extraordinary man. Ordained to the priesthood in 1969, he immediately became a Catholic chaplain at Boston University. During his five years there, he studied poetry and published books on religion as well as a book of poems. From 1972-1975 he wrote for the National Catholic Reporter.

As Carroll's web site describes his work:

This was originally was posted at Talk to Action.

The Catholic Right, a Series

As the saying goes, even a broken watch is correct twice a day. Well, with the Catholic League's Bill Donohue's condemnation of Senator John McCain endorsement by Evangelical John Hagee, ole Bill is at least half right.

Yet though this watch may seem broken, it is still wound up to start ticking again in 2012.

In that regard it is worth reminding ourselves about Donohue's thinly-veiled anti-Semitism, his defense of the Inquisition, and most relevant to this post, his past soft-peddling of John Hagee and his very real anti-Catholicism.

This originally appeared on Talk to Action

As we all know the craft of the magician is to use slight of hand, diversions and ruses of all kinds to perform feats of illusion that astound and entertain us. Good political scandals often arise by use of the same technique. Certain ethically challenged groups and individuals launder funds and bend or even break laws to accomplish their political purposes. We have seen this repeatedly as Religious Right groups and sometimes, individual churches, have flagrantly violated the privilege of federal tax exemption in the pursuit of political power.