Leading up to the inauguration of President Barack Obama, several atheist organizations, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation, sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the saying of prayers and the use of the phrase “so help me God” at the end of the oath of office. On January 15, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton denied [...]
Anticipating the greatest push for abortion rights our nation has ever seen, the pro-life community has sounded the alarms. On January 21, one day after the inauguration of Barack Obama, and one day before the March for Life, Cardinal Regali summoned pro-life leaders across the U.S. to attend a Mass and a reception at Washington’s Trinity [...]
Opponents of Proposition 8 vandalized Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, in the heart of San Francisco’s gay Castro community, during the first weekend of the year; the California resolution passed by voters last November rejected the legalization of gay marriage. Swastikas were painted on the church and the names Ratzinger (referring to Pope Benedict XVI) and [...]
U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien has launched a federal grand jury investigation against the Los Angeles Archdiocese claiming it violated the federal “honest services” fraud law when dealing with clergy abuse. In 2007, Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony reached a settlement with alleged victims of priestly misconduct, thinking the issue was over. But with this [...]
Bernard Madoff, who allegedly fleeced countless numbers of persons and organizations, was also a generous supporter of the abortion rights industry, managing the assets of groups like the Picower Foundation. The now-defunct foundation funded the organizations that handled the vast majority of abortion rights litigation in the United States. The good news is that big losers [...]
The College Republicans at George Washington University stored crosses that were used at a pro-life event in their office that is shared with the school’s College Democrats. When they recently returned to their office, they found that a number of crosses had been desecrated. One cross had a penis drawn on it and was covered with [...]
In a recent edition of the game show “Jeopardy,” the following comment was featured: “He denounces materialism from the balcony of a marble, gold-domed building…while wearing a giant gold cross.” The question for the contestants was, “Who is the pope?” We never knew that “Jeopardy” had a political side. But now that we know, we’d like [...]
The February 12 episode of the NBC show, “30 Rock,” threw a few jabs at Catholics. Many of the familiar stereotypes were there: a church full of pregnant women, the alleged silliness of the confessional, questions regarding priestly celibacy, judgmental authority figures, etc. What was new was the decision to focus on Latino Catholics. We can [...]
News reports about the upcoming movie, “Bruno” (featuring Sacha Baron Cohen of “Borat” fame), say there is a black model called Jesus who wears a loincloth and a crown of thorns. Some media pundits are saying this is sure to offend Christians. In many African American neighborhoods there are Catholic and Protestant churches that display statues [...]
Just before President Bush left office, the ACLU sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over its partnership with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in an effort to thwart human trafficking. The problem? The USCCB opposes funds for abortion and emergency contraception. President Bush wasn’t intimidated. Indeed, he proclaimed January 18 [...]
