Is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) Catholic? She was, but there is no evidence she still is. Yet she is conveniently labeled as a Catholic by some of her supporters and she occasionally implies she is still Catholic. Why does this matter? If she were not a congresswoman, it wouldn't. But when someone who is no longer [...]
A recently released United Nations report on religious freedom that was presented to the Human Rights Council deserves a sharp rebuke. While appearing reasonable at different junctures, the report is nothing but a frontal assault on religious autonomy and religious freedom. No wonder it was criticized by senior Vatican officials. The report by the Special Rapporteur [...]
In a badly conceived editorial on March 2, the Kansas City Star railed against allowing private and religious schools to be exempt from Missouri's minimum wage increase. It is the exemption for religious schools [read: Catholic ones] that exercises the editors the most. How do we know? Because it repeatedly singles out religious organizations for criticism. [...]
The Pew Research Center recently released a survey of democratic rights in 34 countries. Countries represented in the survey were drawn from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Canada, and the United States. Respondents were asked how important certain democratic values were to them, and how satisfied they were with the state [...]
The Pew Research Center survey on white evangelicals, President Trump, and Christianity's public role was released March 12. Half of all Americans say Christianity's influence is declining. This perspective was true for all religious groups; those who were the least likely to ascribe to this point of view were Jews, the unaffiliated and non-believers. The reasons [...]
Michael Bloomberg will never be president. After reading this, you may breathe a sigh of relief. In the South Carolina presidential debate, Senator Elizabeth Warren commented that when she was a special-education teacher she was happy not to have a boss like Bloomberg. She recounted how he allegedly said to one of his pregnant employees, "Kill [...]
Utah Rep. Angela Romero, a Democrat, is sponsoring a bill that would gut the seal of Confession. She maintains that it is necessary because priests learn of the sexual abuse of minors in confession and do not report this to the authorities. In a January 13 letter to Rep. Romero, Bill Donohue wrote: "I have two [...]
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been a vocal advocate of religious liberty, both here and abroad. He has now established a new International Religious Freedom Alliance with 27 member states. They have all pledged to promote religious beliefs in a myriad of ways, and have agreed to condemn religious persecution wherever it exists. Conscience rights [...]
On January 3, the CBS affiliate in St. Petersburg, Florida, WTSP, posted on its website a news story that read, "Former Sarasota Bishop Charged with Sexually Battering Child."It was about a former bishop at the Westcoast Center for Human Development in Sarasota; he was arrested and charged with battering a child. We had no problem with [...]
Let's say you are a reporter who detests the Catholic Church (there are more than a few out there), and would like to do an article that reflects badly on it. You come across a story that may qualify, but it is rather routine: it is about high school boys acting inappropriately. Not satisfied, you decide [...]
