Click here to read an article on First Things’ website by Melissa Musick Nussbaum and L. Martin Nussbaum.

Click here to read today’s New York Times editorial on the Catholic League.

The following article by Bill Donohue is currently being featured at YourNabe.com:

American Atheists has a special hatred of Christianity, and that is why it seizes on the Christmas season — it would take too much courage to focus on Ramadan — to sell its anti-Christian message. Their latest assault is their billboard outside the Lincoln Tunnel that takes direct aim at Christmas.

The Catholic League has responded with a billboard of its own. On the New York side of the Lincoln Tunnel, we have a pro-Christmas statement. To counter the American Atheists’ billboard, “You Know It’s a Myth: This Season, Celebrate Reason,” ours reads, “You Know It’s Real: This Season, Celebrate Jesus.”

We are very proud of the fact that Advertising Age credited the Catholic League, along with the American Family Association, for the pro-Christmas turn-around this year: more retail outlets are saying “Merry Christmas” this year than has been true in a long time.

We are also happy to note that American Atheists put out a news release condemning the Catholic League’s initiative of sending a nativity scene to all 50 governors; we have asked that it be placed in a public spot, such as in the Capitol Rotunda. The response has been very encouraging.

Moreover, we have purchased a brand new life-size nativity scene that will be erected in Central Park on Dec. 16. Every year, we get a permit from the Parks Department to erect our crèche, and this year we have a new one that will be displayed on the corner of 59th Street and Fifth Avenue.

In other words, the Catholic League is taking the moral high road, offering a pro-Christmas message. The difference between us and American Atheists could not be more stark. Our approach is to contribute to the common good, while their approach is to sow division.

Merry Christmas from all of us at the Catholic League!

his article can be found today on The American Spectator’s website:

The most accurate prognostication of the 2010 Catholic vote was made months ago when Rep. Bart Stupak (D, MI-01) decided not to run for reelection. Stupak, a “pro-life” Catholic, was the leader of a small hold-out group of House Democrats, also mostly Catholic, refusing to vote for a health care bill that included federal funding for abortion.

Stupak’s sudden change of mind on May 21, without any concurrent changes to the health care bill, led to the passage of the health care legislation when his fellow hold-outs caved with him.

A veritable tsunami of pro-life outrage among Catholics ensued, in spite of attempts of White House shills like Sr. Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, to dispute the statements of the Catholic bishops about the presence of abortion funding in the health care legislation.

This outrage was apparent on November 2 when eight members of Stupak’s coalition were defeated. They included Catholic Rep. Steve Driehaus (D, OH-01), who brought a case to the Ohio Elections Commission, arguing the Susan B. Anthony List had misrepresented his vote on the health care bill. Other Catholics, Reps. Kathy Dahlkemper (D, PA-03), Charlie Wilson (D, OH-06), Chris Carney (D, PA-10), Paul Kanjorski (D, PA-11), Baron Hill (D, IN-09), and Brad Ellsworth (D, IN-08), who ran for the Senate, made pro-life claims a prominent campaign theme, and were also rejected by the voters.

Pushed, in part, by concern about the health care bill, Catholic voters across the nation returned to the GOP in numbers resembling the presidential victory of George W. Bush in 2004. CNN exit polls record 55 percent of Catholics voted for the GOP while AP pollingshowed a whopping 58 percent, a twenty point increase since 2008. Either way, the 2008 Catholic support for Obama has completely reversed itself, perhaps with a vengeance.

In all, over 17 pro-life Catholics will be added to the Congress, while roughly 26 pro-abortion Catholics will be departing.

The heart of the Catholic vote belongs to voters who attend Mass regularly. Parse out these active Catholic voters from less active Catholics, and the results have consistently shown more support for socially conservative and Republican candidates. When I led Catholic outreach for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, we based our outreach on acomprehensive study that pointed repeatedly to the importance of making this distinction.

Those who argue there is no Catholic vote usually ignore this distinction, as did Jody Bottum, former editor of First Things, in his recent article at the Weekly Standard.

The exit polling did not contain a question for religiously-active Catholics as a separate group, as is done in presidential elections. But CNN did find that religiously active voters, in general, supported the GOP 59 percent to 40 percent. Thus, there is good reason to infer that active Catholic voters were a driving force behind the Catholic move back to the GOP, as they have been in previous swings since the late ’60s.

Consider the additional evidence:

In the Illinois Senate race for Obama’s former seat, according to CNN, Catholics voted an amazing 56 percent for the GOP candidate and 39 percent for the Democrat. White Catholics voted at a 70 percent level, which means blue collar Catholics deserted the Democratic Party. That’s in a state whose parishes have been deeply influenced by the Archdiocese of Chicago, where Cardinal Bernardin, author of the “seamless garment,” was bishop for fourteen years.

In another heavily Catholic state, Wisconsin, Catholics voted 53 percent to 47 percent for the Republican Senate candidate, Ron Johnson, to defeat incumbent Russ Feingold. InPennsylvania, pro-life Catholic Pat Toomey defeated a Catholic who voted for Obamacare, Rep. Joe Sestak. PA Catholic voters favored Toomey 51 percent to 49 percent. Along with Toomey, the election of Catholic Marco Rubio to a Florida Senate seat means that body will have two dynamic pro-life voices to replace Sen. Sam Brownback, who was elected Governor of Kansas in a landslide victory.

The darling of the Catholic Left since 2008 has been Rep. Tom Perriello (D, VA-05). Touted by fake Catholic groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance, Perriello was the epitome of the “social justice” Democrat and described as pro-life in spite of his consistent support of abortion and the health care bill. Perriello was defeated by pro-life Presbyterian, state senator Robert Hurt, in spite of Obama’s personal trips to Charlottesville.

Perhaps the biggest news of all for Catholics on election night was the emergence of a pro-life Catholic Speaker of the House, Cong. John Boehner (R, OH-08) to replace Nancy Pelosi, a pro-abortion Catholic. With Boehner at the helm, Catholics can be assured that a real fight will be underway for ridding our nation of federally funded abortions.

Catholic voters will never be a voting block, but they will respond in large and politically significant numbers to candidates on the basis of their Catholic values and world view. What does that mean for the 2012 presidential race? The magnitude of the mid-term swing of Catholic voters we just witnessed translates to 7 million of the 30 million Catholic voters who the GOP needs to keep or the Democrats need to win back by 2012.

Deal W. Hudson is president of Catholic Advocate and author of Onward Christian Soldiers: The Growing Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States (Simon & Schuster, 2008).

Last April, the National Catholic Reporter ran a story on the so-called “Victims’ Summit,” a gathering of alleged victims of priestly sexual abuse scheduled to take place in St. Peter’s Square on October 31. At that time, Bernie McDaid, one of the organizers, predicted they would amass 50,000 people in a massive show of anger against the Catholic Church.

Yesterday, the dissident Catholic newspaper reported that a grand total of 60 protesters showed up near St. Peter’s Square. Looks like this issue has run its course.

Catholic League director of communications Jeff Field recently had the opportunity to see the Broadway show “Memphis.” Unlike most plays these days, this is one which most Christians will find entertaining and inspiring.

Opening to critical acclaim in October of 2009, the Broadway musical “Memphis” is a hit that should not be missed. Set in the segregated southern city of Memphis in the 1950s, the musical is more than a show full of catchy tunes and a wonderful cast; it is a lesson on how to live our lives true to our Christian values and a demonstration of the importance of God.

The story revolves around a young white disc-jockey named Huey and a black lounge singer named Felicia. When Huey first heard Felicia sing, he was moved and knew that her voice could be one to help bring unity to an area divided by race. Once Huey began playing Felicia’s music on the radio, young white children were buying rhythm and blues records at break-neck speed. All this much to the chagrin of their parents and Huey’s mother, who becomes the most transformed character over the course of the show.

A waitress at the local diner, Huey’s mother tells her son that she can’t play that “blasphemy” at the restaurant because “good Christians” frequently dine there; the “blasphemy,” of course, was black music. Later in the show, her eyes are open following a visit to a black Baptist church. She says that throughout her life she was “taught to hate them, was taught to denigrate them” and that blacks were “lesser in the good Lord’s eyes.” But following her visit to the church and hearing the pastor preach the gospel, she was through buying into the lies. Her transformation shows the value of listening to the voice of God and putting it into practice.

Another moving moment is when Gator, a black bartender who hasn’t spoken a word since watching his father being lynched, intervened for Huey after Felicia’s brother, Delray, found out that Huey and Felicia had been mugged for being together. Delray had warned Huey that this would happen if he and Felicia were seen together. Before an altercation ensues, Gator begs Delray to stop, saying his first words in years. His song, “Say a Prayer,” asks God to change the way the world is around them. He recognizes Delray’s anger but implores forgiveness for Huey in one of the most soul-stirring moments of the whole show.

A tale of redemption, faith, forgiveness and hope, it is no wonder why “Memphis” won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2010. The show will have you thinking, laughing and tapping your feet. When looking for a Broadway hit, that is sure not to disappoint, look no further than “Memphis.”

Click here to see how these men honored God as they were pulled from the mine.

The following article can be found on the website of today’s New York Post:

Don’t Blame me for gay teen suicides

Do I have blood on my hands?

Major gay-rights groups are saying so. Each of us who opposes gay mar riage, they say, is responsible for the terrible and tragic suicides of gay teens that recently hit the news.

San Francisco just filed a brief in the Prop 8 case, saying 7 million Californians who voted to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman are responsible for high rates of suicide among gay people.

Evan Wolfson, one of the leading architects of the gay marriage movement, calls me out personally: “National Organization for Marriage Chairman Maggie Gallagher is among those who, with reckless disregard, attacks LGBT youth.”

Former Clinton adviser Richard Socarides told the AP these suicides demonstrate why gays should be allowed to marry: “When you speak out for full equality now, as opposed to partial equality, or incremental equality, you send a message to everybody, including the bullies, that everyone is equal.”

Apparently, either we all agree that gay marriage is good or gay children will die.

It’s a horrific charge to levy in response to some pretty horrifying stories. Will gay marriage really reduce or prevent gay teen suicide? I felt a moral obligation to find out.

Massachusetts has been tracking gay high school students for a decade using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

LGBT teens were roughly four times as likely as other students to attempt suicide in the last year. They’re also about twice as likely to report being in a physical fight at school, three times more likely to say they were injured by a weapon and almost four times as likely to say they missed school because they felt physically unsafe, compared to other teens.

These kinds of negative outcomes are consistent with the idea that anti-gay bullying is mainly responsible for the higher suicide rate among gay teens. But as I kept reading, I kept finding pieces of the puzzle that don’t seem to fit the “it’s homophobia pulling the trigger” narrative.

Gay students are also more than twice as likely to report having had sexual intercourse before age 13 — that is, to be sexually abused as children. They are three times as likely to report being the victims of dating violence, and nearly four times as likely to report forced sexual contact. A majority of LGBT teens in Massachusetts reported using illegal drugs in the last month. (Perhaps most oddly, gay teens are also three times as likely as non-gay teens to report either becoming pregnant or getting someone else pregnant.)

Forced sex, childhood sexual abuse, dating violence, early unwed pregnancy, substance abuse — could these be a more important factor in the increased suicide risk of LGBT high schoolers than anything people like me ever said?

The deeper you look, the more you see kids who are generally unprotected in horrifying ways that make it hard to believe — if you are really focusing on these kids’ well-being — that gay marriage is the answer.

And that’s exactly what the Youth Risk Behavior data also shows: In 2001, gay teens in Massachussetts were almost four times more likely to have attempted suicide (31 percent versus 8 percent). In 2007 — after four years of legalized gay marriage in that state — gay teens were still about four times more likely to attempt suicide than non-gay teens (29 percent versus 6 percent).

Whether you are looking at their faces or looking at the statistics, one thing is clear: These kids need help, real help. They should not become a mere rhetorical strategy, a plaything in our adult battles.

Each of these teens is a child of God. And each one deserves better from all of us than becoming a “teachable moment” in someone else’s culture war.

Maggie Gallagher is president of the National Organization for Marriage.

This article can be found by clicking here.

The story of the trapped Chilean miners has captured the hearts and minds of people across the world. Since their rescue last week, these men have left no doubt that God played an enormous role during their 69-day entrapment.

Before these men were found, they drew water from two oil drums that were full of water to be used for the radiators of the heavy machinery of the mines, leaving them with oil-tainted water. The second man rescued from the mine, Mario Sepulveda, said of this, “That was one act of God right there. We had water. It tasted foul but it didn’t poison us, even though it was tainted. We allowed ourselves a few small sips each day.”

As the days wore on before they were found, Sepulveda said that the men prayed for a miracle: “We were in total darkness. The heat was oppressive. We all felt the Devil was down there with us. We prayed and prayed. It was a dark, black hole. We were buried alive. We were all so scared. We begged God to help us. We were worried we would starve to death or that the water would run out and we would die horribly from dehydration.”

Lucky for Sepulveda and the rest of the miners, God was listening.

Imagine if this had taken place in a Catholic school:

2 Investigators: School System Ignored Safety Concerns