There have been many reports this week about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case involving the Westboro Baptist Church. In 2006, members of the church led an obscene demonstration outside a Catholic church where a funeral service for a slain Marine took place. The question before the court is whether this protest is protected by the First Amendment.

The question for the Catholic League is why the New York Times has never once called attention to the anti-Catholic history of the Westboro Baptist Church. By contrast, on twenty occasions, including today, it cited Westboro’s anti-gay heritage, and there have been a few mentions of its anti-Semitic history. But for some reason, it never finds it necessary to cite Westboro’s anti-Catholic legacy.

By the way, we checked every major newspaper in the nation, and the Times was the only one never to have mentioned the Catholic-bashing nature of the Westboro Baptist Church.

A stunning example of the way dissident Catholics think was recently brought to our attention. Last August, Ian Brennan, co-creator of the Fox program, “Glee,” was honored by Catholics in Media Associates; this is the same group that liked the show which the Catholic League killed in the 1990s, “Nothing Sacred.” Here is a selection of Brennan’s brilliance:

“I think that being Catholic is a lot like being Jewish. I believe that it is not a set of beliefs, but a heritage, a two thousand year meditation on the very idea of belief. I consider this its enduring beauty. I believe that therefore, almost by definition, you can disagree with most things the Catholic Church does, and still be Catholic.

“But it’s difficult, as Catholic, to see William Donohue go on TV and claim to speak for me and all other Catholics, as if he had that right.

“My mom and I were at Wendy’s for lunch and there was this old man sitting by himself just drinking a coffee and eating like just a plain hamburger, like one of the 69 cent ones with just a coffee — and I just… I felt so bad for him, or like didn’t feel bad, really, I just kinda felt for him, I wanted to like be with him, I just wanted to sit there and keep him company, and my mom and I sat there and ate and she was talking and the whole time I just like wanted to go over and sit with him, this old man I didn’t even know just sitting there alone, eating a 69 cent hamburger by himself in the middle of the day… And there was like no way he could ever know that, you know? Like there was no way he could ever guess that. That I felt that way. And like I thought to myself: just as I secretly love this old man who I don’t know sitting across the restaurant from me and there’s no way he would ever know, like I believed there could be something, like, way across the cosmos, unbeknownst to everyone, just, like, loving us. And there’s no way we could ever know it. It would just be there. And it was like this weird, incredible gift. And I think I’ve stopped even like needing that love for myself; it was enough to just stand near it and watch it and know it exists. And I think it makes the rest… I don’t know. I think it makes everything else pretty easy.”

It’s like, we couldn’t make this up.  

This is the way dissident Catholics show their love for the dispossessed: they do absolutely nothing about their condition but nonetheless congratulate themselves for feeling their pain. Just like Father Ray. 

In yesterday’s New York Times, there was a story about a teacher who moonlights as a prostitute (she’s been moved to a new school, another example of “passing the trash”) though she was not called a prostitute—she was labeled a “sex worker.” But today columnist Bob Herbert is upset with New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino for distributing an e-mail depicting the First Lady as a “prostitute.” So when is a sex worker not a prostitute, and vice versa?

Also today, religion reporter Laurie Goodstein has an article showing how “deeply ignorant” Americans are about religion. In it, she spells Mother Teresa’s name Mother Theresa.

Looks like the Old Grey Lady needs an editor.

When John Roberts was picked to be the fourth Catholic on the U.S. Supreme Court, Catholic bashers went nuts. Ditto when Samuel Alito was nominated to be the fifth Catholic. Yet they were silent when Sonia Sotomayor was chosen to be the sixth Catholic. Is that because she was considered reliably liberal, and therefore not really Catholic? Appears that way. Why else would Michael Moore tell Anderson Cooper on CNN last night that “We’ve got five of the nine justices of the Supreme Court”?

See, even liberals don’t regard Catholic liberals to be Catholic. Telling.

Click here to read William McGurn’s article on the Wall Street Journal’s website.

Robert W. Wilson gave New York City Catholic schools $2.7 million in 2008, and has now given another $5.6 million. But it’s not just his generosity that is so remarkable: Wilson is not Catholic. Indeed, he is an atheist. So why does he give? Because Catholic schools do a better job than “the union-controlled inner-city schools,” he says.

Bob Wilson is an atheist hero. He is also walking testimony to the notion that one need not be a bitter enemy of religion to be an atheist. And given the ascendancy of militant atheism in the West, that is clearly refreshing.

P.S. New Yorkers, and those who are planning a trip to New York, may want to access a website that provides plenty of good information about “meals and deals” in the Big Apple. Check out 89thandbroke.com

Click here to read Bill Donohue’s op-ed article from the July 20 edition of the Washington Times.

Another example of our cultural implosion is the decision of New Haven high schools to offer diplomas without the phrase “in the year of our Lord.” Bill Donohue offered this thoughts on the matter as follows:

“The United States was founded by Christians, and approximately 80 percent of Americans remain Christian today. It only makes sense, then, to recognize our heritage in our customs and traditions. What this New Haven school is doing is more than a detour from our moorings, it is unconscionable: attempts to scrub clean any reference to our founding is a disservice to the students and their community. And to base this decision, in part, on the need not to “offend anyone,” is disingenuous–it offends beyond belief the vast majority of Americans. This is political correctness gone mad.”

Alex Wilhelm has a lengthy article posted on the Huffington Post [click here] today detailing all kinds of reasons why Bill Donohue needs to resign as president of the Catholic League. Donohue said no.

Click here to read the USA Today article by Philip Jenkins on the disparity of coverage regarding the Church’s sex abuse scandal.