Catholic League president William Donohue remarked today on the league’s crèche in Central Park:
“Starting today, and lasting for almost two weeks, there will be a nativity scene in Central Park. The crèche is erected by the Catholic League every December, and it is done with the permission of the New York City Parks Department. Unfortunately, the same city that allows us the right to put a life-size nativity scene on public property forbids us from putting a miniature version of it in the public schools. Yet Jews can put a menorah in both Central Park and the schools; this issue is currently in the courts. The Catholic League does not want Jews to lose their rights—it simply wants equal rights for Christians.
“The fact that the Catholic League can put up a nativity scene on public property in New York City—without violating the Constitution or triggering a lawsuit—is a lesson that municipal officials all across the nation should study. Unfortunately, many public officials act cowardly, as in Pennsylvania’s Beaver County. Officials there recently pulled a crèche that had been displayed in a public park for weeks, all because they feared an ACLU lawsuit.
“The only way the cultural fascists at the ACLU will be defeated is by defying them. What they seek is confrontation, so I say lets give it to them in spades: let’s confront them in the courts and in the court of public opinion. That they promote censorship in the name of tolerance makes them the ultimate hypocrites.”
