Catholic League president Bill Donohue responds to an AP story, “Demonization of Soros Recalls Old anti-Semitic Conspiracies,” written by Vanessa Gera:

The AP news story is a wholly indefensible whitewash of George Soros, one that accuses his critics of anti-Semitism. Yet not a single anti-Semitic quote that his critics have made is cited.

AP would have us believe that Soros has “advanced human rights,” along with many other noble goals. Not for Catholics. In fact, Soros has funded more anti-Catholic groups than any person in American history. That he is a self-hating Jew who has worked tirelessly against Israel is also indisputable.

After quoting a Catholic woman broadcaster from Poland accusing Soros of using his foundations to “finance anti-Christian and anti-national activities,” the story says, “Sociologists see such rhetoric…as a modern manifestation of old anti-Semitic conspiracies.”

A Polish sociologist, who relies totally on conjecture, is then mentioned. He must resort to conjecture: He offers no evidence that anti-Semitism is driving Soros’ critics. I am a sociologist, too, and I see the broadcaster’s remark as spot-on.

I will now do what AP cannot do: I will offer proof of my accusations against Soros. I could say a whole lot more, but the following will do.

The AP story focuses mostly on Soros’ campaigns in Central and Eastern Europe, detailing his work amidst charges that he is interfering in the internal affairs of these nations. Guilty as charged—injecting himself into the sovereign affairs of other nations is what Soros does.

His many foundations, in particular his Open Society Foundations, fund anti-Catholic projects in Ireland, as well as in many African, Asian, and Latin American nations. How so? By promoting abortion and working to sideline the Catholic Church.

“For George Soros, Ireland Abortion Fight May be First Step Against Catholic countries.” That was the title of an article last year by Kevin Jones posted on the website of Catholic News Agency. Soros’ foundations funded Abortion Rights Campaign, Amnesty International Ireland, and the Irish Planning Association, all aimed at repealing Ireland’s anti-abortion law. Jones also detailed similar efforts in Mexico, Zambia, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

The Soros document that Jones cited shows how Soros’ Open Society Foundations boasted that if they won in Ireland, “a win there could impact other strongly Catholic countries in Europe, such as Poland, and provide much needed proof that change is possible, even in highly conservative places.”

In 2005, the Soros-funded PAC arm of MoveOn.org posted a smiling picture of Pope Benedict XVI holding a gavel outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Above the picture it said, “God Already has a Job…He does not need one on the Supreme Court. Protect the Supreme Court Rules.”

In 2016, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, lavishly funded by Soros, worked against the Catholic Church’s efforts to promote religious liberty; the Church was campaigning against the HHS abortion-inducing mandate being foisted on it by the Obama administration.

In 2012, Faith in Public Life, a Soros-funded entity, provided talking points to its ideological kin by instructing them on how to handle “the war on the Catholic Church.” The following year, Faithful America, which is funded by Faith in Public Life, condemned two cardinals, and the Catholic University of America, for upholding Catholic values.

Catholics for Choice is a pro-abortion, anti-Catholic letterhead that has no members, but is nicely greased by Soros. Its sole purpose is to sell the invidious notion that being pro-abortion is an acceptable Catholic position. Soros has also funded Catholics United, a bogus Catholic group that triggered a campaign against me in 2008. It tried to get me kicked off CNN and it abetted a failed IRS probe against me.

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which had its IRS tax-exempt status pulled in 2013, is a real Soros gem. It was founded by John Podesta for the purpose of planting “the seeds of the revolution” in the Catholic Church. We know this because of the infamous Wikileaks documents.

Imagine a Catholic foundation that funded a “revolution” in the Jewish community by setting up dummy Jewish organizations. Would AP do a story painting the primary donor as a hero?

Jews have been harshly critical of Soros as well. In 2003, the ADL accused Soros of blaming anti-Semitism in Israel on the Israeli government. In 2006, an article in the Jerusalem Post accused Soros of  weakening support for Israel in the Democratic Party, seeking “to undermine Israel’s positions in the U.S. in general.”

In 2007, the Jewish Forward said that “The editor of the New Republic, Martin Peretz, renewed an attack on Soros that he began a month ago when he called the Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor a cog in the Hitlerite wheel.” In 2016, the Jerusalem Post noted that some hacked emails show that the stated goal of Soros’ Open Society Foundations was “challenging Israel’s racist and anti-democratic policies.”

This news story by AP is an affront to the sensibilities of those Catholics and Jews who know better. George Soros is no champion of human rights. He is a manipulative atheist billionaire deserving of our condemnation, not commendation. Shame on AP for trying to make him a victim—he is a master victimizer.

Contact Vanessa Gera: vgera@ap.org

Bill Donohue comments as follows:

In the past few days, there has been a rash of attacks on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) from left-wing circles. Led by an extremist pro-abortion website, rhrealitycheck.org, these activists are trying to silence the bishops: the USCCB is fighting for the conscience rights of Catholics against the health care policies of the Obama administration. Noting that the Congress is considering a Continuing Resolution and debt ceiling bill, the bishops, led by Sean Cardinal O’Malley and Archbishop William E. Lori, are seeking to incorporate this right into such “must-pass” legislation.

Adele Stan is leading the pack; she titled her screed, “At Any Cost: How Catholic Bishops Pushed for a Shutdown—and Even a Default—Over Birth Control.” She was supported by colleague Jessica Mason Pieklo, who said, “Catholic Bishops Meddle With Health-Care Benefits.” Elsewhere, Khier Casino chimed in with “USCCB Demands Special Rights On Birth Control.” Ian Millhiser called his thinkprogress.org article, “Catholic Bishops To House: Shut Down the Government Unless We Get Our Way On Birth Control.” Today at dailykos.com, there is a story, “Catholic Bishops Demand Congress Abort U.S. Economy.”

Not only do the bishops have a First Amendment right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, they are morally obligated to fight any attempt by the state to force Catholics to violate their conscience by funding abortion-inducing drugs.

Stan is unrestrained in her anti-Catholicism. The bishops, she says, want to “block access” to “health care for the masses, food for the hungry, and shelter for the homeless.” Also, “they wouldn’t mind seeing the global economy brought to its knees,” and they continue to discriminate against women. Indeed, “no bishop ever endured the pain, blood, and terror of a life-threatening labor.” Come to think of it, neither did millions of women who chose to abort their kids. Should their voice also be disqualified? What about homosexuals? Would they make the cut?

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how religion haters are celebrating Christmas:

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United) was founded as an expressly anti-Catholic organization after World War II. Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an atheist religion-hating organization that considers abortion to be a “blessing.” Both are seeking to cash in on Christmas this year by appealing to anti-Christian bigots.

Americans United is conducting a direct mail campaign that portrays religious liberty as a threat to freedom. Its survey is totally skewed against religious liberty, making it seem that those who exercise their First Amendment right are a threat to a free society. In particular, as a bow to homosexuals and the sexually confused, the survey is clearly weighted against Christians who accept the Judeo-Christian understanding of marriage.

FFRF paid for a full-page advertisement in the December 5th edition of the New York Times that is inflammatory, demagogic, and bigoted. It accuses those who promote religious liberty of seeking to impose a “theocracy” on the nation. It is so desperate to prove its point that it actually claims that those who laud “Judeo-Christian standards” are theocrats bent on destroying our liberties. According to these geniuses, that would mean that the Founders were the originators of our theocracy.

Both of these organizations are driven by hate, and both are at war with our nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage. Ironically, were it not for that tradition, they would not enjoy the freedom of speech that allows them to condemn us. But they are too clueless to connect the dots.

For anti-Christian bigots to cash in on Christmas is analogous to white racists cashing in on Black History month. Sadly, this is how some people justify their livelihood—by living parasitically off of those whom they seek to destroy.

Contact:

Americans United’s Rob Boston: boston@au.org 

FFRF’s Amitabh Pal: apal@ffrf.org

Almost everyone loves Pope Francis, but not among his admirers are two groups known as SNAP and Bishop-Accountabity.org, two of the most hate-filled activist outlets in the nation.

SNAP has condemned the pope for doing “nothing—literally nothing—that protects a single child, exposes a single predator or prevents a single cover up.” Not a single example, anywhere in the world, was cited of the pope’s alleged delinquency.

Morever, Terence McKiernan of BishopAccountability.org condemned the pope for his “tired and defensive rhetoric,” saying the pope’s rigorous, and wholly justified, account of the Catholic Church’s reaction to sexual abuse is “breathtaking.” He cited one bishop, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, “who was convicted in 2012 of failing to report suspected child abuse,” as an example of the pope’s alleged intransigence.

What McKiernan did not tell AP was that the case did not involve child sexual abuse: no child was ever abused, or touched, by a disturbed priest, Shawn Ratigan. Nor did the case involve child porn: it involved crotch-shot pictures of children (one showed a girl’s genitals, determined by the police to be of a “non-sexual” nature).

The short of it is that the review board was contacted, the authorities were notified, and an independent investigation was ordered (the Graves Report). It was later discovered that more disturbing photos were found on Ratigan’s computer, and Bishop Finn was found guilty of one misdemeanor for failing to report suspected child abuse. Had Finn elected to do nothing, no one would have known about Ratigan, because there was no complainant. This is why the pope has not acted against Finn—what happened was a far cry from what McKiernan was saying.

January 8
Des Moines, IA—The local ACLU complained that only one version of the Ten Commandments (the King James version) was posted in the Iowa Statehouse. What made the ACLU’s complaint so bogus was the fact that this was a privately-funded display commemorating the moral and legal underpinnings of the U.S.

January 23
New York, NY—ADL head Abraham Foxman gave the Los Angeles Times his thoughts on the marketing practices for “The Passion of the Christ”: “[Mel Gibson is] hawking it on a commercial crusade to the churches of this country. That’s what makes it dangerous.” William Donohue wrote to Foxman: “The subtext of this remark is that church-going Christians are latent anti-Semitic bigots ready to lash out at Jews at any given moment.” Donohue asked for a public apology, which was never given.

March 15
Duluth, MN—The City Council voted to settle a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Minnesota to remove a 47-year-old Ten Commandments monument outside City Hall. The structure was removed three months later.

April 6
Boston, MA—People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) unveiled “The Cow Pope,” a 10-foot tall statue of a cow dressed as a pope wearing a sash that read, “Blessed are the Merciful. GoVeg.com.” Created by Greg Metz, the statue showed the cow holding a crucifix that had another cow on it. This, according to PETA, was to “remind Catholics that few activities contribute more to suffering—both for animals and humans—than eating meat.” The cow was eventually displayed in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Providence, RI.

April 11
San Francisco, CA—The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of gay men who dress as nuns in outrageous costumes, held its 25th Annual Easter Sunday celebration in Dolores Park. This included their annual “Hunky Jesus” contest in which gay men dress as Jesus and are judged on physical appearance.

April 24
Washington, DC—At a protest during a meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, onlookers spotted a T-shirt that read, “Pro-Choice and Anti-Catholic.”

April 25
Washington, DC—At the pro-abortion “March for Women’s Lives,” demonstrators held signs that read, “Keep your rosaries out of our ovaries.”

May 4
Everett, WA—Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit against Everett, Washington, seeking to declare a monument of the Ten Commandments unconstitutional.

May 25
Chicago, IL—The Rainbow Sash Movement announced it would wear its rainbow sashes in Chicago-area churches on Pentecost Sunday to protest Catholic teaching on homosexuality. Cardinal George asked his pastors not to give Holy Communion to the protesters.

May 27
Washington, DC—Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State wrote the IRS asking it to investigate what he termed “electioneering” by the Diocese of Colorado Springs. Lynn said Bishop Michael Sheridan’s pastoral letter about politicians receiving Communion was “code language that says ‘Re-elect Bush and vote Republican.'” Lynn called it “part of a larger trend among some members of the Catholic hierarchy to influence Catholic voters in this election year.” He cited the bishops of New Jersey and Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis.

June 1
Los Angeles, CA—The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to remove a small cross from the Los Angeles County Seal. The seal, in use since 1957, included the cross to represent the Catholic mission that was the foundation of the city. The board voted after being threatened with a May 19 letter from the ACLU of Southern California. The letter threatened a lawsuit against the city for violating the separation of church and state if the cross was not removed.

July 14
Johnson County, KS—The Mainstream Coalition authorized its members to spy on area churches to see if clergymen were violating IRS guidelines that govern political campaigns. The Catholic League protested the covert operation as being inimical to the spirit of freedom of religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment.

July 14
Cleveland, OH—An appeals court affirmed a lower court ruling that a poster of the Ten Commandments in the Richland County Courthouse was unconstitutional. The ACLU of Ohio filed the lawsuit in 2000 after a judge hung the poster in his courtroom.

August 13
Convoy, OH—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a lower court decision that said the Crestview school district violated the First Amendment by allowing fliers advertising religious events to be distributed in students’ mailboxes. The ACLU of Ohio, which brought the original lawsuit, said it would appeal.

August 21
Columbus, OH—A U.S. District judge denied a request by the ACLU of Ohio to stop a gospel concert for the benefit of the Franklin County Children Services. The judge ruled that the concert could proceed because the event’s main purpose of helping foster children was not religious and did not violate the principle of separation of church and state.

August 24
Millsboro, DE—The ACLU of Delaware threatened to sue the Sussex County school board for opening its meetings with a prayer and for allowing invocations at graduations and other school events. The ACLU took action after a local Jewish woman complained.

August 27
Louisville, KY—After a complaint by the ACLU, post offices in Kentucky banned the sale of teddy bears with religious messages sold by HolyBears, Inc. The God Bless America Bear, God Bless Our Postal Workers Bear and God Bless Our Troops Bear were all nixed.

September 5
Oceanside, CA—The city council voted unanimously to hang a new plaque in the council chamber saying “In God We Trust” with “Liberty” underneath. The ACLU threatened to take legal action to remove the plaque, but eventually backed off.

September 15
Plattsmouth, NE—An atheist and ACLU member successfully sued the town to remove a five-foot granite slab of the Ten Commandments erected in 1965 in the corner of a public park.

September 18
Moorhead, MN—The Freedom from Religion Foundation sought to pressure municipal officials to remove a Celtic cross from the city-owned Heritage Hjemkomst Center.

September 28
New York, NY—In a full page ad in the New York Times, MoveOn.org sought to impugn the integrity of the Gallup organization by alleging that a Christian bias colored its work. Unhappy that Kerry was trailing Bush in a recently published Gallup poll, MoveOn.org implied that George W. Gallup Jr.’s evangelical Christian status tainted the results.

September 29
Los Angeles, CA—A group of residents sued the three county supervisors who had voted for a new county seal earlier in the month that removed a small cross and substituted an Indian woman for the pagan goddess Pomona. The lawsuit said the supervisors’ action was hostile toward religion and a waste of taxpayers’ money. The supervisors action was in response to a threatened lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

October 1
Riverside, CA—The ADL’s Pacific Southwest regional office wrote to officials of the Riverside County Courthouse asking them to censor a quote by Theodore Roosevelt that reads, “The true Christian is the true citizen.” The words, which were engraved in gold letters on a mahogany wall, were to be covered while the court was in session; they were to be uncovered during historical tours.

The ADL said the quote should be covered because it could be seen as “a specific endorsement of the Christian faith.” The regional office said it did not object to the entire statement by Roosevelt (some 80 words); its problem was that the remark in the courthouse was taken out of context.

In response, the Catholic League wrote to the courthouse officials, the judge, and the ADL offering to pay to have the entire Roosevelt quote engraved on the wall; we heard from everyone but the ACLU. Because a lawyer filed suit claiming censorship on the part of the ADL, no decision regarding the Catholic League’s offer will be made until the case is adjudicated.

October 26
Clay, WV—The ACLU of West Virginia threatened to sue the Clay County commissioners if they did not remove a plaque of the Ten Commandments behind the commissioners’ seats. The complainant was a non-Christian “who feels unwelcome in a governmental environment that endorses a particular religion.”

November 16
Cranston, RI—U.S. District Judge William Smith ruled that the City Hall’s holiday display featuring a crèche and a menorah was not unconstitutional, contrary to the contention of the ACLU.

November 17
Washington, DC—Americans United for the Separation of Church and State threatened to sue after Congress submitted a bill to President Bush authorizing $10 million to refurbish 21 historic Spanish missions in California, 19 of which are owned by the Catholic Church and two by the state. The Catholic League noted there were no objections raised by civil libertarian groups when funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state of California were used to complete a renovation of the Breed Street Shul in Los Angeles earlier in the year (including restoration of the synagogue’s stained glass windows).

November 17
Washington, DC—Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a group of activist lawyers assisting whistle-blowers who identify violations of environmental law within government, launched a bigoted anti-Catholic attack on Bush administration special counsel Scott Bloch. In filing suit under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain Special Counsel records regarding personnel practices, a PEER press release called Bloch “a religious conservative” who hired “recent graduates of the ultra-conservative Ave Maria law school.” PEER executive director Jeff Ruch said, “Scott Bloch’s personnel practices are taken straight from The DaVinci Code rather than the civil service manual.”

December
New York, NY—The Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding called for a “Seasonal” or “Winter” party instead of a Christmas Party, in the name of being “fair” and so as to “not offend anyone.” The firm also advised a “Seasonal” or “Holiday” gift exchange.

In the same set of “tips for handling this tricky season,” however, Tanenbaum called for an array or accommodations for Muslims celebrating Ramadan. These include staggered work hours in which Muslim employees leave work early each day, plus the rescheduling of “important meetings or high-stress assignments.”

December
San Francisco, CA—The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, described affectionately by the Los Angeles Times as “queer nuns,” mocked Christmas all month long. For example, it joined with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in showing “grown-ups sitting on Santa’s lap,” along with transvestite elves.

December 15
Reynoldsburg, OH—Atheists lost in their attempt to stop the display of a nativity scene at City Hall. Faith Chapel, which had been displaying its crèche on the city property for five years, agreed to donate it to the city.

December 15
Bellevue, WA—An atheist couple asked the city council to remove its “Giving Tree” (which is what city officials call the Christmas Tree in Bellevue City Hall in hopes of not offending atheists).

December 19
Milford, CT—American Atheists staged a demonstration at a privately funded crèche on the public park of Milford Green, but only four protesters showed up. The four were greeted by 200 pro-crèche supporters waving homemade signs and singing Christmas carols.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on new developments surrounding the radical gays who stormed a church on Nov. 9 in Lansing, Michigan (see Catholic League news release 11-11):

“On Nov. 11, I asked Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox to launch an investigation into what happened at Mount Hope Church. We knew yesterday that a group of gay fascists stormed the church during a Sunday service. What we did not know is that this is a nationwide organization that has been planning to terrorize the church for the past month.

“The facts are not in dispute—all one has to do is tap into the website of Bash Back! There one will find that on Oct. 12 and Oct. 23, a memo was sent to members of the group to commemorate the founding of ‘Michigan’s newly formed chapter’ asking ‘Queers and Trannies’ to join in storming the church. The group boasts that in 2008 there has been ‘an explosion in Radical Trans/Queer organizing,’ citing progress that has been made from ‘Maine to the Midwest to The Bay Area.’ Bash Back! was founded to fight ‘State recognition in the form of oppressive institutions such as marriage and militarism’; it says both are ‘steps towards heteronormative assimilation.’ The radical nature of the group has led it to protest pro-gay marriage organizations like the Human Rights Campaign.

“It is important that law enforcement from all quarters address this issue. We will now contact Eaton County Sheriff Mike Raines and Eaton County Prosecutor Jeffrey L. Sauter to work cooperatively with Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox.

“A left-wing website, the Daily Kos, labeled news reports on what happened at the church ‘a funny story,’ and conducted a survey on the subject. Only 19 percent thought what Bash Back! did crossed the line.”

Contact Sheriff Mike Raines: mraines@eatoncounty.org

Contact Prosecutor Jeff Sauter: jsauter@eatoncounty.org

On March 3, Bob Jones III told Larry King that he was dropping the school’s ban on interracial dating. Now yesterday the school announced that it has dropped from its website the statement that called Catholicism and Mormonism a “cult.” But it still posts other disparaging comments on Catholicism. See www.bju.edu for more information, especially the Resources page article by Bob Jones Jr., “Romanism and the Charismatic Movement.”

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, had this to say:

“I am so happy that my religion is no longer seen as a cult in the eyes of Bob Jones University. Just think how delighted I will be once I learn that the school no longer brands my religion ‘a satanic counterfeit, an ecclesiastic tyranny’ and ‘the Mother of Harlots.’”

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” Motive Entertainment. Opens nationwide on April 18.

A new documentary hosted by Ben Stein, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” examines whether academic freedom and freedom of speech are being suppressed at our nation’s universities and bastions of “big science.” The film argues that those who broach the subject of intelligent design often invoke the wrath of their colleagues and superiors. In many cases, they are silenced or even drummed out of their positions.

Such strong reactions on the part of evolutionists to the suggestion that mankind is the work of a Creator is not unexpected. Many also responded harshly on July 7, 2005 when Christoph Cardinal Schonborn, the Archbishop of Vienna and member of the Congregation for Catholic Education, published an op-ed piece in the New York Times. His aim was to clear up lingering confusion about Pope John Paul II’s stance on evolution. The late pontiff was, and still is, widely quoted as calling evolution “more than just a hypothesis.” Schonborn acknowledged this statement, but also reminded readers that His Holiness also said, “All the observations concerning the development of life lead to a similar conclusion. The evolution of living beings, of which science seeks to determine the stages and to discern the mechanism, presents an internal finality which arouses admiration. This finality which directs beings in a direction for which they are not responsible or in charge, obliges one to suppose a Mind which is its inventor, its creator.”

This essay came shortly after newly installed Pope Benedict XVI declared, “We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God.” No one with any familiarity with Catholic teaching should have been surprised by the idea that the Church teaches God is the source of all life. As the cardinal also pointed out, the Catechism explicitly states, “We believe that God created the world according to his wisdom. It is not the product of any necessity whatever, nor of blind fate or chance.” The International Theological Commission was even more straightforward in 2004 (under the leadership of then-Cardinal Ratzinger), when it released a statement reading: “An unguided evolutionary process—one that falls outside the bounds of divine providence—simply cannot exist.”

Yet the cardinal’s piece provoked quite a troubling reaction. What was troubling were the almost hysterical cries from those—both inside and outside of Catholic circles—who labeled the cardinal’s take as backward or even anti-science. Georgetown University theologian John F. Haught, writing in Commonweal, declared Schonborn’s essay to be “a setback in the dialogue of religion and science.” British astrophysicist Sir Martin Rees, a member of the Pontifical Academy of Science, looked for the academy to distance itself from the cardinal’s piece. Liberal critic Andrew Sullivan charged, “And so we return to the 19th century.” Additionally, several leading Catholic scientists appealed to the pope to clarify the cardinal’s words.

Cardinal Schonborn clarified his own (rather clear) words a few months later, saying. “I see no difficulty in joining belief in the Creator with the theory of evolution, but under the prerequisite that the borders of scientific theory are maintained.” This seemed to quell some of the loudest protestors, but the question remained: Why did His Eminence’s article cause such a fuss? Why were his words met with such strong resistance, and in some cases, loathing?

The producers of “Expelled” wouldn’t be surprised at the uproar over Cardinal Schonborn’s essay. The film presents viewers with a number of well-credentialed scholars and scientists who were driven out of their offices or universities for similarly expressing hesitation about the atheistic neo-Darwinian theory of evolution that is so prevalent in education.

Host Ben Stein is a man of many talents—he’s known as much for comedic roles in films as for his days as a White House lawyer and speechwriter. Stein sets the tone for the project: entertaining, but with a strong foundation of scholarship. The film kicks off with an address by Stein to an audience of students. Speaking of the importance of freedom, Stein says he was disturbed to learn that academic freedom is far from guaranteed at many of our nation’s most prestigious campuses. As he continues that it is frightening how worthy professors have been silenced by those Darwinian advocates who want to suppress other ideas, viewers may find the interspersed images of West Germany and the Berlin Wall more than excessive. However, as the filmmakers unleash tale after tale of woe met by earnest men and woman who have dared to question the status quo, it becomes clear that the metaphor—while heavy handed—is apt.

Many of those interviewed in the film have histories of being drummed out of their careers after making even the slightest suggestion that the theory of intelligent design should be taken seriously. The case of Richard Sternberg, who was interviewed for the film, may be the most widely known due to media coverage that surrounded his story. Sternberg, a prominent researcher at the National Museum of Natural History (a division of the Smithsonian), served as managing editor of the journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. When Sternberg published a peer-reviewed article by a proponent of intelligent design, he quickly met the wrath of his colleagues and superiors. A Catholic, he even was warned that Christians should keep their faith quiet and was eventually banned from his office.

Skeptics would naturally suspect that something else must have happened to warrant Sternberg’s dismissal. After all, it’s the job of a publisher to run peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals—they don’t get fired merely because some articles are more controversial than others. But as “Expelled” shows, Sternberg’s is no isolated case. Many others have dared to bring up the subject of intelligent design, only to be labeled Creationists and find themselves pushed to the fringes of the academic community. Even at schools like Baylor in Texas, the world’s largest Baptist university, professors have found themselves mocked and penalized for treating intelligent design as a theory worthy of study.

The problem of suppression of views that counter Darwinism, however, isn’t limited to higher education and advanced scientific think tanks. A number of Darwin’s advocates are working hard to ensure that American kids are not presented with any alternatives to their theory in the classroom. One such advocate interviewed is Eugenie Scott, head of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). The NCSE, an activist group, opposes any attempts to introduce the theory of intelligent design to students in public schools. They follow cases where parents and school boards express an interest in broadening the scope of the scientific materials with which students are presented. When so-called “attacks on evolution education” pop up in communities across the country, the NCSE comes in with offers of help for like-minded locals. This help can include talking points and legal assistance should they wish to pursue litigation. Scott defends the practice, noting for good measure that Catholics support evolution. (This is exactly the sort of thinking Cardinal Schonborn tried to clear up.)

Not every story of supposedly persecuted scholars comes across as proof of an anti-intelligent design cabal operating in the scientific community. An Iowa State professor was denied tenure after his views became known, but the film presents no proof to counter the university’s claim that he simply did not meet the qualifications they seek in those to whom tenure is granted. However, taken as a whole, it does seem apparent that there is a strong bias against those whose views differ from the strictly Darwinian.

Most compelling are the attitudes shown by the anti-intelligent design advocates in the film. Richard Dawkins, well known British atheist and biologist (he has written books such as The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design and The God Delusion) seems barely able to contain his anger as Stein peppers him with questions about the origins of life. Though Dawkins is unable to explain to his interviewer how, exactly, life started, he’s sure it didn’t start with a god. A gleeful Stein enjoys gently prodding Dawkins, tripping his subject up and leaving him sputtering for answers. Stein repeatedly questions him on his atheism. Is Dawkins an atheist when it comes to the Muslim god? To the Hindu gods? To the God of the Old Testament? Dawkins, routinely protesting that he doesn’t believe in any god, can’t figure out why Stein needles him so incessantly. The answer appears to be that Stein just likes to have a good time, and needling Dawkins is a hoot.

Stein’s occasional boyish jocularity serves as a welcome break mong some of the more horrifying subject matter. To underscore the results that can arise when we reject the idea of man as a unique creation of God, the film highlights the eugenics movement, and takes viewers on a tour of the German prisons where Nazi doctors performed their cruel experiments on humans they saw as being of lesser races. Stein is careful to clarify that he isn’t charging belief in Darwinism inevitably leads to such ends, but that Darwinian theory has been used to justify appalling acts.

According to spokesmen for the film, when Stein was first approached for this project, he accepted because he loathes any attempts to suppress speech.  He did, however, express his feelings that intelligent design is a load of nonsense. But making the film influenced his view. Stein’s change in attitude is evident in the contrast in the tone he takes with different interview subjects. The skeptical questioner yields to a man convinced that the theory of Darwinian evolution has huge gaps that are being ignored.

Overall, “Expelled” makes a compelling case for the argument that higher education and “big science” are no bastions of academic freedom. What the typical viewer can do to change things is left unstated. But checking out this thoroughly enjoyable documentary is a good start.

Kiera McCaffrey is the Catholic League’s director of communications.

For more information, visit www.GetExpelled.com.