Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, responds today to the latest remarks by University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer:

“The website, www.worldnetdaily.com, is currently featuring a story based on our news release yesterday regarding the Insurgent, a University of Oregon student newspaper; the March edition ran cartoons of Jesus that are vulgar beyond belief.  I had no intention of doing anything more about this matter than what I did yesterday (which was to send a letter criticizing Dave Frohnmayer, the school’s president, to Oregon lawmakers and others—along with a copy of the two worst depictions), until I read Frohnmayer’s reply to the publicity.  But now that he is being dishonest, it is time for further action.

“Frohnmayer is now saying that the reason he didn’t do anything about this matter, save for issuing a lame criticism of the Insurgent, is because the student newspaper ‘is not owned, controlled or published by the University of Oregon and is funded with student fees.’

“The fact is that the University of Oregon forces all students to pay $191 per term in student fees, and that these fees are a condition of class enrollment.  The Student Government awarded the Insurgent $18,349 in student fees this academic year to pay for its costs, without which the newspaper could not function.  The newspaper’s offices are not located off-campus—they are given space by the university on campus.  And for at least the last four years, the newspaper has been allowed to use the university’s non-profit bulk-mail permit (school officials got nervous when the March edition appeared and only then did they stop the Insurgent from using its mailing permit).

“Given all this, it is so disingenuous for President Frohnmayer to claim that he is impotent to act.  He didn’t even have the moral decency to publicly condemn the decision by David Goward, Program Director of the Associated Students of the University of Oregon, who—after meeting with a university attorney—said the Insurgent need not apologize nor refrain from Catholic bashing again.”

Contact Frohnmayer at pres@oregon.uoregon.edu. 

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, wrote a letter today to every member of the Oregon legislature, the governor, the state’s three Catholic bishops, the president of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, and the chancellor of the Oregon University System.  The subject was an attack on Christianity that was published in a student newspaper at the University of Oregon.  Here are his remarks:

“The March edition of the Insurgent, a University of Oregon student newspaper, was one of the most obscene assaults on Christianity I have ever seen.  To make sure that the persons I wrote to understand how vile this attack was, I sent a photocopy of the two most offensive graphics: one was a depiction of a naked Jesus on the Cross with an erection; the other, titled ‘Resurrection,’ showed a naked Jesus kissing another naked man, both sporting erections.

“The pictures are only one small part of the March edition.  Indeed, the entire issue is replete with the most egregious examples of hate speech targeted at Christians.  For example, there are several cartoons of Jesus—including Jesus crucified—that are so gratuitously offensive that only the most depraved would defend them.  Moreover, the two opinion pieces against Catholicism are patently malicious.  That all of this appeared in a student newspaper, during Lent, on the campus of a state institution, makes one wonder what is going on at the University of Oregon.

“This explosion of hate speech was a response to a decision reached by one of the Insurgent’s rivals, the Commentator, to publish the 12 Danish cartoons that recently so inflamed the Muslim world.  An Insurgent editorial said that because the Commentator published depictions of Muhammad so as to ‘provoke dialogue,’ they had a right to thrash Christians as a way of provoking dialogue.

“The tepid response by the president of the university, Dave Frohnmayer, to this outrageous incident is what necessitated my letter to state leaders.”

Contact Frohnmayer at pres@oregon.uoregon.edu.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on news reports about a pending move by CBS Radio to hire radio talk-show hosts “Opie and Anthony”:

“After I lashed out against ‘Opie and Anthony’ for providing an on-air account of a sexual stunt in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 2002, they were fired by Infinity Broadcasting, the CBS Radio outlet.  Once they were dumped, I withdrew the complaint that I had filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and asked the FCC to drop its investigation.  On August 5, 2004, I issued a news release about the decision of XM Satellite Radio to pick up the duo beginning October 4.  At that time I said, ‘We wish Opie and Anthony well and trust they have learned their lesson.’  Now CBS Radio is set to bring them back on its Free-FM outlets.

“To those who say ‘you can’t go home again,’ I say nonsense: In the year-and-a-half that Opie and Anthony have been on XM Satellite, not a single complaint has reached our office about anything they’ve said.  Indeed, when the two shock jocks were picked up by XM, their producer called one morning and asked if I would go on the air with them.  Though I had some reservations, I said yes, and was immediately put through.  They made it clear that they regretted the St. Patrick’s stunt.  We mixed it up for a bit and had a great time.

“In short, the Catholic League hopes Opie and Anthony have a great run on CBS Radio.”

In the April 20 edition of the Christian Science Monitor, Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Howard Dean is quoted as saying, “The religious community has to decide whether they want to be tax exempt or involved in politics.”  Commenting on this is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:

“Howard Dean’s ultimatum to priests, ministers, rabbis and other members of the clergy plays to the stereotype of Democrats as the party of the faithless.  Dean knows full well that houses of worship and religious organizations are afforded a tax-exempt status by the IRS for the same reason that colleges, universities, foundations, non-profit organizations and most hospitals are—they service the public good.  He also knows that tax-exempt institutions are not allowed to endorse or contribute to candidates for public office, and that a mechanism is in place to punish those who violate this condition.  And he must know that members of the clergy do not forfeit their First Amendment right to freedom of speech simply because of their clerical status.  So what is his point other than to chill the speech of the clergy? 

“This kind of demagoguery is not an isolated instance.  For example, on April 19, the DNC announced a new radio ad campaign aimed at the Spanish-speaking community on the subject of immigration reform.  The position that the Democrats have staked out on this issue is something many Americans, myself included, feel is superior to that of the Republicans.  That is why it is so distressing to read the DNC’s statement on this matter: it literally accuses Republicans of supporting a plan that would ‘criminalize immigrants, families, doctors, and even churches just for giving communion.’  (My italics.)  This is a lie—there is not one scintilla of evidence to support the idea that if the Democrats don’t win on this issue then we are faced with the prospect of cops arresting priests for giving Holy Communion to illegal immigrants.

“If Howard Dean is the true voice of the Democratic party on matters religious, they’re in big trouble.”

On April 23, author Malachy McCourt will announce his candidacy for the Green Party nomination for New York State Governor.  Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, offered his thoughts today:

“After drinking from the well of anti-Catholicism for decades, Malachy McCourt has decided to run for governor of New York.  It should be a good show, and it is one we will monitor with a smile.  It is not certain whether his hatred for all things Catholic rivals his hatred for all things American, but by running on the Green Party line, we expect he’ll be given ample opportunity to strut his stuff.

“Want a sample of his politics?  In 2005, McCourt took part in a rally, ‘The Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime,’ that compared the Bush administration to Hitler’s regime.  Want to know who his political soul brothers are who joined with him?  Jane Fonda, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Howard Zinn, Cindy Sheehan, Eve Ensler, Gore Vidal, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Harry Belafonte, ACT UP, et al.  All of them denounced the U.S. as a ‘fascist state’ that is ‘waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq.’  Our government, they said, ‘is openly torturing people’ at home and aspires to become a ‘theocracy.’  As for our culture, it is one of ‘greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance.’

“Want a sample of his brilliance?  Because homosexuals are denied the right to march under their own banner in New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, McCourt whined in 2005 that ‘it’s very unfortunate that all people who are of human descent can’t get together and celebrate all our ethnic heritages one way or another.’  (My emphasis.)

“Want a sample of his ethics?  ‘Bush is against abortion and he’s the best argument for it,’ he said in 2004.  Interestingly, McCourt, who is pro-abortion and anti-death penalty, nonetheless concedes that abortion kills people, including those—like Bush—who are of human descent.

“Looks like George Soros has found his candidate at last.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on efforts to make Easter disappear:

“Last year, the tolerant folks who run the malls in Palm Beach, Florida decided to rename the Easter Bunny ‘Baxter the Bunny,’ etc.  Not that such sensitivity is new: John Leo reported in 1995 that the annual Easter Egg Roll at the Bronx Botanical Garden was changed to the Spring Egg Hunt (‘hunt’ had to be used lest people expected a Chinese appetizer, Leo said).  We decided to track this phenomenon by doing a Nexis search.

“There were no reported Spring Egg Hunts in the 1980s until 1988 and 1989; there was one in each of those years.  From 1990-1994, there was an average of 2.6 Spring Egg Hunts.  From 1995-1999 the average jumped to 10.8.  And from 2000 to date, the average is 28.

“What’s driving this?  The owner of the Apple Holler farm in Racine, Wisconsin explained in 2003 that ‘Big Bunny Weekend sounded better than Easter Bunny Weekend’ because ‘there’s absolutely nothing inferred there.’  Not even that he joined the sensitivity police?  A local official living in Milford, Connecticut confessed last week that ‘One person said we’d offend someone if we call it an Easter Egg Hunt, that’s all it took.’  Isn’t that sensitive?  No one complained yet the decision to neuter the event was done anyway.  Aaron Burgin of the Porterville Recorder showed how insensitive he was this year when he wrote a short piece about the California town of Porterville having a Spring Egg Hunt: he mislabeled his article, ‘Easter Egg Hunt.’  Those who think this is a blue state trend, think again: four towns in Georgia have censored Easter events by calling them ‘Children’s Egg Hunt,’ etc.  Best of all was the eviction of the Easter Bunny from St. Paul by Tyrone Terrill.  We hope the Easter Bunny suit we sent him fits.

“Look for Irving Berlin’s ‘Easter Parade’ to be renamed the ‘Spring Parade,’ though we doubt the author of ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Holiday’ would approve.”

On his April 5 CBS radio show, Penn Jillette commented on the rumor that Paris Hilton may play Mother Teresa in a movie.  He said Mother Teresa “had this weird kink that I think was sexual” about seeing people suffer and die.  He also said that “Paris Hilton is so far above Mother Teresa on the moral scale, she should not lower herself” to playing the saintly nun.  After comparing Mother Teresa to Charles Manson, Jillette again said she “got her [sexual] kicks watching people suffer and die.”  He concluded by saying, “Paris Hilton.  You’re so much better than that.  Don’t take the gig.  Keep making good wholesome porno films.  Just do that.  Do what you’re cut out for.  Don’t lower yourself to playing Mother Teresa.”

Subsequent to Jillette’s remarks, John London, a radio talk-show host on KIFR/San Francisco (a CBS station that carries Jillette’s show), said that he would offer “$5,000 to the person that kills Jillette” for his attack on Mother Teresa.  He added that if Jillette “suffers, I’ll make it $7,000.”  London, and his producer, Dennis Cruz, were then fired by the CBS management in New York.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:

“Last year, Penn Jillette referred to Mother Teresa on his Showtime TV show as ‘Mother F—ing Teresa.’  After I registered a complaint with Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom (which owns Showtime, as well as CBS), I was told about the merits of ‘artistic freedom’ and ‘tolerance.’  After Jillette’s latest attack, it is clear that such excuses are wholly unacceptable.  It is up to CBS Radio CEO Joel Hollander to fire him.  His own record, which includes a vigorous defense of Howard Stern, is also in question.  So this is an important moment for him as well.

“Contact Hollander at joel.hollander@infinitybroadcasting.com and demand that CBS dump Jillette immediately.  What Jillette said is outside the parameters of irreverent humor—it’s a malicious, obscene frontal assault on Mother Teresa and everything she stands for.  And the culprit is a repeat offender, therefore meriting his termination.”

On March 21, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a unanimous resolution condemning the Vatican for “meddling” in the city’s customs and traditions.  The proximate issue was the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality, especially its opposition to gay adoptions.

In response to this resolution, the Thomas More Law Center has agreed to represent the following plaintiffs: the Catholic League (including the 6,000 members it has in the area) and two individuals (one of whom is a member of the Catholic League).

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, spoke to this issue today:

“Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren Burger, writing for the majority in a 1984 decision, stated that the Constitution ‘affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any.’  Had the San Francisco Board of Supervisors respected this dictum, there would have been no lawsuit.  But because they have shown nothing but hostility to the Catholic Church, holding in contempt its right to craft its own teachings, this was deemed a matter for the courts.  Make no mistake about it, resident Catholics have been told, however indirectly, that the government does not look kindly on their right to publicly express their religion.

“Imagine what would have happened if the Vatican had condemned the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for ‘meddling’ in the internal affairs of the Catholic Church simply because the two entities disagreed on a public policy issue?  Separation of church and state cuts both ways, and when agents of the state accuse the members of any religion of interfering in municipal affairs—merely because the two sides hold contrary views—the ineluctable result is the creation of a chilling effect on the rights of the faithful.

“This is a matter so serious that no apology can ever suffice to undo the injurious effects that the resolution triggered.  A legal remedy is needed.”