A new Catholic activist organization, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, has issued a voter guide that will be distributed to Catholics between now and election day. Commenting on the 12-page booklet is Catholic League president Bill Donohue:

“The voter guide is a slick attempt to get the abortion albatross off the necks of Catholic Democrats, but it’s a failed effort—the noose is still there. Instead of listening to James Carville and Paul Begala, who have counseled Democrats to drop their opposition to parental notification laws and their support for keeping partial-birth abortion legal, the best Catholics in Alliance can do is say it is opposed to abortion. But it makes it painfully clear that it will never join any effort to ban any abortions, including partial-birth. Alexia Kelley heads the new group, and in 2004 she worked as a religion advisor to John Kerry in the closing weeks of his campaign. Kerry is an advocate of keeping partial-birth abortion legal.

“On p. 9 of the booklet, it criticizes many pro-life candidates (it puts the term pro-life in quotes, as in so-called pro-life candidates) who are nothing but talk. ‘On the other hand,’ it says, there are pro-abortion politicians who ‘support effective measures to promote healthy families and reduce abortions by providing help to pregnant women and young children.’ There’s the moral equivalency: it’s okay for a Catholic politician to give a green light to a practice that kills a baby who is 80-percent born, just so long as he’s against trans fats.

“On August 2, 2006, Catholics in Alliance issued a news release urging the Senate to raise the minimum wage, an issue which the Catholic Church has no official position on, one way or the other. But the group has no statement urging anyone to vote against partial-birth abortion, an issue which the Catholic Church officially opposes. The best it can do is say it opposes the ‘root causes’ of abortion.

“Despite what Catholics in Alliance says, there is a moral hierarchy of issues, and as important as ending poverty is, it does not rival the right of a child to be born.”

In today’s edition of the ABC-TV show, “The View,” the four panelists held a glass of red wine while joking about its alcoholic effects. After Rosie O’Donnell made a crack about the way alcohol affects Mel Gibson—“you just start spouting anti-Semitic statements”—Joy Behar responded, “In vino veritas. Don’t you remember when you went to Communion? In vino veritas. The priests were all drunk, don’t you remember?” Here is what happened next.

• O’Donnell: “No. I remember they would do Body of Christ. You’d have to say Amen and then sometime in the 70s there was a big congregation and you were allowed to get it in your hand. Do you remember this?”
• Behar: “No I think I dropped out by then.”
• O’Donnell: “Oh, well it was big because my mother used to say when you have that Host in your mouth don’t let it touch your teeth because it was against (inaudible) so you know the pressure on the child getting it, you know the priest would put it right on your tongue and you’re [Rosie twists her face pretending to swallow it without having it touch her teeth]…Yeah, it was a lot. But anyways, cheers.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:

“A few weeks ago, O’Donnell compared Christians whom she disagrees with to Muslim terrorists, and now we have her ridiculing Jesus. Egged on by Joy Behar, who is no stranger to Catholic bashing,  O’Donnell showed no qualms about toying with the Eucharist: the ex-Catholic knows that the Host is regarded by Catholics as the Real Presence of Jesus.

“This show is out of control. What happened today is not an extension of ‘Sister Act’ comedy—it is a below-the-belt attack on Catholicism. And if ‘The View’ panelists protest that this is just innocent fun, let them try their brand of religious humor on Muslims. Surely they must know some fun things to say about the core beliefs of Islam.”

Contact Sallie Schoneboom, ABC’s media relations vice president, at sallie.t.schoneboom@abc.com or try the executive producer, Bill Geddie, at bill.geddie@abc.com.

On September 30, Adirondack Community College (ACC) will sponsor Pagan Pride Day.  ACC, located outside Lake George in Queensbury, New York, is part of the State University of New York (SUNY).

Here’s what Catholic League president Bill Donohue had to say:

“ACC Student Association, which is hosting Pagan Pride Day, says the event is free to the public and is designed to be ‘a celebration of religious diversity.’ But nothing is free—New York taxpayers are paying for this event—and a panel on religious diversity that was initially considered will not occur. However, Patricia Telesco will be there, author ofHow to be a Wicked Witch, and so will John Allee, a Satanic priest and founder of the First Church of Satan.

“According to an ACC news release, ‘The purpose of Pagan Pride Day is to support religious tolerance, eliminate prejudice based on religious beliefs,’ and other noble goals. But it is a lie. On the website of the First Church of Satan, Christians are instructed that they can ‘deprogram’ themselves by ‘making fun of religious dogma.’ But before one gets to the FAQ part of the website, a short video pops up on the home page to the tune of Gloria Gaynor’s song, ‘I Will Survive’; a bearded man posing as Jesus dressed in a white robe starts mimicking the words. He then disrobes and struts down a street in a diaper before being hit by a bus.

“Other videos include ‘Gideon Bible Rant,’ a diatribe that shows a picture of the Bible with a sticker on it, ‘Warning! Literal belief in this book may endanger your health and life.’ Then there is ‘Satanic Sexual Vision,’ which features a woman dressed as a nun in a black veil wearing a black bra, black slip and black panties; she is shown masturbating. ‘Do You Take It Up the A–?’ depicts simulated anal sex, but ‘Keep Your Jesus Off My Penis’ is no longer available. This isn’t higher education—it’s an obscene assault on Christianity.”

Contact John J. O’Connor, vice chancellor, john.o’connor@suny.edu, and Thomas F. Egan, chairman of SUNY’s board of trustees, thomas.f.egan@citigroup.com.

Kiera McCaffrey, director of communications for the Catholic League, contacted The American Prospect today requesting the right to republish the September 25 article by Kirsten A. Powers, “Who Should Apologize?”, in the November edition of Catalyst, the league’s monthly journal; the Powers piece was printed in the online edition of the magazine. Jahan Salehi, an agent for the publication, spoke to McCaffrey saying he would check out the Catholic League website and get back to her. After perusing our site, he said he would recommend honoring our request, noting, however, that officers atThe American Prospect wanted time to consider the matter. Salehi asked if the Catholic League held the same teachings as the Church on issues like abortion, and McCaffrey said yes.

Shortly afterward, Salehi called back to say that our request was denied. He specifically said that it was the Catholic League’s stance on abortion and gay rights that accounted for the rejection.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented as follows:

“The piece by Kirsten A. Powers is excellent and it’s too bad that The American Prospectdecided to censor her work without ever consulting her. That’s because the anti-Catholicism that marks this media outlet is so visceral that it even trumps the best interests of its own authors.

“On its website, it says that it is ‘an authoritative magazine of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics.’ It would be more honest to say that it is an authoritarian magazine of ill-liberal ideas, committed to an unjust society, impoverished democracy, and ineffective liberal politics.’ And anti-Catholicism.

“The American Prospect boasts that it has a paid circulation of 55,000, which means that it reaches far fewer people than Catalyst. Thus did they put the screws to Powers.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on the impending House vote on the Public Expression of Religion Act. He contrasts this effort with the success that accused Muslim terrorists have had in obtaining religious rights at Guantanamo Bay:

“This evening, the House is scheduled to vote on the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA), a bill sponsored by John Hostettler in the House and Sam Brownback in the Senate. The bill would require that parties in establishment-clause cases take responsibility for their own legal fees, thus making it more difficult for the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and others to collect large sums of money in attorney’s fees when they win. If the bill were to become law, it would go a long way towards ending the intimidation tactics of these bullies.

“It is more than ironic—it is perverse—to note that while Christians and Jews are battling for their religious rights, accused Muslim thugs in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps are having no problem getting their religious rights honored during Ramadan. In an illuminating article in today’s Los Angeles Times, the detainees, which include 14 suspected Al Qaeda leaders among the more than 400 prisoners, are in the driver’s seat: staff is working ‘around the clock’ to provide ‘Ramadan-specific’ meals and steps are being taken to assure that no non-Muslim even touches the Koran. So while these Muslims are getting their nuts and honey, Christians and Jews are scratching for their religious crumbs. The situation at the Cuban base is so absurd that one Army official says, ‘The deference that was given to them [the detainees] under the guise of religion was unbelievable.’

“The old adage, ‘What’s Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander,’ needs emendation: ‘What’s Good for Accused Muslim Thugs is Good for Unsuspected Christians and Jews’ makes more sense these days.”

Today’s Washington Times features a joint advertisement from Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, titled “Catholics and Jews Join to Defend Pope Benedict XVI.”

At issue is the barbaric reaction from some segments of the Muslim world to the Holy Father’s speech at Regensburg University in Germany on September 12.  These Catholics and Jews are calling on all people of good will to stand in defense of the pope and to condemn violence and intimidation.

Click here to view the ad online.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue wrote to NBC chief Bob Wright today about the upcoming Madonna concert:

“Last February, NBC ‘Nightly News’ decided it would not offend Muslim sensibilities by showing the controversial Danish cartoon of Muhammad in full. Allison Gollust, a spokeswoman for NBC, said, ‘We felt that in order to convey the essence of the story, it was not necessary to show the entire cartoon.’

“Accordingly, the same ethical principles which drove this decision should apply to Christians. Therefore, in deference to Christian sensibilities, NBC should not air the entire Madonna concert. If it does air the ‘Mock Crucifixion,’ it will send a message to the 85 percent of the American population that is Christian that their sensibilities count less than Muslims. And that is not a decision that any responsible person or company can afford to make.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue addressed today the Muslim reaction to Pope Benedict XVI’s speech at Regensburg University:

“One of the points that the pope made in his speech at Regensburg University was the necessity of linking faith to reason. He warned that uncoupling the twin values had horrendous consequences, leading people of faith to resort to violence. Ironically, the violent reaction, and the calls for more violence, on the part of some Muslims underscores the pope’s point. The response of violence to non-violence is barbaric.

“In Somalia, Muslims were urged by a cleric to ‘hunt down’ the pope and kill him. ‘Whoever offends our Prophet Muhammad should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim,’ said Sheik Abubakar Hassan Malin. No doubt that this ‘man of God’ must be happy now that a nun was shot outside a children’s hospital in the nation’s capital. The Mujahideen Shura Council referred to the pope as ‘the worshipper of the cross,’ and pledged to ‘break the cross and spill the wine’ in the ‘house of the dog from Rome.’ The group, which posted its call to violence on the Internet, also said that God will enable Muslims ‘to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen.’ Seven churches were firebombed in the West Bank and Gaza by gun-wielding Palestinians, using lighter fluid to burn the churches. And today, in the Pakistani-controlled section of Kashmir, Muslims took to the streets chanting ‘Death to the Pope,’ burning him in effigy.

“No wonder the pope has spoken against Turkey (where an official compared him to Hitler) joining the European Union. Not until Islam matures and Muslims come to reject the wanton destruction of innocent human life is there any chance of a real dialogue. The scene of Muslims calling for Jews and Christians to be murdered with impunity is all too common, as this latest demonstration of hate proves.”

The Cavalier Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Virginia, has decided to remove the two comics from its website that the Catholic League complained about (see our news release of 9-5).

“We are regretful that many took offense to them,” the newspaper has announced. “Offense was not our intent—neither the intent of the artist, nor the intent of the newspaper,” the statement said, “which seeks to provide contributors an open forum to present their ideas.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented as follows:

“Our concern from the beginning was twofold: the anti-Catholic nature of the comics, and the fact that others who have previously been offended by the newspaper, namely gays and Muslims, have been granted apologies.  Now that The Daily Cavalier regrets publishing the offensive fare, and has pulled them from its website, they have effectively closed this issue. We are pleased with this outcome.”