As it does every Christmas season, Planned Parenthood e-mails its supporters a Christmas card titled, “Choice on Earth.” This year it has an accompanying video on “Moments that inspired us in 2007.” One of the highlights of the year is the opening of a new clinic in Aurora, Illinois.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue ripped into this today:

“Planned Parenthood says it stands for choice. So do serial killers and rapists. Jeffrey Dahmer believed in choice as well. Choice, of course, carries no moral quotient by itself—it must have an object. And the object of choice that Planned Parenthood prizes is killing kids in utero. But to admit this is to admit to a moral monstrosity. Which explains why it prefers to talk about a woman’s ‘right to choose,’ without ever finishing the sentence.

“The introductory statement to the video that is found on its website says, ‘It’s been quite a year for Planned Parenthood and the women, men and families that we serve.’ Notice that they didn’t mention women, men and children. That’s because the kids are a problem.

“But not just any kids. The kids of white people are not a problem—it’s the kids of minorities that exercise Planned Parenthood. Founded for racist reasons—African Americans were the original problem—Planned Parenthood has now evolved into fixing another problem: Latinos. That’s why it set up its spanking new clinic in Aurora, a town that is heavily Latino.

“If Planned Parenthood needs to rip off some special day in the calendar in order to sell its sick message, let it pick some day other than Christmas. We recommend Day of the Dead.”

Today, the Catholic League erected a nativity scene in Central Park. Unfortunately, vandals have destroyed or stolen manger scenes nationwide. Here are some of the locales:

· Foreman, Arkansas
· Rogers, Arkansas
· Antioch, California
· Glastonbury, Connecticut
· Arredondo Farms, Florida (three instances)
· Bal Harbour, Florida
· Fort Walton Beach, Florida
· Panama City, Florida (more than a dozen incidences)
· Tampa, Florida
· Bainbridge, Georgia
· Schaumberg, Illinois (two instances)
· Kearney, Missouri (two instances)
· Kirkwood, Missouri
· Bozeman, Montana
· Lattimore, North Carolina
· Westbury, New York (the homeowner was assaulted)
· Elyria, Ohio
· Sylvania Township, Ohio
· Greensboro, North Carolina
· Leesburg, Virginia
· Marlow, West Virginia

In perhaps the sickest incident, an elementary public school coach in Marietta, Georgia drove students around the area in his pickup truck instructing them to thrash Christmas displays after dark; they also created obscene displays with some of the adorning statues.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments today as follows:

“It is simply wrong to maintain that the sensitivity police want to scrub society clean of all vestiges of religion. As the following examples demonstrate, Christianity is their real target.”

· A spokesman explained that the reason K-Mart forbids calling Christmas trees Christmas trees is because “we do not want to offend any of our associates.” So they are dubbed “Holiday Trees.”

· A staff member at North Seattle Community College was berated for discussing “Christmas cookies” in an e-mail.

· Menorahs are called menorahs—not candelabra—at LSU, but Christmas trees are called “Holiday Trees.”

· Hanukkah and the Islamic holy day Eid al-Adha are mentioned in the school calendar of the Spokane Public Schools, but Christmas is not.

· Minutes after a “Giving Tree” was displayed at a school in Leominster, Massachusetts, some parents complained and it was immediately taken down.

· A Christmas tree was taken down after a faculty member complained at Missouri State University, but was later restored. No one complained about the menorah.

· A miniature nativity scene was removed from the main lobby of CentraState Medical Center in New Jersey, but was later restored. No one complained about the menorah.

· Hanukkah is celebrated at Harvard, but not Christmas. A giant menorah sits in Harvard Yard but there is not a nativity scene in sight.

· Pembroke Lakes Mall in South Florida displays a 5-foot-tall menorah but all nativity scenes have been censored.

Donohue concludes as follows: “In Israel there are menorahs aplenty. And in the Muslim nations, stars and crescents are displayed. So why is it that in a nation that is overwhelmingly Christian, manger scenes are banned but Jewish and Muslim symbols are not? There is something sick going on.”

As the following examples indicate, the war on Christmas is not over:

· After one person complained about a nativity scene in Shawnee State Park in Ohio, the state parks’ chief ordered a ban on crèches from all parks. It took the governor to overturn this decision.

· In Wesley Chapel, Florida, Jesus was banned from a holiday display.

· The mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island censored all religious displays.

· Government officials in Tehama County, California tried to ban Santa in office displays but had to reverse their decision after a protest.

· A nativity scene in Olean, New York was removed from the City Hall lawn after Wiccans placed the pentacle alongside it.

· A crèche was banned from Triangle Park in Manistique, Michigan.

· After a Catholic sued and won demanding a crèche alongside a menorah in Briarcliff Manor, New York, local officials banned both the Christian and Jewish symbols.

·  The Dickens Christmas Festival in Saginaw, Michigan was renamed the Dickens Holiday Festival so the city could advertise in local schools. The schools ban the words “Santa,” “Christmas” and “Nativity.”

·  Atheists Alliance International put up a tree on the lawn of Chester County Courthouse outside Philadelphia with copies of the covers of books saying, “Why I Am Not a Christian,” etc.

·  Americans United for Separation of Church and State is trying to block the display of a crèche in Shelby County, Alabama.

·  Freedom from Religion Foundation is trying to stop the display of nativity scenes in three Wisconsin towns.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented as follows: “The cultural fascists are still at it, but the good news is that more and more Americans are fighting back.”

When: December 13, 2007

Where: Steps of City Hall, New York City

Why:  Protest Department of Education’s Discriminatory Policy Regarding Holiday Displays in the Schools

Participants:  New York City Councilman Tony Avella and Community Activists

Time:  10:30 a.m.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on the box office results for “The Golden Compass”:

“Our goal was to stop ‘The Golden Compass’ from meeting box office expectations, and we succeeded. The anti-Narnia flick pulled in $26.1 million in the U.S. and Canada. Now compare that to ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’: it took in $65.5 million its first weekend out. Indeed, the recent Disney movie, ‘Enchanted,’ took in $33.3 million during its first weekend. And when we consider that ‘Golden Compass’ cost $180 million to produce, and another $30-$40 million in advertising, the inescapable conclusion is that our boycott worked. No wonder the New York Times said today that instead of the movie giving Hollywood a much needed shot in the arm, ‘It got more like a punch in the face.’

“All we heard from the chattering class over the past few weeks was that our boycott would have the reverse effect of enticing more people to see the film. Yet as USA Today reports, ‘Rolf Mittweg of New Line Cinema, which released Compass, concedes that the religion controversy might have had an effect.’ It sure did.

“The disappointing numbers make it far less likely that New Line Cinema will want to produce the film version of The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, the second and third volumes of Philip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials. That’s good news for Christians, in general, and for Catholics, in particular.

“Let this be a lesson to militant atheists like Pullman: keep your hollow beliefs to yourself. And ease up on demonizing Catholicism—no other religion has done more to promote human rights, science and goodwill. Why not make a movie about that?”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue offered his latest remarks today on “The Golden Compass,” which opens on Friday:

“The screenwriter, Chris—‘American Pie’—Weitz, got himself into another sticky situation when he told Variety, ‘People are essentially misreading and misrepresenting a book that is full of good values.’ Commenting on a similar remark by Weitz, Hanna Rosin noted in The Atlantic Monthly that Weitz ‘hadn’t quite realized that the loudest part of Pullman’s fan base regarded that interpretation as a cop-out.’

“Pullman’s most conspicuous fan base is bridgetothestars.net, and the anger expressed there regarding the watering down of the anti-Catholic bigotry is palpable. The website’s review of the movie says, ‘The removal of the religious motivations makes the institution [Catholic Church] incredibly bland, a mere band of thugs with a domineering power for no apparent reason.’ They’re disappointed that the thugs aren’t priests. In the latest issue of the U.K. magazine The Big Issue (available on the fan website), it complains that the film is guilty of ‘toning down Pullman’s at times brutal attacks on the Catholic church.’

“Lou Lumenick in the New York Post was totally honest when he wrote that ‘Bill Donohue of the Catholic League has been publicizing the movie by claiming it’s an anti-religious tract, as much as it pains me to say so…[he] may actually have something of a point. You don’t need to be a Jesuit scholar to figure out that the film’s bad guys who keep complaining about heretics…are clearly meant to be reps of the Catholic Church.’ Similarly, Mark Morford of SFGate.com calls Pullman’s books ‘aggressively anti-Christian,’ but he is also chagrined that the movie denies him the red meat that Catholic bashers feed on.

“Best of all is American Atheists and the U.K.’s National Secular Society. They are furious about being undernourished. The leader of the latter was quite revealing when he said, ‘We knew from the beginning that the producers of this film intended to leave out the anti-religious references. We think this is a great shame.’ Exactly our point—it’s Pullman’s trilogy, not the film, that really sells atheism to kids.”

In the latest exchange of letters with the New York City Department of Education (DOE), Catholic League president Bill Donohue wrote to the DOE’s General Counsel, Michael Best, asking to provide equal treatment for Christian religious symbols in the schools; Jewish and Muslim religious symbols are permitted, but not Christian ones. Best refuses to answer the single question that Donohue asked, and instead simply says that the courts have upheld the DOE’s policy. See our news release of November 21 and click here to read the latest exchange.

Today, Donohue commented further on this issue:

“It is plain that although New York City is not barred by the courts from permitting a crèche alongside the menorah and star and crescent, it has elected to do so. This is not a matter for the courts, but for the legislature. City Councilman Tony Avella has introduced a resolution that would grant parity to Christians, but it has not been voted upon yet.

“Accordingly, I am writing today to every member of the city council asking that the Avella resolution be put to a vote. I am also writing to Mayor Bloomberg asking him to join this issue.

“Everyone knows that Israel would never allow nativity scenes in the schools while banning menorahs, telling Jews to be satisfied with secular symbols. And it is beyond comprehension to think that in the Islamic world, crèches would be permitted but not the star and crescent. So why is it that in a nation where 85 percent of the population is Christian, Catholics and Protestants are told to be satisfied with Christmas trees while Jews and Muslims get to display their religious symbols?”

Show Your Support for Tony Avella: avella@council.nyc.ny.us

Contact Michael Best at MBest2@schools.nyc.gov

On December 7, Gener8Xion Entertainment, a prominent Protestant film company, will release “Noëlle.” Catholic League president Bill Donohue disputes the claim that the movie is merely “a parable of forgiveness and grace”:

“We’ve seen the movie and it’s a gem. In the synopsis provided by Gener8Xion, it accurately describes Jonathan Keene as ‘a young Catholic priest seemingly devoid of genuine human emotion’; his job is ‘to do what he does best: shut down a failing parish.’ Then there is ‘the child-like Fr. Simeon Joyce, a faithful but disillusioned priest who blatantly disregards church regulations, uses church monies to pay an old fisherman’s medical bills and spends most of his time drinking at the local pub.’ Both priests are portrayed as losers.

“Viewers learn that the only reason Fr. Keene became a priest is because he felt guilty about getting a girl pregnant when he was in college; to top things off, he pressured her to have an abortion. Fr. Joyce, the alcoholic, has serious reservations about celibacy and his idea of heaven is a jolly good Christmas party. Fr. Joyce tells Fr. Keene he wants to marry a woman named Marjorie so he can help raise her illegitimate kid, saying he ‘made a vow to God not to the Church.’ But Fr. Keene, a first-class klutz, is also in love with the same woman: he is shown bolting in the middle of Midnight Mass to be with her, knocking over a filled chalice and ripping off his vestments.

“Throughout the film, confession is trivialized, celibacy is ridiculed, the Virgin Mary is disrespected, nuns are belittled, last rites are mocked, and priestly vocations are caricatured. In short, that which is uniquely Catholic is trashed. However, the plot and the acting are so deliriously absurd that it is impossible for us to get too worked up about this flick.

“It means nothing that the movie has a pro-life message. Stereotypes about Protestant ministers abound, raising the question, Why didn’t Gener8Xion choose to mock one of their own clergy? Similarly, given that the film’s writer, David Hall, has said that his primary interest was in ‘dealing with hypocrisy,’ why didn’t he consult with Sen. Charles Grassley about all those ‘prosperity church’ pastors being investigated for ripping off their flock? We know why, and that’s why the Catholic League exists.”