MAINSTREAMING MUSLIM BARBARISM

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:
 
The pope pleaded with Pakistan yesterday to abrogate its blasphemy law which allows the killing of those who “insult” Muhammad or the Koran; a senior Pakistani leader, Salman Taseer, was assassinated recently for protesting the death sentence of a Christian woman for the “crime” of converting. The pope was immediately condemned by a senior Muslim cleric for “interfering” in the “Islamic ideological state,” and the leader of the most powerful Islamic party accused the pope of “insulting” Muslims worldwide. Prior to this, more than 500 “moderate” Muslim clerics and scholars defended the assassin. Not only did 50,000 Pakistanis take to the streets last Sunday in support of the assassination, according to a distinguished Pakistani journalist, “educated and articulate Pakistanis chided Taseer, even in death, for writing his own death warrant.” And these were the educated ones!
 
On Christmas Eve, 38 Christians were killed in Nigeria (2,000 were murdered earlier in the year); on Christmas Day, a Catholic chapel was bombed in the Philippines by an al-Qaida funded group; on Dec. 30, there were 11 bomb attacks on Christians in Iraq (58 were murdered on Oct. 31 at a Catholic cathedral); during the Christmas season, Iran arrested dozens of Christians who were former Muslims; and on New Year’s Day, at least 23 Catholics were killed during Mass in Egypt (the killings were justified by clerics in Mauritania, and Iran’s official TV organ blamed Jews). Moreover, Saudi Arabia makes it illegal to practice Christianity; Yemen is threatening to expel Christian workers; Christians who feed starving Somalis are targeted for murder; churches in Indonesia have been ravaged; and two million Christians have been murdered by Sudanese Muslims over the past two decades (many were crucified).
 
According to Open Doors, which monitors Christian persecution, of the top ten most violent places on earth for Christians to live, eight are run by Muslims, and an estimated 100 million Christians worldwide live in fear.
 
The central problem is the “Islamic ideological state.” There is no such thing as the “Christian or Jewish ideological state.” Let’s face it—Muslim barbarism has been mainstreamed in the name of Islam.
 


HUFFINGTON POST CORRECTS THE RECORD

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on developments subsequent to his news release earlier today [click here] criticizing Huffington Post blogger Michele Somerville:

When my complaint was brought to the attention of the Huffington Post, they responded professionally and removed the lie about me by Michele Somerville: not only did I not condemn New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for his personal lifestyle or religious convictions, I expressly declined not to express an opinion about this subject when asked by the New York Daily News; Somerville actually linked this news story to her article, thus proving that she knew what my position was. But that didn’t stop her from intentionally misrepresenting me.

I am thankful to the religion editor at the Huffington Post for acting so quickly and fairly; she was the one who deleted what Somerville said about me. I am also thankful to our wonderful members who moved so judiciously, and with dispatch, to contact the Internet site.

Because of the heavy volume of responses they received, we are honoring their request not to post the personal e-mail address of the religion editor. But those who would like to convey their gratitude to her, can do so by contacting  religion@huffingtonpost.com.

*After this news release was issued, the senior religion editor for Huffington Post said that the link provided by Somerville to the Daily News article was to a different story on the same topic. We contend that (a) the story where Donohue was quoted as not taking a position on Cuomo was cited by Somerville as a “related story,” making it implausible that she never read it, and (b) in any event, she put quote marks around a comment she attributed to Donohue that he never made. The editor also said that it was Somerville who made the decision to delete the entire reference to Donohue. We are happy to note this.



HUFFINGTON POST BLOGGER DEFAMES CATHOLICISM

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a Huffington Post blog post by Michele Somerville about New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo:
Michele Somerville is not just another professed Catholic who has a pathological hatred of the Catholic Church: she is a liar. Regarding the first point, she says she likes Andrew Cuomo because he is just like his father—he’s a “protest Catholic.” By that she means someone who identifies himself as a Catholic, yet defies the teachings of the Church. In the case of Cuomo the elder, she cites his pro-abortion position. What she likes about Andrew Cuomo is more chic: “I love that my new governor stepped up to the altar of the Lord [last Sunday] with confidence and received the Sacrament of the Eucharist with his beloved [an unmarried woman with whom he lives] and three daughters in tow.”
Speaking of the two Cuomos, Somerville says, “there is no other morally responsible way to be Roman Catholic.” That’s because she hates their religion, which she says is “propped up by corruption and tyranny,” and was partly built by “hegemony and brutality.”
Somerville also says the Catholic League “classifies men like Andrew Cuomo (who divorce and continue to receive the sacraments) ‘self-excommunicated Catholics.'” Thus does she lie. On January 1, in a New York Daily News story, Frank Lombardi correctly said, “Even outspoken Catholic activist Bill Donohue of the Catholic League passed on a chance to decry what some religious conservatives would deem ‘living in sin.’ Donohue declined to be interviewed, saying through a spokesman, ‘We’re not one to pass judgment’ on how people conduct their personal life ‘or how people celebrate their religion.'” Somerville provided a link to this article in her piece, thus proving she is a liar.
Contact the Huffington Post religion team: religion@huffingtonpost.com