Below is the text of Bill Donohue’s letter to the mainline Protestant denomination leaders that was mailed today:

Enclosed is an obscene, anti-women, anti-Christian picture—that’s a nativity scene ornament in between the woman’s legs—that was flashed on the screen on the April 16 episode of Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show”; he referred to it as the “vagina manger.” He obviously crossed the line, and that is why we are contacting his sponsors, as well as religious leaders from every major faith community, about this offensive stunt. All we are asking for is an apology.

It would be of enormous help if you were to weigh in on this issue. Please write to Mr. Steve Albani, Senior VP Communications, Comedy Central, 345 Hudson St., New York, New York 10014. Thanks so much.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on President Obama’s support for homosexual marriage:

In 1996, when Barack Obama was up for a state senate post in Illinois, he said he supported gay marriage. Eight years later, when he set his sights on the U.S. Senate, he discovered his Christian roots and said he was against it. In 2008, he said he was opposed to homosexuals marrying, but he also opposed a ballot initiative in California, Proposition 8, that affirmed marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman. In other words, his Christian roots were losing their grip. Since then he’s been “evolving.” Now the evolution is over and he has fully broken with his Christian moorings.

The president of the United States likes the idea of Tom and Dick marrying. He did not say whether he supports Tom, Dick and Harry marrying, or whether he is “evolving” in that direction. Perhaps he has to consult with his mentor on this issue, Mr. Joseph Biden of Delaware.

Yesterday, North Carolina voters affirmed marriage as being between a man and a woman. In the 32 times voters have been asked to decide this issue, they have voted 32 times to support traditional marriage. Gay rights advocates have never won.

President Obama will be hurt by this decision in the swing states. More than that, he has now made this cultural matter a major issue in the presidential campaign.

The time has finally come to pass a constitutional amendment affirming marriage as an institution reserved to the only two people who can naturally produce a family, namely a man and a woman.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. ET, I will be interviewed on WBCK in Battle Creek, Michigan, home of Kellogg’s. I will discuss the cereal company’s defense of an obscene, anti-women, anti-Christian picture—it showed a nativity scene ornament in between the legs of a naked woman—that was flashed on the screen of the April 16 episode of Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” To listen to the show live click here.

The radio station is heard in Kalamazoo, a city where many who work at Kellogg’s reside; the signal extends throughout southern Michigan. In addition, the program, “Live with Renk,” is the #1 show in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area.

When we are finished, everyone will know about Stewart’s “vagina manger” stunt. But we also want the whole country to know how Kellogg’s, once identified as American as apple pie, has now sunk so low that it actually underwrites anti-Christian bigotry.

Professors take note: The corporate arrogance of Kellogg’s is suitable for classroom discussion in courses on business ethics. Also recommended for discussion is the corporate responsibility of Delta; the airline company pulled its sponsorship of “The Daily Show.”

Contact Kris Charles, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Kellogg’s: kris.charles@kellogg.com

Below is the text of Bill Donohue’s letter to the bishops that was mailed today:

Enclosed is an obscene, anti-women, anti-Christian picture—that’s a nativity scene ornament in between the woman’s legs—that was flashed on the screen on the April 16 episode of Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show”; he referred to it as the “vagina manger.” He obviously crossed the line, and that is why we are contacting his sponsors, as well as religious leaders from every major faith community, about this offensive stunt. All we are asking for is an apology.

It would be of enormous help if you were to weigh in on this issue. Please write to Mr. Steve Albani, Senior VP Communications, Comedy Central, 345 Hudson St., New York, New York 10014. Thanks so much.

The following comment against the Vatican and the bishops, made in response to concerns over the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, is taken from a May 8 editorial in the National Catholic Reporter:

“This is the latest episode of episcopal flailing about in a search for enemies anywhere and everywhere to explain how so much has escaped their control. This isn’t about authentic teaching and orthodoxy. This is about thought control and censorship.” (Our emphasis.)

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

It is important for the bishops to know that the National Catholic Reporter, which is adored by the Catholic Press Association, regards them to be no better than the totalitarian monsters who have ruled in communist and fascist nations. Hitler, Stalin and Mao perfected thought control, and that is what the bishops are now accused of promoting. Even for the Reporter, this assault represents a new low.

I will make sure that every bishop in the U.S. gets this news release.

Contact Tom Fox: tfox@ncronline.org

Viacom owns Comedy Central, home to Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” Catholic League president Bill Donohue’s letter to Viacom’s board of directors and senior management is printed below:

By now you are aware of the vile picture of a woman with her legs spread, with a nativity ornament in between, that was flashed on the screen of “The Daily Show” on April 16. Jon Stewart likes to call it the “vagina manger.” If you haven’t seen it, just look inside this mailing.

You should be as offended as we are. But if you are not, consider a picture of your own mother inserted there instead. Perhaps you now understand how the 80 percent of the nation that is Christian feel.

What Stewart did wasn’t a joke. It was hate speech. We could have pressed for him to be fired, but we did not. All we want is an apology. That he refuses to do so is astonishing. Perhaps you can persuade him to act responsibly. 

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Jon Stewart’s record of apologies:

Jon Stewart refuses to apologize to Christians for his “vagina manger” stunt of April 16, but that’s not because he is averse to granting apologies.

On April 30, 2009, he apologized for branding President Harry Truman a “war criminal.” He said that characterization was “dumb” and “stupid.”

Stewart issued two apologies in June 2011. The first one involved his close relationship with the disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner. On June 7, he apologized at a press conference for badly handling his commentary on the Weiner scandal. The Baltimore Sun reported that he “looked kind of confused and pathetic at times, particularly in his wrongheaded criticism of the media.”

On June 21, Stewart apologized for smearing Fox News viewers. He had called them “the most consistently misinformed media viewers,” but was taken to task by PolitiFact for doing so. What was striking about the Fox News incident was Stewart’s statement that the apology was necessary because he did not want to “undermine the very integrity and credibility that I work so hard to pretend to care about.”

None of the offenses that Stewart has apologized for even approach the serious nature of his vile April 16 episode. Yet he refuses to apologize to the 80 percent of the nation that is Christian. As a result, he has seriously undermined his integrity. Indeed, it is shot.

Contact Comedy Central Communications head Steve Albani: steve.albani@cc.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the news that Delta has pulled its sponsorship of Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show”:

I encourage everyone to choose Delta the next time they fly. We need to support advertisers who act responsibly.

I also encourage everyone to continue to pressure Kellogg’s to pivot: they refuse to criticize Jon Stewart for his April 16 “vagina manger” stunt and indeed acted irresponsibly when they offered a lame response to our serious concerns.

Today, all the top management at Kellogg’s will receive a color photo of a naked woman with her legs spread and a nativity scene ornament in between. Let’s see if that jars them. Over 700 photos have been sent to leaders in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Please boycott Kellogg’s cereals.

Congratulate Delta: richard.anderson@delta.com

Hammer Kellogg’s: kris.charles@kellogg.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on editorials that appear today in the New York Times and Washington Post:

Both of these newspapers misstate the facts, fail to mention relevant data, and then make unfair accusations against the Catholic Church on the issue of sexual abuse.

Both newspapers today editorialize on the subject of “pedophile priests.” It is one of the biggest myths of our time that the Catholic Church has had a problem with pedophile priests: as the John Jay College for Criminal Justice showed in its 2011 report on this subject, less than 5 percent of the abusers were pedophiles. In almost all cases, the victims were adolescent males who were inappropriately touched by homosexual priests. Both newspapers cover this up, thus perpetuating a lie.

Today’s New York Times criticizes Timothy Cardinal Dolan for opposing legislation by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey which would lift the statute of limitations for one year on civil lawsuits involving the sexual abuse of a minor. Once again, we have a cover-up: what the editorial does not say is that this bill does not apply to the public schools.

Today’s Washington Post adds to the cover-up by pretending that the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is a legitimate organization that is being harassed by the Church. But anyone who has read the report we issued last year on inside information that was obtained from a SNAP conference knows that it is driven by raw hatred of Catholicism and intentionally manipulates the media. Also, the deposition from earlier this year of SNAP’s leader shows beyond a doubt that he lies to the media, and that he counsels alleged victims without a license in a coffee house.

Moreover, 85 Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn have recently been arrested for the sexual abuse of minors and yet neither newspaper reports on this.

Contact Andrew Rosenthal at the Times: andyr@nytimes.com

Contact Fred Hiatt at the Post: fredhiatt@washpost.com

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an e-mail sent to the Catholic League by Rev. Robert Ullman of the Elmhurst College Board of Trustees:

On May 2, I issued a news release on the obscene anti-Catholic talk given by Dan Savage at Elmhurst College on April 29 (to read it click here). We have now received an e-mail from Rev. Robert Ullman (he is a member of the Board of Trustees at Elmhurst) that sounds as if he has gone off the rails (to read it click here). Without a shred of evidence, the United Church of Christ minister accuses me of making a racist statement against the Elmhurst president, and then veers off in a wild way denouncing the Catholic Church. He is obviously a very troubled man. And he is a disgrace to higher education.

It’s time Ullman heard from you.

Contact him: rjullman@gmail.com