On the July 11 episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Maher discussed the Hobby Lobby case that the U.S. Supreme Court recently decided. Here is an excerpt:

• “…but the five Catholic men on the Supreme Court agreed with Hobby Lobby that those women who have pleasure sex should be saddled with a baby.”
• “And those five Catholic men on the Supreme Court, they know that God loves every tiny spec of human life, every single sperm from the moment it leaves the penis, until it tries to sneak into America. Then you’re on your own.”
• “…the five Catholic men on the Supreme Court they decided that, I think, that Catholic doctrine trumps federal law.”
• “I just think that it’s a little suspicious that its five Catholic men, and the Catholics do the thing about ejaculating. They do.”

The real problem is HBO and its parent company, Time Warner. Over the last year, the top brass at Time Warner has been bombarded with letters of protest from cardinals, bishops, priests, and religious. Moreover, thousands of lay Catholics have registered their outrage with letters and emails. For several months, Maher toned down his anti-Catholic rhetoric, but now he is back.

The big mistake is allowing Maher to get away with his bigotry because he is a “comedian.” A bigot is a bigot, and it matters not a whit whether he delivers his venom with a smile. It is also a mistake to say that Maher treats all religions with equal derision: he manifestly does not.

More important, it is his meanness, and obscenities, that separate him from the likes of Mel Brooks and Don Rickles. Those men had real talent, and while they poked fun at everyone, they rarely crossed the line. The same cannot be said about Maher.

Contact Keith Cocozza, VP, Corporate Communications: keith.cocozza@timewarner.com

Bill Donohue comments on a ruling made by the Supreme Court of Louisiana:

In 2008, a fourteen-year-old girl alleges that she told her parish priest that she was being abused by a now-deceased lay member of their parish. The girl alleges the disclosures came during the Sacrament of Confession. Now her parents are suing the priest, and the Diocese of Baton Rouge, for failing to report the alleged abuse. The State’s Supreme Court has ruled that the priest, Fr. Jeff Bayhi, may be compelled to testify as to whether the Confessions took place, and if so, what the contents of any such Confessions were.

Confession is one of the most sacred rites in the Church. The Sacrament is based on a belief that the seal of the confessional is absolute and inviolable. A priest is never permitted to disclose the contents of any Confession, or even allowed to disclose that an individual did seek the Sacrament. A priest who violates that seal suffers automatic excommunication from the Church.

As a result of this ruling Fr. Bayhi may now have to choose between violating his sacred duty as a priest and being excommunicated from the Church, or refusing to testify and risk going to prison. The Diocese said Fr. Bayhi would not testify.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the free exercise of religion. Just as government cannot compel anyone to follow a particular religion, it likewise cannot prevent anyone from exercising the tenets of  his faith. By deciding that Fr. Bayhi must choose between his faith and his freedom, the Louisiana Supreme Court has endangered the religious liberty of all Americans.

The Catholic League supports Fr. Bayhi and the Diocese of Baton Rouge in their quest for a reversal of this ruling, and a recognition that clergy cannot be forced to violate their faith.

Bill Donohue comments on a full-page ad in today’s New York Times placed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation:

Most atheists are not bigots, but many atheists who are activists most definitely are. Among them are the anti-Catholics who work at the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). In today’s New York Times FFRF takes out its vengeance on Catholics by trotting out the old canard that Catholics are not independent thinkers (unless they disagree with the teachings of the Church). The occasion for the outburst is the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby case affirming religious liberty. Here is a sample of its invective:

“DOGMA SHOULD NOT TRUMP OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES. ALL-MALE ALL-ROMAN CATHOLIC MAJORITY ON SUPREME COURT PUTS RELIGIOUS WRONGS OVER WOMEN’S RIGHTS.”

All the Jewish judges on the high court voted in the minority, but only an anti-Semite would conclude that their Jewishness determined their vote. Similarly, only an anti-Catholic would conclude that those who voted in the majority did so because of their Catholicity.

From the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, Catholics had to deal with the Ku Klux Klan. Now they must deal with more sophisticated bigots. What unites the Klan and FFRF is their maliciousness. Unfortunately, as we have seen this week, anti-Catholic bigotry has erupted in many quarters, all of them urbane.

All men and women of goodwill should condemn the hate speech of FFRF.

Contact the bigots at FFRF: info@ffrf.org

Bill Donohue comments on a “Black Mass” performance at the Oklahoma City Civic Center that is scheduled for September 21:

On the website of the “Black Mass” it says, “The consecrated host is corrupted by sexual fluids then it becomes the sacrifice of the mass. The blasphemy remains intact along with corruption of the Catholic Mass.” It is scheduled to be performed by Adam Daniels, a registered sex offender.

Oklahoma City had better think twice about this. The Civic Center is funded by the taxpayers, many of whom are Catholic, and they are not obliged to pay for attacks on their religion. Moreover, there are strictures that must be respected. To be specific, performances at the Civic Center are not permitted if they violate “community standards,” including works that are “illegal, indecent, obscene, immoral or in any manner publicly offensive.” One does not have to be Catholic to know that if Catholics believe that a consecrated Host is considered sacrosanct, then public displays of desecration meet the criteria as outlined.

Oklahoma City is setting itself up for a lawsuit. In 1984, in Lynch v. Donnelly, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger explicitly said that the Constitution “affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any.” (My italics.) If a “Black Mass,” whose sole purpose is to show hostility toward Catholicism, does not meet Burger’s dictum, then it has no meaning.

Contact Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett: mayor@okc.gov

Bill Donohue notes the reaction of bigots to the Hobby Lobby case:

“Once again an all-Catholic, all-male, all-ultra-conservative majority of five has voted en bloc to eviscerate fundamental rights,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor of the atheist Freedom From Religion Foundation. Yup. Catholics always conspire to do things “en bloc” (save for Sonia).

“Court’s Catholic Justices Attack Women’s Rights” is the headline of Margery Eagan’s Boston Herald article (it’s those Catholics again). The American Humanist Association issued a statement with a picture of a rosary next to birth control pills. Cute.

In the Huffington Post, Ryan Grim noted that “these men [the five judges who voted for religious liberty] are Christians.” He also said, “The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Christian business owners are special.” I guess the ruling does not apply to Mormons.

Also in the Huffington Post, Ronald A. Lindsay, a militant atheist, asks, “Is it appropriate to have six Catholic justices on the Supreme Court?” His hero is JFK, who famously threw his religion overboard to win votes. “Unfortunately,” he writes, “a majority of the Supreme Court may now be resurrecting concerns about the compatibility between being a Catholic and being a good citizen….” He’s not resurrecting the old canard—the Justices are.

Philip F. Cardarella, writing in the Kansas City Star, says that when JFK ran, the question was, “How could someone who owed his religious obedience to the Pope in Rome and the doctrines of the Catholic Church truly be trusted?” Now, he opines, “Five men on the Supreme Court—all Catholics—may well just have proven him [JFK] wrong.” Got it.

Catholics are 25 percent of the population and comprise two-thirds of the high court. Jews are 1.8 percent of the population and comprise one-third of the high court. Note: only the former is a problem.