The following comments were found on the website of the Atlanta Journal-Constitutionfollowing our victory over the University of Georgia. All comments appear in their original form:

“Catholics are idiots. My neighbors are Catholic, they moved in 4 years ago and now have 3 kids…the wife does not work and the husband drives a 15 year old POS Honda; and they ‘can’t afford’ to eat dinner out with my wife and I. If you can not afford a $50 dinner, THEN STOP HAVING KIDS! How the hell do they plan to pay for college? The Pope must be a real turd to hang out with.”

“Who cares what the Catholic League thinks. Mr. Donohue’s analogy is absurd. The catholics and other christians were burning temples and mosques and killing people who believed differently long before some fanatical Islamic groups adopted that approach.”

“Bill Donahue is a tool of the conservative media and should be ridiculed and condemned on a daily basis.”

“Bill Donohue and the catholic league are a bunch of PC bullies who go around trying to silence anyone they fell ‘offends’ them, and it seems everyone offends them! What doesn’t upset the catholic league now a days… Oh yea, holocaust deniers.”

“Who gives a rats azz what a bunch of Catholics think? They are nothing more than a herd of self righteous baby factories. I’ll bet they are patting themselves on the back with the good job done by that brood sow Octo-mom in California. When they are not molesting alter boys they are wagging their finger at everyone else for what is ‘sinful’ in their lives. Catholics are a dying breed and soon to be extinct.”

“Unprotected sex is fantastic! It creates unwanted children, spreads disease, and feels soooo good! Who needs a condom? If the Catholic Church had their way, condoms would be illegal in all countries of the world. Viva AIDS!”

“The planet would be a much nicer place if all religions would keep their beliefs to themselves!”

“All religions are cults and all religious people are cult followers; they are indoctrinated lemmings who form their core beliefs not around reason and evidence, but around irrational fabrications that less educated people told them to believe. Birth control/STD protection is good, and if advertising it angers a group of indoctrinated fools, all the better.”

“Rome has already taken over the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson. No doubt UGA and every other major college and university is targeted by Rome for takeover – as is the U.S. by their promotion of illegal immigration – that America ‘forget,’ and be ‘untaught’ who we are as an ‘exceptional’ sovereign nation.”

“We came here to escape the Old Sectarian Order of king and pope and established, throughout Our Whig Founders, The New Secular Order – Novus Order Seclorem – and made it a part of Our Creed. Whig means ‘Anti-Roman Catholic and Our Founder, Author of the Declaration of American Independence, Thomas Jefferson, recognized Rome as ‘the real Anti-Christ,’ with full substantiation for all true American to read and know. Promoted by Rome, pushed to emigrate to America by design, just as Rome is pushing illegals here now. Roman Catholics won the Civil War, then killed Lincoln six days after Appomattox because he wanted to let the south up easy.  Since then they have taken over Big Oil and implemented the Federal Reserve Bank; financed the rise of Hitler, and the Holocaust; formented the Red Scare to evade accountability for Hitler and Nazism; killed John and Martin to keep us dying in their slave plantation of Vietnam, ran Iron Contra through their altarboy Ollie North to keep their Central American hegemony intact against encroaching Protestantism; promote Organized Crime; Waco to shut up the Seventh Day Adventists’ explaining on their own radio station how Rome had taken over Washington; cheated into office a draft-dodger (Hitler’s banker’s grandson and the son of one of JFK’s assassins) to commit 9/11 for Big Oil, to restart Afghan opium trade, and the Saudis- who teamed up with the Vatican-banker Rockefellers a hundred years ago; and the unconstitutional money system now faltering…and any Georgian or American is going to give a good G-ddam* about what the frontman for the pedophile priesthood and the Anti-Christ’s ‘Black Aristocracy’ has to say? Someone get a hook for the Anti-Christ…the Pit awaits…and ropes for the necks of the traitors who serve it. It’s ‘them’ or ‘us.’ Pick sides and let’s get down to business of being American. ”

“Rome and Donohue…and any who serve up their children to the proven pedophile priesthood, and support illegal immigration to take over Our Country, have zero moral authority…zero, zilch, nada.”

“I am a Baptist, Southern Baptist to be exact and I have to say I see nothing wrong with the sex posters. The Catholics need to get a life and learn to use sexual protection lol.”

“What the hell does the extremist reaction by followers of the ‘peaceful’ religion of Islam have to do with this poster?”

“The Catholic Church did more to persecute and divide the world throughout history that any other ‘publicly accepted’ entity and should hold its place in history next to Pol Pot, Hitler, and Stalin….”

“What’s wrong with this world…the Catholic Church can molest our young children, get away with it, then speak out about a condom that helps to prevent the spread of STD’s?”

“Hell hath no fury like that of the Holy See scorned by the abominable use of the artistry from one of the Vatican and history’s most cherished homosexual artists!”

“This is a PUBLIC STATE University! It’s completely appropriate for student services to educate and advertise about sexual health. There are 33,831 students currently enrolled here. Many of them are doing it!!! It’s 2009! Modernize or dissolve, Catholic Church!”

“Jefferson called it The Bible…and the ‘New Testament’…making a clear and obvious distinction between the Original, and the ‘book’ for ‘Replacement Theology,’ created by Rome’s elite as a tool against the Jews. Viz: crucifixion was the one, specific and unique punishment for only one crime under the codified Roman law: the second conviction for sedition. Tens of thousands were crucified by Rome. Denying the divinity of caesar was considered sedition. The first conviction for the offense garnered a certain number of lashes with a whip-of-cords…. Read ‘A Moral Reckoning,’ by the author of ‘Hitler’s Willing Executioners,’ Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, to know with complete certainty that two popes and the Roman Catholic Church are ‘morally, ethically, and legally culpable of the Holocaust.’”

“You mean to tell me that the Catholic League is more worried about a Poster and not the serious issue of Catholic priest’s molesting kids? Sounds like a lot of double standards to me.”

“Most of you get WAAAAYYYY too upset over this religious thing. Believe what you want, as fervently as you want, but do not push it or demand it of others.”

When it was announced that Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan would replace Edward Cardinal Egan as the Archbishop of New York, we couldn’t have been happier.

Archbishop Dolan is a perfect fit for the city: he has the erudition, tenacity, affability and orthodoxy necessary for a leadership role in New York. Our dealings with him have been extraordinarily positive.

In the fall of 2007, the Catholic League launched a boycott and PR campaign against the Miller Brewing Company for its sponsorship of a vile anti-Catholic gay event, the Folsom Street Fair, in San Francisco. After six weeks of pounding Miller, we got what we wanted: an apology for four anti-Catholic incidents and a pledge not to sponsor the event again.

During the course of the PR campaign, we had the privilege to work with Archbishop Dolan and Chaldean Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim. In both instances, their support proved to be encouraging and effective: the word went out that the Catholic community in Milwaukee, home of the Miller Brewing Company, was seriously offended by the beer company’s role in sponsoring the Folsom Street Fair.

In other words, Archbishop Dolan showed leadership from top to bottom and did not hesitate to step up to the plate. When asked about Dolan’s appointment, Bill Donohue told the media that Dolan “is a perfect fit for New York’s rough and tumble milieu.” The Catholic League looks forward to working with him.

On the day after Ash Wednesday, the New York Times ran a photo—approximately a quarter page in size—of a priest giving ashes to a woman. The photo, shot from above, showed no one in the church but the two of them. The caption below said, “The Rev. Ed Zogby marked a worshiper’s forehead with ashes at the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton near Battery Park. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent.” There was no attendant story.

We called the church where the photo was taken to find out approximately how many Catholics showed up to receive ashes. The person we spoke to said that the photographer was there for hours and that “thousands” showed up to receive their ashes. One would never have gotten that impression from the photo. We also learned that the photographer was there at the times when the church was full which made us wonder: why the Times chose to use that particular photo and why in such a prominent placement?

In that same day’s New York Post there was a story about the Ash Wednesday crowd at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “The largest Ash Wednesday congregation in recent memory,” the Post said. This was the exact opposite message of what the Times’ photo conveyed.

A few days after we asked our members to contact the Times’ Public Editor Clark Hoyt about the photo, he contacted Bill Donohue. He said that he thought we took offense where none was intended. He also said that the editor in charge of photography chose the photo because it was “a gorgeous photograph of a profound religious experience.”

A little over a week later, the Times ran a 524-word story about six protesters who held a news conference on the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral criticizing the current New York Archbishop, Edward Cardinal Egan, and his newly named successor, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee. On the opposite page, there was a picture of a demonstration at New York City Hall by union members; in a caption below the photo there were 39 words explaining the event. But there was no story accompanying it. Other New York newspapers said that “thousands” showed up at the City Hall rally.

In the Times’ story about the news conference at St. Patrick’s, it said that protesters questioned the figures released by the archdiocese on the number of priests accused of molesting minors; they also criticized Archbishop Dolan for not releasing the names of accused priests to the media (as if any organization acts in that manner). What theTimes did not find newsworthy is the story about a rabbi who was accused of sexually abusing his own daughter for years, beginning when the girl was 9 years old. (TheDaily News and the Post both covered this story, though neither gave it the kind of front-page attention they almost always give to miscreant priests.)

Once again we asked our members to contact Clark Hoyt, only this time we didn’t hear back from him.

So there we have it. A photo of a priest and a woman in an empty church gets a quarter page and no accompanying story. And six disgruntled people show up at a rally to slam two high-ranking Catholic bishops about matters based on conjecture and disagreement merits a sizable story. But there is no story on the thousands who showed up at another rally on the same day, and there is no story about a rabbi who was accused by his daughter, his son and his ex-wife of sexually molesting his own child for years.

It looks like the New York Times has some explaining to do.

When news broke that President Barack Obama would nominate Margaret A. Hamburg as the director of the Food and Drug Administration, our alarm bells instantly rang.

In 1994, Bill Donohue received a letter from Dr. Hamburg, at that time the New York City Health Commissioner, complaining about ads that the Catholic League had placed in the New York City subways. The ads read, “Want to Know a Dirty Little Secret? Condoms Don’t Save Lives. But Restraint Does. Only Fools Think Condoms Are Foolproof. Remember, Better Safe Than Sorry.”

Hamburg admitted that abstinence was the best way to stop HIV infection, but she nonetheless labeled the ads “misleading.” Why? Because, she said, “Condoms, if used correctly and consistently from the start to the finish” are effective. In response, Donohue said it was “blatantly irresponsible—both medically and morally—to endorse subway ads by the Gay Men’s Health Crisis that were racist, vulgar and dangerous.”

Hamburg’s interest in abstinence, it turns out, was a ruse. Two years earlier, she opposed a sex education curriculum in New York City that stressed abstinence over safe sex presentation in the classroom. Worse, her efforts to fight AIDS show how irresponsible she is.

In the early 90s, so-called sex clubs—the very places where HIV was being transmitted—were still open, even though gays were dying left and right. And what did Health Commissioner Hamburg say? Keep them open. By that time, gays were having sex in bookstores—legally. “The clubs range from bathhouses and bars to movie houses and bookstores where patrons pay an entrance fee to have sex in open areas and closed rooms,” said the New York Times. Hamburg compromised: no fellatio or anal intercourse was allowed but masturbation was okay. When HIV rates continued to increase, she asked the question, “Is it still a lack of education? Is it burnout and a sense of hopelessness? Is it denial? Is it recklessness? We don’t fully understand.” After all of the funerals, she was the one in denial.

In other words, Hamburg’s judgment is deeply flawed.

Beginning in 2004, the United States Congress funded a voucher program in the District of Columbia. Unfortunately, that program was not renewed by the current Congress and will come to an end following the 2009-2010 school year.

Apparently, we have money these days for every conceivable government program and corporate bailout, but we come up short in providing scholarship money to the indigent in the nation’s capital. What is really disturbing about this is the fact that those who claim to defend the interests of the poor are the very ones that stood in their way. That’s because their real allegiance is to the teachers unions who funnel money to them; not the poor.

President Obama’s children attend the Sidwell Friends School, the same elite school that Chelsea Clinton once attended. Some of the students there come from impoverished families; they are only able to do so because of the voucher program. Because of Congress’ failure to renew the voucher program, these kids will be kicked out of the elite schools and forced back into the depleted public schools.

Of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the District is dead last in academic achievement. Barack and Michelle Obama, like most of the millionaires in the Congress who have school-age children, are very well aware of this. That is why they spend the money to send their children to private or parochial schools.

Even Secretary of Education Arne Duncan—who is personally opposed to vouchers—believes that the students that are currently enrolled in the voucher program should be allowed to stay there. He said, “I don’t think it makes sense to take kids out of school where they’re happy and safe and satisfied and learning. I think those kids need to stay in their schools.” But Secretary Duncan lost, and those kids are going to be thrown out.

Where are the champions of the pro-choice crowd when poor parents are denied the right to choose what school their children can attend? This type of choice works wonders, and it does so without hurting anyone. Unfortunately, our current Congress doesn’t see it that way.

Pauline Magee-Egan

Psychology’s War on Religion, edited by Nicholas Cummings, et al. (Phoenix, Arizona: Zeig, Tucker & Theisen, 2009) Order online at www.zeigtucker.com or call 1-800-666-2211

The editors of this important volume have assembled the writings of various experts to comment on several religions and the impact of psychology’s stand on religious beliefs. The collection maintains that psychology has systematically attacked all religions, without exception.

In the introductory chapter, the editors offer an accurate account of the movement within the profession, as exhibited by the American Psychological Association (APA), and the way religious values and beliefs have been attacked. The statements made by the APA have been influential in the resignation of psychologists who practice their religion. The APA does not speak for all psychologists, and in recent years it has introduced outrageous positions when it comes to abortion and homosexuality. A supposedly professional organization has been enlisted in the anti-religious movement evident in our culture. Indeed, years ago I resigned from this once professional organization since their professed beliefs were directly antithetical to mine, and to my training as a Catholic psychologist.

This professional organization, controlled by leftists, lacks sensitivity towards its membership and the patients who are subjected to their anti-religious viewpoints. The chapter titled, “The Culture Wars and Psychology’s Alliance,” written by William T. O’Donohue, offers a great summary of the ways the profession has been politicized. Psychology, because it is a social science, requires sensitivity and objectivity, but too often it not only lacks understanding, it demonstrates a belligerence that typifies our culture.

In setting the stage for the very title of the book, the editors have emphasized that our culture today is in turmoil, especially with regards to ethics. Psychology has literally declared war on religion. They wisely point to the specific issues which are continually being fought: abortion; homosexuality; gay rights; the status of women; ethical absolutism versus ethical relativity; the definition of normative sexual behavior; the definition of mental health; bioethics/stem cell research; the death penalty; creationism, intelligent design and evolution. These issues are cause for concern because they affect everything from law to education.

Why the attack on religion? Logically, they maintain, if standards of morality are attacked, then we can live in a world which knows no barrier or parameters. We can throw out the golden rule, values, commandments and any laws which we don’t like. No wonder ethics is viewed with askance. Indeed, ethical relativism has crept into business and politics, contaminating our thinking. Such “erudite” thinking is exactly what is happening in our professions and particularly the psychology profession.

In the chapter on paradoxical relationships, Nicholas and Janet Cummings (father and daughter) illustrate the historical beginnings of the founders of psychology. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, we had G. Stanley Hall and William James, both of whom had deep spiritual roots. Together with Hugo Munsterberg, a physician who taught philosophy, they viewed religion as part of psychology. Those familiar with the history of psychology in the United States know that many graduate programs grew out of philosophy departments. Little was anticipated regarding the tremendous upheaval that was about to take place in the APA.

In the 1950s many Catholic psychologists felt that the divide between the professional organization, and what they ascribed to, was widening. Various schools of thought regarding psychoanalysis injected thoughts of abandoning religion and its tenets, finding them “infantile and neurotic.” It was around this time that the Reverend Father Bier, S.J. formed the American Catholic Psychological Association. Meetings were held at its  national conference on issues regarding values, ethics and religion. It was a safe haven for those of us who did not agree with many of the positions the APA was taking.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that the APA moved to attack “faith-based” programs in clinical psychology. A subtle but effective movement was launched. Since then psychology as a social science has struggled to identify itself. Abandoning its philosophical and spiritual roots, and trying to represent itself as the scientific study of human beings, psychology has become a conflicted field of study. In fact, psychology has had an identity crisis and it is still persisting in its endeavors to emulate science. The key element here is that science deals with objective truth, whereas psychology deals with aspects of it.

There are several chapters on the conflict between religion and psychology. For example, homosexuality was eliminated as an official “psychiatric disorder” by the American Psychiatric Association in the 1970s. An informative chapter on the problem of religious gays written by Michael Lavin clearly wrestles with the problem of the dictates of the APA on homosexuality and the subsequent counseling and treatment of people who are inclined towards this behavior. The difference lies in the belief that homosexuality is a “behavioral” issue.

Transformational counseling has entered the field in the past few years. Not content with stating that homosexuality is not a disorder, the leftists have damned the idea of anyone who serves as a counselor who might support the transformation of a homosexual to switch to a heterosexual life. Lavin stresses that good counseling is predicated on sensitivity and respect for the religious beliefs of patients; the therapist should not impose his beliefs but rather respect the patient’s beliefs and help him in dealing with whatever conflicts that he may have. The Catholic Church recognizes that homosexuality exists but emphasizes the need for chastity in regulating one’s life: All human beings possess the free will to change their behavior. Other religions have different judgment calls but the essential thought is to recognize what part religion plays in one’s life and support a change in behavior if it is disrupting to the person.

The chapter reviewing the battle regarding sexuality by Mark Yarhouse is a marvelous treatise on the impact of policy throughout the psychological profession. The line has been drawn on anyone talking about abstinence; the counseling of post-abortion women; the discussion of alternatives to leading a “gay” lifestyle, etc. Even the discussion of child abuse is now called “adult-sex” relations. The policies made by working groups, or  “task forces,” within the APA and the American Psychiatric Association, evince an almost total neglect of religion and its impact on behavior. Furthermore, graduate and undergraduate students today are exposed to derogatory commentaries about religious beliefs. Some might even be denied entrance into a graduate program if an investigation suggests they are “too religious.” The pomposity and general bias of the left has invaded the ivy halls so much so that the normal candidate who belongs to an authentic religion feels alien to what is being taught.

A scholarly and serious treatment on the subject of “Judaism and Psychotherapy” by Dr. Isaschar Eshet introduces the reader to a contrast to what he refers to as two “world views,” i.e. the Jewish worldview and the worldview of psychotherapy. In Israel, he says, most of the psychotherapists belong to the secular leftist intellectual group. He then launches into a discussion of the basic beliefs of Judaism. To his credit, he emphasizes the need for mutual respect of the two worldviews. Dr. Eshet hopes that the “evolving psychotherapy can also provide one with tools to unravel hints from the divine worldview.”

In the chapter on the “War on Catholicism,” William Donohue of the Catholic League gives a very well researched synopsis of the history of psychology and the evolution of the distrust that it shows for Catholicism. Occasionally injecting his usual humor and insights, he points to the very people responsible for such chaos in the 1950s and 60s (which I well remember). He spares no one in his ridicule regarding the research that was done, misinterpreted and taken as solid truth, taking particular aim at the work of Maslow and Rogers. Unsuspecting priests and nuns welcomed the views of these two psychologists with open arms, much to the detriment of their religious orders (some no longer exist).

Fear not, however, because Donohue always sees the bright side and illustrates all the positives that are present in what the Catholic Church has effected in our present culture. The aid that is given to the sick, troubled and least among us is endless and reflective of the generosity of those who believe in our faith. This is well stated and worthy of note despite the trashing the Church receives on a daily basis; the author is well situated to see this happen every day.

The chapter on Protestantism, by Cummings and Cummings, shows that “one size fits none.” What they mean is that there is a “buffet” of different beliefs, tenets, and values among the various denominations. Disarray is evident, and liberal thought has been injected into all the different churches.

Subsequent chapters dealing with Mormonism which has been attacked by the APA as a religion, exposes the outright trashing of the beliefs which some 13 million people follow. The bigotry of the APA which is fully documented in this chapter is as provocative as the injustice is blatant. Dr. A. Dean Byrd does an admirable job with his research and fact finding here.

Subsequent chapters dealing with a thorough synopsis of Islam and Buddhism illustrates some interesting concepts.  Psychology has been kind to Islam perhaps out of political correctness. Islamic beliefs differ in terms of two perspectives, namely the fundamentalist and the extremist. Both viewed, psychology students may very well open up an interesting area for scholarly study in the future.

For the general reader who relishes information on all religions and their basic beliefs this book is invaluable. It is well organized and the contributors are obviously scholars in their respective fields. This is a “must read”!

Pauline Magee-Egan, Ph.D,   is a professor at the Department of Management, Tobin College of Business, St. John’s University. She is also a New York State certified psychologist.