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==Kathy Griffin==
==Kathy Griffin==
In her 2007 [[Primetime Emmy]] for [[Outstanding Reality Program]] acceptance speech, comedian [[Kathy Griffin]] said:
In her 2007 [[Primetime Emmy]] for [[Outstanding Reality Program]] acceptance speech, comedian [[Kathy Griffin]] who identifies as a [[militant atheist]] said:


{{cquote|Now, a lot of people come up here and thank [[Jesus]] for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit. If it was up to him, [[Cesar Millan]] would be up here with that damn dog. So all I can say is suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now!<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN1144512920070911 |title=Kathy Griffin's Jesus Remark Cut from Emmy Show |work=Reuters |date=September 17, 2007 |accessdate=September 25, 2007}}</ref>}}
{{cquote|Now, a lot of people come up here and thank [[Jesus]] for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit. If it was up to him, [[Cesar Millan]] would be up here with that damn dog. So all I can say is suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now!<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN1144512920070911 |title=Kathy Griffin's Jesus Remark Cut from Emmy Show |work=Reuters |date=September 17, 2007 |accessdate=September 25, 2007}}</ref>}}

Revision as of 01:23, 12 June 2010

For the former Lieutenant General of the United States Air Force, see William J. Donahue.
William A. Donohue
Born (1947-07-18) July 18, 1947 (age 77)
Manhattan, New York, USA
OccupationPresident of the Catholic League

William A. Donohue (born July 18, 1947) is the current president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States, a position he has held since 1993.

Life and career

Donohue was born in Manhattan, New York. He began his teaching career in the 1970s working at St. Lucy's School in Spanish Harlem. In 1977, he took a position as a college professor teaching at La Roche College in McCandless, Pennsylvania. In 1980 he received a doctorate in Sociology from New York University (NYU).[1] Donohue is divorced, with two adult children from his first marriage.[2]

His first book was The Politics of the American Civil Liberties Union and he became associated with the conservative Heritage Foundation where he is an adjunct scholar. His books on the American Civil Liberties Union have made him one of the group's most prominent critics.[citation needed]

While Donohue was in college in New York, Virgil C. Blum, a Jesuit at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, founded the Catholic League to counter Anti-Catholicism in American culture. Blum died in 1990; in 1993, Dr. Donohue became the director of the organization. Under his direction, the organization has become far more prominent and vocal.[citation needed]

Donohue publishes The Catalyst, the Catholic League journal. He serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Scholars.[3] He serves on the board of advisers of the Washington Legal Foundation, the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, Society of Catholic Social Scientists, Catholics United for the Faith, Ave Maria Institute, the Christian Film & Television Commission and Catholic War Veterans. He has received several awards from the Catholic community and was voted one of the top 100 Catholics of the 20th century in a survey of Catholics conducted by the internet site, Daily Catholic. He received the 2005 St. Thomas More Award for Catholic Citizenship from Catholic Citizens of Illinois.

The Catholic League is registered as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. In 2006, according to its Form 990, its revenue was $16,590,333, and Donohue's salary and benefits amounted to $343,420.[4]

Activities

Donohue has made a name for himself fighting what he perceives as discrimination against and defamation of Catholics and Catholicism. In doing so he has gone after a diverse array of public figures, from individuals such as Christopher Hitchens, and even businesses such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Miller Brewing Company, to institutions such as Bob Jones University.

In addition, Donohue has criticized political and social commentator Bill Maher,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] controversial singer, songwriter, and comedian Jessica Delfino,[12][13] comedian Louis CK,[14][15] singers Joan Osborne[16][17][18][18] and Marilyn Manson,[19] the television shows Nothing Sacred,[20][21][22][23] and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,[24] Kevin Smith's film Dogma,[25] The Golden Compass,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32] and artist Cosimo Cavallaro.[33]

Donohue is a staunch defender of Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ. On the December 8, 2004 broadcast of Scarborough Country, in a discussion of the film Donohue claimed, "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it. That's why they hate this movie. It's about Jesus Christ, and it's about truth. It's about the Messiah"[34]. This statement was called anti-Semitic by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on that same show. Donohue defended this statements as follows: "In short, I did not single out secular Jews as some have said. Nonetheless, I do regret using the verb "controlled", and that is because it suggests that there is some kind of cabal among secular Jews. That's nonsense. But is there a segment of the secular Jewish community that is anti-Catholic? Absolutely".[35]

He has criticized Christmas cards sent by U.S. President George W. Bush using the term "Holidays" instead of "Christmas" on the White House",[36] as well as Mike Huckabee's use of what Donahue claims is Christian imagery for campaign purposes.[37]

Moreover, he has protested employment discrimination against Catholics, in the case of a woman required by her supervisor to remove the Ash Wednesday ashes from her forehead[38] and he has also spoken of the crisis over sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests as "a homosexual scandal, not a pedophilia scandal".[citation needed][39]

Donohue characterised as "hysterical" the response to the Ryan Report, the result of a lengthy inquiry into the abuse of children in Ireland over decades, arguing that because not all abuse was performed by priests, and that not all abuse detailed was rape, that the report headlines indicating that Catholic priests conducted child abuse including rape were misleading.[40][41]

On March 30, 2010, Donohue appeared on CNN's Larry King Live as part of a panel discussing sexual abuse of children by priests. Donohue blamed the decades-old problem on gay priests, claiming they could not be considered pedophiles because most of the offenses involved "postpubescent" boys (defined in the interview as boys 12-years-old or older) and were thus "homosexual" acts. [42]

Parody

On April 4, 2007, South Park parodied Donohue in the eleventh season episode "Fantastic Easter Special" as a power-hungry official of the Catholic Church who overthrows the Pope and sentences Jesus ("The Jew") to death for going against him and contradicting Catholic belief. In the show, the fictional Donohue calls Stan and Kyle "whores," a reference to his description of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Subsequently, Jesus kills Donohue.

Donohue took the episode in good humor. He has a still from it of him wearing the pope's miter displayed on his office wall, and describes the plot as "I take over the church and give it some guts. But in the end, Jesus kills me."[43]

Kathy Griffin

In her 2007 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program acceptance speech, comedian Kathy Griffin who identifies as a militant atheist said:

Now, a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit. If it was up to him, Cesar Millan would be up here with that damn dog. So all I can say is suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now![44]

Griffin later explained that she meant this remark not as a slight on Jesus, but rather as a satire of celebrities who thank Jesus profusely and nonsensically for their awards, especially artists who themselves are controversial.[45]

Donohue called for a boycott on Griffin, who subsequently made mention in her act that Donohue was "so famous for calling for boycotts and censorship and stuff, that he's actually been a character on South Park."[46] She further derided Donohue in her 2007 Bravo special, "Straight To Hell," by referring to the American Catholic League as "One dude with a computer."[47]

Writings

  • Secular Sabotage: How Liberals Are Destroying Religion and Culture in America. New York, FaithWords, 2009. ISBN 978-0446547215

References

  1. ^ Official bio
  2. ^ Paul Vitello "A 'Marine' for Catholics Sees a Time of Battle." The New York Times. May 14, 2009.
  3. ^ "National Association of Scholars: Contact Us". 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
  4. ^ "Form 990" (PDF). Guidestar.org.
  5. ^ Catholic League's 2003 Report on Anti-Catholicism
  6. ^ Bauer, Gary Bill Maher, Bigot Apr. 28, 2008Human Events
  7. ^ Limbaugh, DavidPersecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity p. 292 (2003 Regnery Publishing) ISBN 0895261111
  8. ^ Bill Maher wants a brawl Catholic League January 7, 2008
  9. ^ HBO BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT, April 11, 2008
  10. ^ http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=QD4wk8xi83E
  11. ^ “Religulous” is More Absurd than Hateful, Catholic League, September 30, 2008
  12. ^ "Christmas Season Marked by Obscenities" Catholic League Press Release, December 19, 2006
  13. ^ "NYC Artist Responds to Catholic League's Attack" Jessica Delfino Press Release, December 21, 2006
  14. ^ "HBO'S 'LUCKY LOUIE' IS BARBARIC, August 14, 2006
  15. ^ Opie and Anthony
  16. ^ Donohue's campaign against pop singer Joan Osborne
  17. ^ Grammy Nominee Joan Osborne "Relishes" conterversy, The Catalyst Vol. 23, No. 3, April 1996
  18. ^ a b Paul Moses "'One Of Us' - dad listens to daughter - religion and Joan Osborne's hit pop record". Commonweal. June 14, 1996. FindArticles.com. 11 December 2007. [1]
  19. ^ Journal of the Catholic League January-February 2001
  20. ^ Nothing Sacred Episode Guide
  21. ^ Donahue, William Catholic League's 1997 Report on Anti-Catholicism, Catholic League, 1997
  22. ^ Top 100 Catholics of the century, Daily Catholic, Vol. 10, No. 164, August 31, 1999
  23. ^ Seal, CynthiaHollywood's treatment of Catholicism, San Francisco Faith, November 1997
  24. ^ CSI to viewers: Real crime is respecting life,Catholic League, November 4, 2005
  25. ^ Croft & Reiter, The Fix, Salon.com Jan. 23, 2004
  26. ^ "Film Sells Atheism To Kids; Major Protest Launched". CatholicLeague.org. October 9, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  27. ^ Alona Wartofsky (2001-02-19). "The Last Word". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  28. ^ Mary McSweeney (2007-10-13). "Catholic League condemns 'The Golden Compass'". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  29. ^ David Byers (2007-11-27). "Philip Pullman: Catholic boycotters are 'nitwits'". London: The Times. Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  30. ^ Catherine Donaldson-Evans (2007-10-29). "Christian Groups Claim Pro-Atheist 'Stealth Campaign' in Nicole Kidman Fantasy Film 'The Golden Compass'". Fox News. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
  31. ^ "Is 'The Golden Compass' Too Anti-Christian, or Not Anti-Christian Enough?". New York Magazine. 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  32. ^ Chris Kaltenbach (2007-10-24). "'Golden Compass' draws ire of the Catholic League". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
  33. ^ CNN interview on youtube.com.
  34. ^ "'Scarborough Country' for Dec. 8". MSNBC.
  35. ^ Donohue, William. "JEWS AND HOLLYWOOD". Catholic League.
  36. ^ Davis, Matthew Lines drawn in battle over Christmas, BBC News, December 10, 2005
  37. ^ Edwards, David (2007-12-18). "Catholic League president slams Huckabee for 'subliminal' cross ad". The Raw Story. Retrieved 2008-11-26. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  38. ^ Workplace Discrimination Checked in San Diego The Catalyst, Volume 24, Number 3, April 2005
  39. ^ http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=305
  40. ^ Bill Donohue Denies Catholic Church Abuses, May 30, 2009
  41. ^ HYSTERIA OVER IRISH CLERGY ABUSE, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 20 May 2009, retrieved 31 May 2009
  42. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/apr/01/catholicism-childprotection
  43. ^ Vitello, Paul (May 15, 2009). "A 'Marine' for Catholics Sees a Time of Battle". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
  44. ^ "Kathy Griffin's Jesus Remark Cut from Emmy Show". Reuters. September 17, 2007. Retrieved September 25, 2007.
  45. ^ "Larry King Live". YouTube. CNN. September 17, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
  46. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNOSh5HxA2s
  47. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNOSh5HxA2s

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