by Karen on January 22, 2009
This should cause great wailing and gnashing of teeth:
San Francisco will try to collect up to $15 million in taxes from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which is refusing to pay certain taxes on properties the church is transferring from one Catholic nonprofit organization to another.
That tax bill would be the second largest of its kind in San Francisco history. But the archdiocese has appealed the charge, saying the church should be exempt from property transfer taxes for a variety of reasons – primarily because the properties are being moved among groups that all are a part of the same overarching organization: the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
The church, as you can probably guess, has decided to take the position that it is being persecuted for it’s involvement in stripping the gay and lesbian community of California of their civil rights.
by Karen on November 20, 2008
Want evidence that not all Christians are bat shit crazy nutballs who want to establish a theocracy here in the United States? Well, then you need to check out what the Catholics for Choice have to say about Bill Donohue(PDF) and the Catholic League.
It is not pretty nor nice, but it’s most definitely a solid bullseye. Some of their key findings:
- The Catholic League tactics are i) manufacture controversy; ii) try to intimidate the
“enemy”; iii) bully the opposition; iv) complain early and often; v) attack popular
culture; and vi) silence the loyal opposition.
- In utilizing these tactics it actively embarrasses, intimidates, bullies and distorts
reality to suppress critics of the Catholic church, the Vatican, and the church’s many
controversial policies.
- Catholic League president Bill Donohue is in a constant quest for the next
“controversy” to keep his particular brand of reactionary Catholicism in the media
spotlight.
- Once Donohue has found a “controversy” he uses wildly inflated rhetoric that is sure
to inflame—either in print or in one of his infamous cable TV news appearances—and
then stages a protest or takes out an ad in the New York Times to attract attention.
Then he waits for the seemingly ever-receptive press to show up.
- When it comes to peddling its special brand of inflammatory rhetoric, the media and
arts have been a special target of the Catholic League since the mid-1990s.
- The number of examples of anti-Catholicism claimed by the Catholic League grew
from 140 in 1995 to 320 in 2006, yet the only thing that seems to have actually
increased is the League’s definition of anti-Catholic activity.
- When the media cover the tempests he manages to whip up from time to time, few
ever stop to examine the basis for his objections—they just cover the dog fight.
- Donohue claims that the Catholic League has some 350,000 members and that
number is often used by the media when referencing the organization’s supposed
clout. These numbers, however, appear to be a highly inflated picture of the Catholic
League’s actual membership.
I especially like how they point out the media’s role in promoting Donohue and his band of screaming harpies. It doesn’t matter how asinine nor unfounded his attacks upon various people and groups are, the media will cover it without question.
I do disagree with one thing though and it’s their conclusion that it’s Donohue’s victims who need to “take a moment to examine the charges, rather than react blindly or rashly for fear of offending some nonexistent constituency that Donohue supposedly represents.”
This is victim blaming and it isn’t right. It’s like telling a rape victim to take a moment to consider if she was, in fact, asking for it when she’s surrounded by a bunch of hyenas screaming for her head on platter because she said she wasn’t asking for it just because she wore a dress.
The only people responsible for Donohue’s attacks are Donohue, his supporters and his enablers both in the pews and behind the news desks.
by Karen on November 14, 2008
On the heels of Catholic bishops vowing to continue their war on the rights of women comes yet more news of Catholic leaders being assholes. This time it’s a priest in South Carolina who’s decided to tell Obama supporters not to take communion.
His reason? Because supporting Barack *Hussein* Obama over that other guy who was running “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”
A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him “constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil.”
The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.
“Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president,” Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.
And what has the “most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve” done to deserve his title?
show
Well, despite some poorly chosen words and perhaps an erroneous belief or two, Obama has supported and continues to support reproductive freedom as do many of his Democratic colleagues and the majority of Americans.
What sets Obama apart, perhaps, is that he has said that passing the Freedom of Choice Act will happen under is administration.
They hate him for it and that’s why they call him such an extremist. He supports women’s rights. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Horrible little man, eh?
