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Bill Donohue: A “Good” Catholic, Terrible Christian

1/17/11 – by Riley Dylan

“I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” — Mahatma Gandhi

I can’t help it. Bill Donohue disgusts me. For those unfamiliar, Donohue is president of The Catholic League, which credits itself as “the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization.” Bill’s job (can I call him Bill? Yes? Good.), according to the Catholic League’s website, is to “defend the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination.” Bill does this by defaming and discriminating against anyone he perceives as a threat, i.e. gays, other religions, Democrats, dwarves (see last paragraph in this press release) and small animals.

His latest target is Glenn D. Lowry, the director of the Museum of Modern Art. MOMA recently announced that the controversial 13-minute video “A Fire in My Belly” by David Wojnarowicz, will go on display in the museum this Thursday. You might recall the video being pulled from the Smithsonian in November after Donohue complained that its depiction of a crucifix with ants crawling over it was anti-Christian.

Donohue reacted to this announcement in a January 13th press release:

“Unlike the Smithsonian, which is federally funded, MoMA is largely supported by fat cats like Glenn D. Lowry, the museum’s director, thus alleviating some of our objections. Lowry makes over $2 million a year and lives for free in a $6 million condo atop the museum. Unlike the rest of us, he pays no income tax on his housing.”

And then:

“Looks like the artistic community got fleeced twice: once by embracing the ‘pathological nonsense’ of this masterpiece, and once by the corporate welfare queen who runs—and lives in—the joint.”

I don’t object to Bill Donohue voicing his views. I’m voicing my own, here. What I object to is Donohue modeling himself as one of the primary representatives of the Catholic community and speaking in such an un-Christian manner.

“Corporate welfare queen”? How is it appropriate to use a gay slur towards a man (who is straight and married, by the way) who simply disagrees with the censorship of art?

This isn’t the first time that Bill has taken to name-calling and sarcasm to make his point. In December, he lashed out against the co-hosts of the “The View” for daring to oppose his views. Note his tone below, from his Dec. 23rd press release:

“Behar tried to convince the audience that somehow she might still be a Catholic. But it’s a little too late in the game to start reclaiming her former status: for years she has bragged that she was “raised Catholic,” and we all know what that means. Shepherd was incoherent, and Hasselbeck, who switched to Protestantism, showed her true colors by telling me to ‘Go to Hell’ on the air. Such a sweet Christian girl.”

Please Mr. Donohue, tell us all what saying we are “raised Catholic” means? I, too, was “raised Catholic.” To me that means never having missed a Mass even for sickness from the day I was popped out. It means attending Catholic grade school, high school and undergraduate college. It means singing in the Church choir; it means leading the congregation in song from the front of the church, volunteering at pancake breakfasts, seeing Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day in Denver in 1993, shall I continue? Is being “raised Catholic” supposed to mean something different? I don’t appreciate your tone.

One of the basic Christian principles is the Golden Rule: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” more commonly stated as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Matthew 7:12

One of the “rules” in the Catechism of the Catholic Church can be found in Part 3: Life in Christ – Chapter Two, Article 3, titled Respect for the Dignity of Persons. I will let you look it up, but it can be summed up as “Don’t be a jerk.”

Heck, one of Disney’s life lessons is: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all”. Thank you, Thumper. Bill Donohue, I recommend you get out your Bible, re-read the Catechism, and watch Bambi.

Then maybe it won’t seem as though you are one of those Christians that Gandhi was referring to.