November 27, 2007
(BBC America) “World News Today”
Reporter: Bill Donohue, doesn’t that play into the precise stereotype of the Catholic Church and organized religion? You are so intolerant, you can’t bear the idea of kids making their own minds.
William Donohue: I think that if we had a movie based off of three books that are anti-gay you wouldn’t ask that question, would you? What you are doing is picking up the stereotype. If you had a movie based on books which were racist or anti-Semitic you would not raise the question. You only raise the question with Catholics. Matter of fact, Catholics don’t even ask the government to come in and censor what others segments of our population in America do. We are much more tolerant.
November 28, 2007
(CBS) “The Early Show”
William Donohue: Well, it’s a stealth campaign. It’s a dishonest way to produce anything. Quite frankly, the movie is unobjectionable because they want to make money. They want to make certain that there’s a second and third movie based off the second and third books of the trilogy.
This is a book that teaches atheism to kids. Not my opinion. Philip Pullman himself is very, very open about this. The movie’s basically innocuous, but parents may want to say to their kids, “You know what, a great Christmas present would be to buy His Dark Materials,” the name of the trilogy of the three books. Now you’ve introduced your kid to atheism at Christmastime. I don’t think most parents want to do that.
Ms. Ellen Johnson (President, American Atheists): I think that the movies are about questioning authority and I think that’s a good thing. Questioning the authority of the state, questioning authority of the church. I think that if more children were taught to question authority maybe a lot fewer of them would have been sexually molested by priests.
Donohue: That’s very cute, Ellen, yeah.
Johnson: Atheism is a good thing, it’s a healthy thing…and this idea that it’s a bad thing is not true.
Donohue: It’s done wonders in China, hasn’t it? Under Stalin it’s done a great job there, too.
December 7, 2007
(EWTN) “The World Over”
Raymond Arroyo: Philip Pullman has also weighed in and he also has a comment for Bill Donohue in this week’s Newsweek. He says “to regard it (my work) as this Donohue man has said that I am militant atheist and my intention is to convert children and people, how the hell does he know that?” Bill?
William Donohue: Well I can tell you how the Hell I know it. Because I have read what Pullman said. Here’s one of his quotes, “My goal is to undermine belief in Christianity.” “My books are all about the killing of God.” The man has been undisguised, he has been open about his hatred of the Catholic Church. So how the Hell do I know, Phil? Because I read what you have to say. Because I’ve read what you say and blathered it all over the place so everyone knows about it now, you’re angry at me. Well it is a little too late in the game. I guess I won on that one, Phil.
December 7, 2007
(Fox News Channel) “Your World with Neil Cavuto”
William Donohue: We have a moral obligation, I think, to alert parents that the movie is not the problem. The problem is the books. But the kids may want to buy the books if they like the movie. If you want to teach your kid how great atheism is and how horrible the Christian Church is and Catholicism in particular then in fact buy your kids the books. I don’t think too many people want to do that.
December 7, 2007
(Fox Business Channel) “America’s Nightly Scoreboard”
William Donohue: The fan base, if you go to bridgetothestars.net, that is the fan base of Pullman. They’re angry as hell at him because again they want their red meat. They want their bigotry raw. They don’t like it dumbed down.
December 7, 2007
(CNN) “The Situation Room”
William Donohue: I think that it’s really slipping in atheism in kind of a back-door fashion.
December 7, 2007
MSNBC “News Live”
Kiera McCaffrey: It is not just something that promotes an atheist viewpoint. It actually trashes faith across the board. This is something Philip Pullman has been vocal about for years.
