Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses new developments that have emerged in the matter of anti-Catholicism on the campus of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA):
“Yesterday, we issued a news release regarding the anti-Catholic movie ‘Constantine’s Sword,’ clips of which are being shown today at the Air Force Academy to some faculty and students; attendance is mandatory. Two new developments have convinced us that nothing less than a full-blown investigation of events on this campus will resolve this problem. That is why I am writing to the Board of Visitors of the USAFA to launch a probe of what is occurring; copies of this letter are being sent to their superiors on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
“The first development was the phone call placed yesterday by Johnny Whitaker, director of communications at the USAFA, to his counterpart at the Catholic League, Kiera McCaffrey. Whitaker admitted that he had seen the entire film and that it was indeed anti-Catholic. He tried to assuage our concerns by saying that the clips that were chosen were not bigoted, though he indicated that Mikey Weinstein, the one who is behind this agit-prop, wanted to include other clips—of the more inflammatory kind—to the cadets.
“The second development settles the matter altogether. On the movie’s website, director Oren Jacoby actually has the brazenness—and the bigotry—to ask the following question: ‘Is there something in the DNA of Christianity—the majority religion in our country—that demonizes ‘the other’ and is inclined toward violence?’
“Can anyone imagine that the USAFA would tolerate showing clips from a movie that it admits is anti-Semitic or anti-black—even if the clips themselves are not bigoted—and then order faculty and cadets to attend? And what if the director maintained that there was something in the blood of Jews and blacks that makes them violent? All hell would break loose.”Contact Johnny.Whitaker@usafa.af.mil
