January Byron, CA - The Byron Union School District instituted a three-week intensive course on Islam, which drew criticism from many parts of the country. According to one report, students had to "learn the tenets of Islam…wear a robe, adopt a Muslim name and stage their own jihad." They also had to "memorize many verses in the [...]
January 9 Omaha, NE - On the opening day of the Nebraska legislative session, state senator Ernie Chambers distributed a packet of unusual Rosary beads to his colleagues. All of them had the crucifix chopped off. Chambers justified his decision to disfigure the Catholic devotional object by arguing that people of many religious beliefs find peace in [...]
Movies | Newspapers | Periodicals | Radio | Television |Internet | Books MOVIES February Miramax, the movie production house owned by Disney, scheduled the film "40 Days and 40 Nights" for release. Actor Josh Hartnett plays a Catholic who pledges to give up sex for Lent but has his will tested by his ex-girlfriend. Because the movie was scheduled to open during Lent (March 1), William Donohue [...]
January 5 New York, NY - The Catholic League received hate mail from a person identifying himself as a member of the "Sons of the American Revolution." The card read, "OF COURSE—that wonderful Frances Kissling is 100% right and YOU are a barking dog. It is your medieval 'catholic church' [sic] which is the anti-Christ…denounced by Our [...]
This cartoon by Don Wright of the Palm Beach Post (1/16/02) ran in numerous newspapers including the New York Times. It viciously and untruthfully depicts Catholic moral teachings as enslaving women—a typical charge—except now it unfairly uses the sexual abuse scandal as a club. This was common in 2002. The above cartoon by Mike Peters of [...]
Literally thousands of cases of anti-Catholicism come to the attention of the Catholic League every year. Our first job is to determine whether the alleged offense merits our scrutiny. If it does, then we must verify the authenticity of the offense to the best of our ability. If everything checks out, a strategy is outlined. This [...]
January 8 Massac County, IL - The American Civil Liberties Union attacked Massac County High School's plan to offer its students a class in Bible history. The ACLU stated that "this is faith, not academics." The school responded that the students will be taught from the perspective of history and it will not be a "Sunday school [...]
January Houston, TX - Beginning in mid-December 2000 and running through mid-January, the Redbud Gallery in Houston, TX had an art exhibit titled, "Sextablos: Works in Metal." "Sextablos" featured many pornographic images, including a work by Michael Thompson that shows a naked woman performing fellatio on Christ nailed to the cross. "Sextablos" is a play on the [...]
January 13 San Diego, CA - The "Usual," a nightclub in downtown San Diego held a "Catholic School Girl Contest." Posters on windows of shops in downtown San Diego advertising the event offered a $200 grand prize for the "hottest Catholic school girl." April New Albany, OH - The Spring Break 2001 catalogue of Abercrombie & Fitch included [...]
January 12 Milford, NY - Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court over the right of public schools to deny access to religious groups to hold religious education classes on school property after school. The court case, Good News Club v. Milford Central School, arose after the school [...]
