William A. Donohue After George W. Bush won reelection in 2004, it was disclosed that “values voters” played a major role in defeating the Democrats. More than any other issue, it was abortion that proved decisive: the “values voters” preferred the pro-life position of the Republican Party. It didn’t take long before some Democrats, especially Catholics [...]
William A. Donohue When I spoke to a reporter from Providence about a play that mocked the Eucharist, I unloaded. Fortunately, he listened to me explain the source of my anger. “Because this is the fourth incident this summer of someone playing fast and loose with the Eucharist,” I told him. He understood. The first incident [...]
William A. Donohue In the 1960s, left-wing radicals loved to shout, “Power to the People.” They didn’t mean it then, and the aging extremists sure don’t mean it now. Laura Ingraham means it—she even wrote a splendid book by that title. Luckily for us, she’s not one of them. Indeed, she’s a proud Roman Catholic and [...]
William A. Donohue Libel laws in this country divide the population in two: private persons and public persons. Following New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964, the former category is entitled to plenty of protection while the latter is not. In other words, if someone smears the average person, he or she can sue and has a good [...]
William A. Donohue When Pope Benedict XVI succeeded Pope John Paul II, the Catholic Church was blessed to have two back-to-back intellectuals of the highest order ascend to the throne of Peter. Even though most professors couldn’t compete with John Paul, and most today are no match for Benedict, it from the professoriate that their most [...]
William A. Donohue Advocacy organizations like the Catholic League have to expect that not everyone is going to like what they do. But is it too much to ask that our critics be fair? Fairness is not some slippery subjective property—it simply means that vis-à-vis other similarly situated persons or organizations, the same rules apply. The [...]
William A. Donohue Every four years the big political prize is up for grabs, and with it comes pressure politics of an unrelenting sort. This campaign season is no exception, but what is different for the Catholic League is that it has drawn us into a fight with Republican and Democratic candidates alike. For the record, [...]
William A. Donohue Abortion activists never tire of bragging how much they want to empower women, allowing them to make informed choices regarding abortion. The truth is just the opposite: champions of abortion are threatened by knowledge, especially scientific knowledge. Their goal, to put it bluntly, is to deny women information that might entice them to [...]
William A. Donohue In all my years as president of the Catholic League, few victories have been as sweet as the victory over the Miller Brewing Company. Miller proved to be a tough foe, but in the end they didn't get their way. We did. There are many people who played an important role in this [...]
William A. Donohue Last spring I received a letter from a congressman asking for my help in mobilizing public support for an official apology for slavery and segregation. I immediately said no. I've been waiting for a response ever since, but none has been forthcoming. Congressman Steve Cohen represents Tennessee's 9th District. Prior to his letter [...]
