William A. Donohue As a trained sociologist, my academic experience leans heavily towards nurture-based explanations of human behavior. But a lot of social science scholarship has evolved since I received my doctorate in sociology from New York University in 1980, and much of it shows that nature-based explanations have been too easily dismissed. No matter which [...]
William A. Donohue Colleges and universities are called institutions of higher education, but it makes one wonder these days whether the appellation is warranted. Take the response we got from the University of Virginia and the University of Minnesota about their sponsorship of anti-Catholic fare. The anti-Catholic graphics that appeared in the student newspaper at the [...]
William A. Donohue Mel Gibson got drunk, got behind the wheel and was arrested. What he did was irresponsible. He then blurted out anti-Semitic comments to the arresting officer, who happened to be Jewish. That was indefensible. Next he apologized—twice—without qualification. Which is what he should have done. Case closed? Not on your life: Mel's biggest [...]
The editorial of June 16 taking the Catholic League to task for its New York Times op-ed page ad ("Spin without end in abuse scandal") is simply wrong on the facts. On p. 29 of the 2005 annual Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, it says that 81 percent of [...]
William A. Donohue I won't keep you guessing: the scandal—in terms of significant numbers of molesting priests who are currently active—is over. Indeed, it's been over for years. But in terms of coming to grips with the causes of the scandal, that problem remains. At the end of March, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) [...]
As Catholic League members know, what is most pernicious about "The Da Vinci Code" is the book upon which the script is based: the author, Dan Brown, peddles one lie after another; now his book of lies is available in paperback. The biggest lie of them all is the one claiming that the divinity of Jesus [...]
William A. Donohue When Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code was originally published, we ignored it. We did so because we are generally dismissive of novels. But things began to change when we learned that Brown was selling his work as an authentic historical account. In October 2003, ABC-TV invited the Catholic League to send a staff [...]
William A. Donohue It's time for some straight talk: the Catholic Church is being raped by some alleged abuse victims and their lawyers, and our side is capitulating. Moreover, the rights of the accused, namely priests, are being sacrificed on the altar of forgiveness. Don't get me wrong. Any priest, plumber, pediatrician or painter who violates [...]
As one who debates for living, I find it increasingly difficult to find an honest adversary. It used to be that I was able to engage my opponent in a verbal duel where facts and logic determined the outcome, but this seldom happens anymore. That's because so many debaters really don't want to debate the issue [...]
William A. Donohue John Gibson, who anchors the Fox News Channel's "The Big Story," has written a splendid book about the culture wars over Christmas. It is aptly titled, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought. Gibson recounts a series of anti-Christmas cases that have [...]
