William A. Donohue
There is not a school or corporation that doesn’t mouth the mantra of diversity, whether it be in the form of a classroom discussion on multiculturalism or a diversity seminar for employees. What is particularly bothersome about this enterprise is the rank intellectual dishonesty that colors it.
In the language of multiculturalism, diversity nominally means respect for the beliefs, customs and traditions of others. In reality, diversity is a lie: more typically, it is a weapon used by professed enemies of Western civilization to impose a uniform set of politically correct rules on society. In short, cultural fascists employ diversity as cover for their agenda.
Think I exaggerate? We just finished the Christmas season—a good time to test diversity. If diversity were truly practiced, then devotees of multiculturalism would encourage members of every religious group to celebrate their heritage by publicly displaying their religious symbols and icons. Instead, they file suit in federal district court seeking to ban these expressions.
It’s even worse than this. As the cover story of this issue of Catalyst details, many efforts were underway this past Christmas to scrub society clean of any vestige of Christian influence. That this happened while the religious roots of Hanukkah were being trumpeted suggests that diversity applies to some, but not to others. It is the lying, however, that really shows what a dishonest debate this is. Take, for example, what occurred in Eugene, Oregon.
Jim Johnson, the city manager of Eugene, Oregon, acting more like a commissar than a public servant, issued an edict banning Christmas trees on public property. Now this may come as news to some, but Christmas trees are not religious symbols. They’re secular. Who says so? The U.S. Supreme Court, among others. But in the mind of Barry Lynn, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, it’s okay to ban Christmas trees because they’ve “acquired” religious significance. Look for candy canes to be banned next year.
Had Johnson admitted that the reason he banned Christmas trees was his sincere devotion to censorship, no one could brand him dishonest. But true to form, he lied. When questioned, he said he was “practicing diversity.”
The next holiday to be trashed by the diversity thugs is St. Patrick’s Day. Every year, people of every race, religion, ethnic group and, yes, sexual orientation, are free to march in the parade. But because the march is a celebration of an Irish Catholic saint, the parade’s organizers in New York and other cities do not permit units to march that seek to promote their own political agenda. And for this they are vilified by the diversity dons.
Just as it makes no sense to allow anti-Israeli contingents to march in the Salute to Israel parade, it makes no sense to allow those who seek to veto the message of the St. Patrick’s Day parade to participate in the march. The courts understand this, which is why ILGO (Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization) is barred from marching as a separate group in the New York parade. But so, too, are pro-life groups that seek to march separately. That doesn’t make the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the parade’s organizers, anti-life anymore than it makes them anti-gay.
But none of this matters to the doctors of diversity. Not a year goes by without them labeling the Hibernians homophobic. That they are liars can easily be proved. You can just imagine what they would say if, for example, anti-gays sought inclusion in the Gay Pride Parade by petitioning to march as a separate unit called Straight Is Great.
Ask the Boy Scouts what they’ve learned about the meaning of diversity. Having won in court as the Hibernians have, the Scouts are nonetheless called anti-gay because they don’t want homosexual men going on camping trips with boys. And for this they are subjected to a witch-hunt.
At the heart of the Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day Parade controversy is Catholicism; the Boy Scouts are a close sociological cousin given their embrace of a traditional moral order. It is not hard to deduce from this that Catholicism is enemy number one in the portfolio of the diversity gang. Indeed, they are constantly looking down the barrel of their cultural gun at the Catholic Church, ready to pull the trigger.
What is so ironic about all of this is that no institution in the world is as diverse as the Catholic Church—we’re all over the map, servicing people of every color and class. But it is the message of truth that the Church disseminates that makes the barbarians want to shoot the messenger.
This is where we come in. The Catholic League pleads guilty to the charge that we have a hard edge. And we had better have one if our side is to win. But fear not, the Catholic League proudly discriminates against wimps in hiring, affording no room for diversity.
