During a recent episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO, host Bill Maher said Christians have no basis to complain about being defamed or discriminated against because they constitute a majority of the nation. “Seventy percent of the country is Christian, not to mention every president we’ve ever had,” he said. He also said that “conservatives who constantly whine that Christianity is under attack from liberals have to explain why there are over 300,000 churches in the U.S. but only 400 Whole Foods.”
According to Maher’s logic, Africans in South Africa who lived under apartheid had no basis to complain because they constituted more than 90 percent of the nation. What matters is not the demographics of the population but whether the nation’s elites are working to undermine the norms and values of the majority. If the political and cultural elites bear an animus against the majority, that is not without consequence.
Anyone who thinks that Christian bashing is not alive and well—at the federal, state, and local levels—is delusional. That it thrives in cultural institutions such as the arts, education, the entertainment industry, and the media is indisputable.
Maher can verify the accuracy of Bill Donohue’s position by accessing the Catholic League’s annual reports on anti-Catholicism, news releases, and monthly journal, Catalyst; all are available online. Indeed, he will find there are dozens of entries that bear his name.
