Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the latest loss by atheist Michael Newdow:
National League pitchers have a better batting record than Michael Newdow. The devout atheist lost again yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case, thus ending his quest to get “In God We Trust” off the coins. He previously lost twice in the lower courts.
In 2003, I noted how he tried to censor Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia: Newdow argued that the Catholic judge should be disqualified from hearing his case trying to erase “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Why? Because Scalia was too public about his support for religious liberty. Newdow lost.
In 2004, the Catholic League filed an amicus brief with the Thomas More Law Center supporting the right of public school students to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Newdow lost when the high court said he lacked standing.
In 2005, I wrote about Newdow’s attempt to ban the Inaugural prayer. Judge Brett Kavanaugh, then a D.C. Circuit Court judge, defended the religious significance of this well-established prayer, saying it did not run afoul of the First Amendment provision regarding separation of church and state. Newdow lost again.
Newdow is a lawyer and an ER physician. His success as a lawyer is abysmal, and God only knows how he has performed as an emergency room doctor.
Perhaps most interesting, Newdow is also an atheist minister. This is an oxymoron to most, but recall that Barry Lynn, the long-time head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, was an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and he worked tirelessly against religious liberty.
Newdow is a minister in the Universal Life Church. What’s that? I had to look it up. It’s basically a fraud. The guy who invented this “church” started out in his garage in Modesto, California preaching how important it is to do the “right thing.” But the IRS said he didn’t do the right thing when he refused to pay his fair share, and that is why he was forced to fork up $1.5 million in back taxes.
What is really great about the Universal Life Church is its commitment to inclusion. Anyone can join, and it takes only seconds to do so. Think I’m kidding? This is what it says on its website: “Get Ordained Online. Officiate A Wedding.” It also says, “Ordination is Fast, Free & Easy.” How long does it take? It says you “can become a minister within seconds.”
This is all news to me. All along I thought Al Sharpton had the ordination record. He was “ordained” at the age of nine. But at least Al has some victories under his belt, however scurrilous some of them are. Newdow has yet to win. He is a real loser.
