Many league members contacted us asking for the names of the 18 Catholic Democrats in the U.S. House who criticized Pope Benedict XVI in a May 10 statement for his comments on pro-abortion Catholic politicians' fitness to receive Communion. The members who contacted us were responding to our June Catalyst story, "Catholic Democrats Chide Pope." The 18 Catholic [...]
Realizing they didn't have the votes to win, California lawmakers who wanted to legalize assisted suicide withdrew their bill on June 7. The bill would have allowed doctors to provide a lethal drug dose to patients who have less than six months to live, are mentally competent and have requested the drug; the patients would have [...]
On the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on June 18, comedian Robin Williams plugged his newest movie, "License to Wed." In the film, Williams plays a Protestant minister who makes an engaged couple go through a grueling marriage preparatory course. But on Leno's show, Williams went off on Catholic priests, painting them all as pedophiles. Williams [...]
HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" ran a show on May 18—repeated throughout the same week—in which Maher began with an attack on the late Rev. Jerry Falwell and then devolved into an assault on Catholicism: And it's easy to start a religion! Watch, I'll do it for you: I had a vision last night! A [...]
According to the June 15 New York Sun, Harvard professor Jessica Stern told a New York audience on June 14 that criticism of Muslim clerics for not condemning Muslim violence was unwarranted. "I've heard a lot of bashing of Muslim clerics for not stepping up to the plate and condemning extremist violence," she was quoted as saying. [...]
The Barna Group, a firm that studies faith in American life, released the findings of a survey matching Christians up with those who have "no faith." The firm found that most atheists and agnostics (56%) think radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam. In addition, the faithless, who comprise 9% percent of the population, [...]
When the Vatican's Renato Cardinal Martino released "Guide-lines for Pastoral Care of the Road," now commonly known as the "Ten Commandments of Driving," many news media outlets took a light-hearted look at the cardinal's words. While playful, most stories managed to be respectful at the same time. Not everyone was so well behaved, however. On NBC's [...]
On June 16, the New York Times ran an Associated Press story, "Data Shed Light on Child Sexual Abuse by Protestant Clergy." It said, "the three companies that insure a majority of Protestant churches say they typically receive upward of 260 reports a year of children younger than 18 being sexually abused by members of the clergy, church [...]
The Associated Press reported on June 1 that Catholic voters "support legalized abortion in all or most circumstances by 53 percent to 43 percent, according to 2004 exit polling." Such polls typically don't separate practicing Catholics from those who haven't been to Mass in ages. When that distinction is made, the numbers are much more revealing. [...]
