Posted on 09/03/2009 10:25:47 AM PDT by NYer
LOS ANGELES, CA, September 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In all of his 16 years defending the rights of Catholics, the President of the Catholic League has "never seen a more defamatory, obscene and vicious show on TV." League President Bill Donohue was referring to the August 27 edition of the CBS/Showtime program Penn & Teller.
The half-hour show libeled the Catholic Church with impunity, blaming the Church for, as Donohue put it, "every evil in history." Show host Jillette said the "intolerance, greed, paranoia, hypocrisy and callous disregard for human suffering" was the hallmark of the Catholic Church. Others on the show branded the Church as an "amoral" and "power hungry" institution that is just worried about its "cash flow."
Donohue said on Fox News that, "Penn & Teller's Nazi-like assault on Catholicism that took place on August 27 will go down in history as one of the most vile, obscene programs ever aired in any nation. That CBS, which owns Showtime, allows this to go on is positively unbelievable."
Donohue has requested a meeting with CBS officials to discuss the matter. He spoke to one official by phone Monday, but the Catholic League told LifeSiteNews.com that no official meeting has yet been held.
This week the League commenced a mass mailing of DVD copies of the outrageous episode to bishops and religious leaders across the nation. 414 bishops, hundreds of influential Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Mormon religious leaders across the United States are to receive the packages.
The League has also posted the complete program on its website here. (WARNING- HIGHLY OFFENSIVE AND FOUL LANGUAGE)
The League is encouraging all people of good will, Catholics and non-Catholics alike to demand that CBS cancel the Penn & Teller show.
Donohue describes just a few of the falsehoods in the program, saying: "Jillette lied about the Vatican's reaction to Sabina Guzzanti, an Italian foul-mouthed comedian who staged an assault on the pope in 2008: the pope never sought to throw 'her sexy ass in jail' and never once sought any punitive measure against her - it's all a bald face lie! Jillette lied about a 1962 Vatican document - it was a statement about penalties for priests who used the confessional to solicit sex: it was not a cover-up for sexual misconduct! He lied about Pope Benedict XVI - he had absolutely nothing to do with overseeing cases of priestly sexual misconduct in the United States! And so on."
The show interviewed anti-Catholic activists who masquerade as Catholics in order to have them bash the Church. Said Donohue, "Spokesmen for Catholics for Choice, SNAP and Dignity - three anti-Catholic groups that lie about their Catholic status - twisted, distorted and ridiculed Church teachings on sexuality."
The League has provided contact information for CBS officials so that they may hear the voices of many requesting that the Penn & Teller show be cancelled.
Contact CBS rep Nancy Tellem at nancy.tellem@tvc.cbs.com
-Or-
Mr. Leslie Moonves
Chairman of CBS
7800 Beverly Blvd., Rm. 23
Los Angeles, CA 90036-2112
Matthew Blank, the Chairman and CEO of Showtime.
Matthew.Blank@Showtime.net
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Too bad that *both* of them aren’t silent.
did Penn & Teller lose their minds??
I found their show rather entertaining at one point, but I knew that even though I agreed with many of their episodes (by no means all) I could tell they were distorting facts (if not outright lying) and purely one-sided in their arguments.
I stopped watching them a long time ago.
The Catholic League should have ignored P&T — now their ratings will go through the roof — especially among the Christian / Catholic bashers out there.
It's all part of the plot to destroy Christianity across the nation and make the Marxist government our God.
Libel ... if what they say is untrue, then sue for libel and defamation. We have a court system, use it. If what they said is untrue, bankrupt them - I have no problem with that at all.
However, the Catholic Church has, and is still actively protecting members of its clergy who have molested children. If you want accountability, act accountable.
Why defend the indefensible?
Consider the source.
I’m holding my breath waiting for the expose on the religion of pieces. /sarc
Yeah. They hate the Boy Scouts too.
This week the League commenced a mass mailing of DVD copies of the outrageous episode to bishops and religious leaders across the nation. 414 bishops, hundreds of influential Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Mormon religious leaders across the United States are to receive the packages. The League has also posted the complete program on its website....
"One of the most vile, obscene programs ever aired in any nation" is being distributed by the Catholic League and Bill Donohue en masse and free of charge, to hundreds of religious leaders across the nation. Oh the irony.
They are cheap shot artists who don’t really care about the veracity of their information. They do not lose sleep worrying about accuracy. They are slobs.
This week the League commenced a mass mailing of DVD copies of the outrageous episode to bishops and religious leaders across the nation. 414 bishops, hundreds of influential Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Mormon religious leaders across the United States are to receive the packages.
So now more people than otherwise would have will see this? I find it hard to believe that it was the intent of the “League” to make sure that this offense was viewed by as many people as possible.
Look at the job they did on Mahatma (means "Saint" in Hindi) Gandhi.
“The League has also posted the complete program on its website here”
Why in the world are they promoting this thing?
Oh please. This show didn't do such a thing, it talked about three or four major scandals and the politics of the church reacting. For the most part, it did not go into Catholicism as a religion, instead it focused on the politics of the church. The theme was the church being a self-protecting (to the point of a fault at times) political-esque entity instead of a religious organization. This is a debate/challenge that happens with almost all denominations, Catholics more because of their size and longer history.
Even aside from the questionable legality here, that's ridiculous attention-whore behavior.
These leftist retards don't realize that, even if they do manage to destroy Christianity in this country, that vacuum will only be filled with something else. And when they try attack that, they are going to be very sorry.
Ah, for the good old days, when the pope knew how to deal with critics - and had enough power to do so.
Penn and Teller wish to thank the League for the free advertising.
They are lucky they don't get their heads cut off for that one.
When is the episode on Mohammed? --sarc
"NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!"
Doesn't make much sense to me either. I would just highlight the slanderous segments and launch a counter attack, and a lawsuit against CBS, Penn and Teller.
Both in season 3 and season 6.
Which one is your uncle, Penn or Teller?
Why no boycott of advertisers? The Catholic League needs to call for a full boycott of advertiserrs or get out of the business.
I love Penn & Teller and “Bullsh!t” is one of the best shows out there.
Haven’t had Showtime in a year, so I haven’t seen this episode, though.
That’s why we have a First Amendment.
The Catholic League is perfectly capable of fighting back.
BWA HAHAHAHAHA
1st amendment at work again, we can’t have our cake and eat it too. Its their opinion, they bash many other things too. They even bash all religions. After all, their show is called “Bullshit”.
Because it’s a subscription cable show, there are no advertisers.
They’re not “leftists”.
Penn has repeatedly appeared on Fox to give the leftists and Obama hell.
He’s actually more of a definitive example of a Libertarian.
Not a faux-libertarian like that douche Maher on HBO, but a real one.
The support of RKBA and derisions of PETA and most recycling was very well done.
Everyone attacking Penn & Teller would, I think, change their tune once they saw the “Bullshit” episode on taxation. They even get Charlie Rangel on camera saying he doesn’t understand the tax code.
But how about advertisers on CBS?
>>However, the Catholic Church has, and is still actively protecting members of its clergy who have molested children.<<
Prove it.
Give us a reference stating that the Catholic Church IS STILL.
Otherwise, you’re just another Penn.
From what I've read and heard from the man in his public persona, I think that Penn Jilette is one of those atheists whose disbelief is driven by a deep-seated anger toward God for allowing the good to suffer along with the evil. Most of the atheists that I know personally are the same: they'd love to believe in God, but the fact that He (for his own unknowable reasons) permits the good to suffer while the evil ostensibly prosper offends their reason and innate sense of justice. (I can't say that I blame them; many holy people have also experienced the same anger towards God, as we see in Scripture. I myself have shaken my fist at the Almighty on more than one occasion.)
Many atheists are people of good will who have been driven from Christ by the hypocrisy and weakness of people like me (i.e. weak and unfaithful Christians), and more than a few are intellecually gifted, creative, or otherwise "abnormal" people who have personally suffered injury and abuse at the hands of others acting in the name of Christ. I'm guessing, of course, but based upon his work I believe that Penn Jilette may be such a person.
In any case, I'm not trying to defend this televised attack on the Catholic faith. Neither will I watch it. That being said, I think our best response as Catholics is to ignore this sort of essentially superficial criticism and redouble our efforts to live up to our faith. Being better Christians won't win us any popularity contests, of course, but it will allow us to lead well-intentioned atheists and non-Christians back to Christ by our examples.
They’ve always been this vile - it’s just that they let it show a little more overtly.
“They even get Charlie Rangel on camera saying he doesn’t understand the tax code.”
#####
Rangel doesn’t even understand the concept of complex devices such as shoelaces.
If I were Bill Donohue I’d be more disturbed by that farcical Mass of the Christian Burial that took place in Boston last Saturday. The church (my church) just turned itself into a joke. When do you think they will canonize St. Teddy the woman and baby killer?
“If we had sharia law we could just kill them!”
Just be patient. It is coming.
As far as I can tell, Bill Donohue and the Catholic League have said nothing about Kennedy's burial Mass.
Penn should follow his own advice and...
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