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
The Spanish Inquisition deserves neither the exaggerated praise nor the equally exaggerated vilification often bestowed on it. The number of victims cannot be calculated with even approximate accuracy; the much maligned autos-da-fé were in reality but a religious ceremony (actus fidei); the San Benito has its counterpart in similar garbs elsewhere; the cruelty of St. Peter Arbues, to whom not a single sentence of death can be traced with certainty, belongs to the realms of fable.
However, the predominant ecclesiastical nature of the institution can hardly be doubted. The Holy See sanctioned the institution, accorded to the grand inquisitor canonical installation and therewith judicial authority concerning matters of faith, while from the grand inquisitor jurisdiction passed down to the subsidiary tribunals under his control.
Joseph de Maistre introduced the thesis that the Spanish Inquisition was mostly a civil tribunal; formerly, however, theologians never questioned its ecclesiastical nature. Only thus, indeed, can one explain how the Popes always admitted appeals from it to the Holy See, called to themselves entire trials and that at any stage of the proceedings, exempted whole classes of believers from its jurisdiction, intervened in the legislation, deposed grand inquisitors, and so on.
Yes, I was going to ask; who is Penn and Teller?
Oh yes they have. They called it a disgrace.
That's it? Wow, some Mohammad bashing that is. I'd love to see them bash Islam in general like they do Christianity.
Maybe target one or two big ones.
Agreed. The show is often very good, but Penn insists on cheapening it with pointless, adolescent profanity and gratuitous T&A for no good reason. That's why I don't watch it much anymore. It's not offensive. It's just lame.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
However, the Catholic Church has, and is still actively protecting members of its clergy who have molested children.
Why in the world are they promoting this thing?
Do you also think the Holocaust Museum is “promoting” genocide because it runs videos of atrocities to make people aware of the truth?
Thread/Link?
Let’s see an entire episode dedicated to Mohammed’s crimes against humanity. Let’s see another dedicated to the subsequent crimes, atrocities and barbarism done in thee pedophile SOB prophet’s name. Put them both together, make it an hour-long special.
I’ll be holding my breath.
LOL, are you really equating what Penn and Teller did with the holocaust?
Some idiot child has got it all wrong.
Everyone knows it is not the Catholics who are the cause of all evil.
It’s Da JOOOOZ!
Ask any Muslim.
/sarc
It should be apparent to all that network TV ad sales are down and such programs are a last ditch move to stave off the coming financial end of lame stream media.
Their show would be so much better on regular CBS where they would be forced to be creative instead of just sticking F words where the jokes should be. I think because they are on Showtime they feel obligated to do this over the top schtick just because they can.
No, I was making an analogy that was intended to be powerful and clear, even in the extreme.
Again, too subtle, it appears.
I can’t believe this. NBC let CBS get the jump on them when it comes to Catholic bashing? Unbelievable.
That’s the problem with pretty much everything on HBO and Showtime (with the exception of the Sopranos). Everybody feels the need to be “too hot for TV” and ends up sounding absurd.
Or you can just ask Bill Donohue...
"Who really cares what Hollywood thinks? All these hacks come out there. Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It‘s not a secret, OK? And I‘m not afraid to say it. That‘s why they hate this movie. It‘s about Jesus Christ, and it‘s about truth. It‘s about the messiah."Related threads:
These idiots obviously don't have a clue about history.
Historians estimate that between 3-5 thousand people were killed by the Spanish Inquisition... that's it! 3 to 5 THOUSAND.
Compare that to the 61,000,000, yep 61 MILLION that the soviet communists killed, or if you prefer a medieval comparison Henry VIII is estimated to have executed over 72,000.
What about Bloody Mary you say? she only executed 300, yep 3 HUNDRED.
It is obvious to me people with hidden agendas are pushing the lie that the church and its supporters have committed the worst crimes in history, when the facts don't even come close to supporting that claim.
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