Like many Catholics who find themselves more on the conservative end of the political spectrum, I have been asking myself for awhile now if the religion of my birth still “fits” me. Thankfully when I have encountered these types of faith crises in the past I have found priests who have helped me recognize that I am on the right path in my church. Unfortunately, the past decade has found me once again re-evaluating my stance on Rome-but nothing could have prepared me for what I read today. Evidently, yesterday when the rawness of the slaughter of journalists at the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices was still fresh the president of the Catholic League, Bill Donohue, released a statement which did the unthinkable. It blamed the journalists for their own savage murder by Islamic radicals.

“Those who work at this newspaper have a long and disgusting record of going way beyond the mere lampooning of public figures, and this is especially true of their depictions of religious figures. Had [Charbonnier] not been so narcissistic, he may still be alive,”

Donohue continued:

“Killing in response to insult, no matter how gross, must be unequivocally condemned. That is why what happened in Paris cannot be tolerated,” says Donohue. “But neither should we tolerate the kind of intolerance that provoked this violent reaction.”

Mr. Donohue is obviously not a supporter of the First Amendment, nor of freedom of expression and frankly this is exactly the kind of thinking that leads people of lesser intelligence to pick up a weapon and murder innocent people with whom they have an ideological beef. I, frankly, do not see how Mr. Donohue can say that his organization represents Catholics in any way, shape or form. Raised as a Catholic and educated in Catholic institutions I can tell you that blaming victims of religious zealotry was not a tenant of the Church I grew up with. Now, Luke 6:31 certainly was something that I grew up believing and still set stock by in my adult life.

“And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. Luke 6:31”

Now, you may argue that the same advice could have saved those at Charlie Hebdo a world of hurt (literally) but Jesus did not live in a world where the First Amendment (or the European equivalent the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)  existed.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Now, free speech can be a real pain in the tush. After all, it protects idiots like the KKK and the Black Panthers when they spout their vitriol on Twitter or through their bullhorns. It also enables people here in the U.S., and in Europe,  to say what so many other societies throughout history said to radical Islam throughout the ages- we will not submit.

The Catholic League’s statement continued to elucidate Mr. Donohue’s grievances against the editor of Charlie Hebdo, whom he labeled “narcissistic” and called out by name.

“Mr Donohue cited cartoons of nuns masturbating and popes wearing condoms, as well as depictions of the prophet Mohammed in “pornographic poses”.

Well, guess what Mr. Donohue? Depictions of masturbating nuns, while they may be offensive, are old news (goth band Christian Death beat Charlie Hebdo to that one by 20 years) and I am sure there have been pictures of pedophile priests in many political cartoons due to the American church’s irresponsible handling of the multiple cases of clergy abuse. Bottom line-if you don’t like it in a free society then you don’t have to support it but no one deserves to die because you do not agree with their stance on any political or religious issue. When we start acting like the murderous radical Islamists and spouting the same kind of rhetoric that they do, they have won.

“Strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be
unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is their destination.”
Quran 9:73″

If you would like to express to Bill Donohue, or the other leadership of the Catholic league, that you disagree with their position on the Charlie Hebdo murders, please visit their site at http://www.catholicleague.org/contact/.