Posted on 10/27/2009 12:14:54 PM PDT by Pope Pius XII
Speaking for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has stated that a religious coalition, which recently petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clamp down on "hate speech" by conservative talk-show hosts, has misrepresented the U.S. bishops' involvement in their initiative.
The USCCB Office of Communications is listed as a member of the So We Might See Coalition, a group billing itself as a national interfaith coalition against hate speech in media led by the United Church of Christ's (UCC) Office of Communications' Executive Director, J. Bennett Guess.
The USCCB drew fire from conservative and Catholic commentators after the So We Might See Coalition launched a petition to the FCC, signed by the USCCB, that called for an investigation into "hate speech" in media and that singled out conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh as a primary culprit.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifesitenews.com ...
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So many of the American Bishops are Commies—it’s difficult anymore to distinguish them from the Obamanistas.
Best way to protest: Do not give any money to your Bishop’s Annual Appeal.
Exactly! Reminds me of a private prophecy that states:
“The communist’s flag will fly over the Vatican.”
I wasn't aware that Chaput was a spokesperson for the USCCB.
The USCCB drew fire from conservative and Catholic commentators after the So We Might See Coalition launched a petition to the FCC, signed by the USCCB, that called for an investigation into "hate speech" in media and that singled out conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh as a primary culprit.
The petition drew a connection between Limbaugh's calling Mexican immigrants "a renegade, potential crime element that is unwilling to work" with the 2006 assault on two Mexicans in New York three months after the comment was broadcast. "The possible correlation between hate speech and violent crime gives us great pause," states the letter. "Immigrant, minority, and religious populations are often targets of hate speech before they are subsequently the target of physical hate crimes."
Because other areas of the coalition's website and Guess' mass email to UCC members appeared to target mainly right-leaning figures and media outlets, critics accused the group of launching a thinly-veiled partisan attack on conservative media.
The partisan nature of the petition also raised questions about the USCCB's involvement in it.
One of the top honcho directors on the USCCB staff is a long time Democrat operative. He spews hate against anyone not in agreement with his Democrat view of “social justice” and spends millions helping groups like ACORN.
Catholics should think of that when their bishops tell them to support the Campaign for Human Development in the collection basket and to oppose abortion while the USCCB staff is supporting abortion Democrats and funding ACORN and those same bishops are toasting Teddy Kennedy and supping with abortion proponents Dodd, Biden, Mikulski, Leahy, etc. etc.
The USCCB should be disolved.
guess who’ll be getting a handful of pictures of ElRusbo in their collection envelope this week....
A lot of talk show hosts are Catholic are the going to be included in the investigation?
Actually almost the entirety of the USCCB domestic policy staff are statist. Take a look at all they support including cap and trade, statist ‘health care’, higher taxes, less freedom, no borders. To them, church is the state; faith is ideology, and hope is obama. They are nothing more than ideological lobbyist employed by the DNP and using the hard earned money of those of us in the pews to advance their treachery.
However, the American Spectator's Jeffrey Lord reports that, in responding to a parishioner's request for an explanation about the scandal, Archbishop Chaput said that "the USCCB feels that its involvement has been misrepresented" by So We Might See.
The USCCB's Communications Secretary Helen Osman told the Catholic News Agency on Monday that, although the USCCB is one of the groups in the So We Might See Coalition, the USCCB did not sign on to the current petition, which is at the center of the controversy.
Archbishop Chaput pointed out that the USCCB's goals in joining the coalition were specifically outlined in a letter that it sent in July to the FCC. Lord reports that the USCCB's letter did not mention any specific public figure or media forum, but simply supported "a broad public forum in which to raise and debate (hate speech and other issues) in a respectful manner."
Chaput also observed that at the time the USCCB had "informed the sponsors of this effort that (1) there are serious constitutional concerns raised by any interference with free speech; (2) it's not at all clear that the FCC has jurisdiction or can actually do anything about the problem; and (3) 'hate speech' is an ambiguous concept with some troubling implications for religious believers and their right to hold and preach doctrines that some might find offensive."
As I recall, the story originated at American Spectator by an author who was concerned about the United Church of Christ's involvement. His mention of the USCCB's communications office was tangential.
Diogenes, Deal Hudson and others should have tried to confirm the story before spreading it around.
We have enough sure problems to address. No need to concentrate on areas where the gravity of the fault is questionable.
Unfortunately, in my old age, all I am capable of are sins of omission.
Absolutely! Is this another sly hit at FOXNews, where at least half of the reporters and commentators are RCs?
I meant “conservative RCs.”
The USCCB is chronically engaged in leftist causes. It has advocated and continues to advocate for the wholesale recognition of illegal immigration...as does the NICMJ. http://www.ucc.org/media-justice/mvf2009/learn-more.html
And this attack on talk radio is a well coordinated effort by “hispanic” and leftist religious groups to advance illegal immigration before the next election cycle to further gird the Obama agenda. In part, the USCCB is ‘omitting’ full disclosure of its activities. Note below how the USCCB is coordinating its efforts, and its passive aggressive advocacy of illegal immigration, with leftist groups including So We Might... and the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
“While the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is part of the So We Might See Coalition, it did not sign on to the letter that So We Might See wrote to the FCC and NTIA. The USCCB opted to send its own letter to the FCC, and has issued the following statement about the letter:
USCCB is responding to a petition filed before the Federal Communications Commission (”FCC”) by the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which asks the FCC to open a Notice of Inquiry to request public comments the extent and nature of hate speech in the media. USCCB supports the establishment of a broad public forum to debate the difficult constitutional and regulatory issues, including the potential danger to religious speech, raised by the petitioners.
We are asking the FCC to make available a proceeding where the public can attempt to describe speech anyone deems harmful, and where the public (including Catholics and the bishops) can raise important constitutional constraints on government action regarding speech, including religious speech.
We are not participating in any campaign to censor any organization, program or commentator.”
ok
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