Posted on 09/14/2005 1:47:14 PM PDT by NYer
Catholic League president William Donohue has asked Senator Dianne Feinstein to apologize to Catholics for a remark she made today at the hearings of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. "In a prepared statement today at the hearings for John Roberts, Senator Dianne Feinstein said she was going to question the Supreme Court nominee on 'the constitutional provision of providing for the separation of church and state.’ As an example of religious persecution, she cited Jews who lost their lives in Budapest during the Holocaust, a tragedy, she said, that ‘occurred in the name of religion," said William Donohue, president of The Catholic League. Donohue continued, “At the time of the Holocaust, 67 percent of Hungary was Catholic, so we know who Senator Feinstein was blaming. Her remark is obscene. These are the words of Rabbi David Dalin, author of the just-published book, The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis: ‘Jeno Levai, the great Hungarian Jewish historian, was so angered by accusations of papal ‘silence’ that he wrote Hungarian Jewry and the Papacy: Pius XII Did Not Remain Silent (published in English in 1968), with a powerful introduction and epilogue by Robert M.W. Kempner, the deputy chief U.S. prosecutor at Nuremburg.’ Levai demonstrated how Catholic Church officials ‘intervened again and again on the instructions of the pope,’ the result of which was that ‘in the autumn and winter of 1944 there was practically no Catholic Church institution in Budapest where persecuted Jews did not find refuge.’ “There are three issues at work here. Number one, Feinstein shows an appalling ignorance of the Holocaust. Two, she blames Catholics—the very ones who came to the rescue of Jews in Budapest—not Nazis. Three, she fails to understand that had the First Amendment provision on religious liberty been operative in Nazi Germany, Hitler would not have been able to use the power of the state to club Christianity. “Senator Feinstein has no track record of bigotry towards Catholics, but her remarks today call for an apology nonetheless.” Austin Ruse, President of the Culture of Life Foundation, said "We condemn Senator Feinstein's attempt to place Judge Robert's Catholicism at the center of his confirmation hearings this afternoon. "Using the context of John Kennedy's Catholicism, Senator Feinstein asked Judge Roberts if he believed in an absolute separation of Church and state. In her questions and comments Senator Feinstein invoked those terrible debates in America about whether Catholics could have a role in the public square. Apparently Senator Feinstein agrees with those who feared faithful Catholics in public office. "Senator Feinstein's questioning is an unconscionable dredging up of a dark time in America. And her questioning comes perilously close to a religious test for public office. She owes Judge Roberts and all Americans an apology." Resources:
Kind of stretching to find offense here, isn't he? I'm not a fan of Feinstein, but she was obviously talking about fascists and not Catholics.
BTTT
Kind of stretching to find offense here, isn't he? I'm not a fan of Feinstein, but she was obviously talking about fascists and not Catholics.
Nazism is a religion?
That being said, I've always found Donahue to be quite an attention whore. Sorry to be so harsh.
He said it was clearly a swipe at Roberts' Catholicism, and had a tone of bigotry to it.
I want Feinstein and all of the other leftists to continue to condemn Catholicism, other Christian denominations and Judaism as much as possible. That way more of the country will realize what their agenda truly is. The left does not desire the "separation" of church and state, they seek the elimination of Judeo-Christian tradition and they want to replace it with Marxist atheism.
Define "attention whore", please
Actually, it was ... sort of. Hitler included some aspects of ancient teutonic paganism in his ideology (that would be the "National" part of "National Socialist"), and was very interested in the occult aspects of archeaology and antiquities. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was fiction, but its portrayal of Nazis was not entirely fanciful.
Donahue is usually stretching the point to get some publicity.
Isn't Feinstein herself a Catholic? I mean, look at her last name...
Stretching it? She was obviously talking about fascists? Since when is that a religion?
Donahue and Foxman ~ Perfect Together
Feinstein is an ignorant woman. Plain and simple.
LOL! The ADL and the CL need to merge. No need for oil heat when Donahue or Foxman are in the room, as both provide enough hot air to heat Alaska.
Why bring it up if it had nothing to do with Catholics?
Feinstein bringing up a Holocaust reference was a low and cheap theatrical trick.
But Boxer makes her look like Einstein...
If I had to guess, I'd expect that last name to indicate Jewish, rather than Catholic ancestry. Not that it matters a great deal; her voting record is a direct affront to both those religions
Judaism is, and I'm certain that that's what Feinstein meant when she said "religious persecution".
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