Another reason to ignore the "Catholic" League

In sounding off about NBC's The Book of Daniel, the always-quotable Bill Donahue of the Catholic League said it was the "work of an embittered ex-Catholic homosexual." As usual, at a loss for logic, Donahue resorts to name-calling. So grown up. And so Christian.

Which begs the question: Why does Donahue's League get to be "Catholic." Canon law has some fairly strict requirements about when a group can claim it is associated with Roman Catholicism, and conservative groups have mercilessly wielded those strictures against liberal groups like Call to Action (leftish Catholic lay church reform group), Voice of the Faithful (centrist lay church reform group founded in response to the sex-abuse scandal), Dignity U.S.A. (advocacy group for GLBT Catholics), and most recently Catholic universities who permit debate about current theological/moral issues or invite "problematic" speakers (those who don't want abortion to be illegal, though not those who support or implement the death penalty).

Yet Bill Donahue can daily issue the nastiest, most uncharitable personal attacks on his, and I do mean his, opponents and still gets to be "Catholic."

And we wonder why Catholicism is associated in the minds of many with intolerance of difference and political extremism.