Opposing Views: Catholic Bashing Penn and Teller Must Go

Catholic Bashing Penn and Teller Must Go

Opinion by Catholic League
(August 17, 2009) in Religion / Religion in Society

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an ad he wrote for today’s edition of Variety:

Today’s ad in Variety (click here) is a direct response to the latest hate speech by Penn & Teller against Catholics. Both Penn Jillette, and Showtime (owned by CBS), are flagging the attack on the Vatican that is featured in its season finale, August 27. Given the history of Penn & Teller’s vicious record of Catholic bashing, we have no reason to doubt that this episode will be particularly vile. In the ad, we cited previous examples of their malicious assaults, especially on Mother Teresa.

CBS management has spoken to the Catholic-bashing duo before, but to no effect. Though we are not calling for CBS/Showtime to cancel the upcoming episode, we are saying that the time has come to pull the plug on their show; their contract should not be renewed. Those who agree should contact Matthew Blank, the Chairman and CEO of Showtime.

Regarding Opinion

Freedom

Freedom of speech amendment. It's on showtime it has the warning for mature audience only.
Their are other people that "bash" the Catholic
faith on the air. What makes Penn and Teller the goat?

- ttut21 August 17, 2009 4:15PM

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- This is called a customer complaint.
  
  The first amendment only protects you from Governmental interference. This is simply one group of consumers telling a supplier what they would like in a product. People didn’t like the taste of New Coke, so they stopped buying it and asked the company to bring back the original recipe. These people do not like a certain show’s content, and are asking the network to earn their business by airing content they would enjoy.
  
  - thebigmike August 17, 2009 5:06PM
  
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  - Right
    
    Slapped down.
    You're right maybe you guys can get it pulled.
    I hope you don't.
    If the show has ratings then it would seem to me that enough people do enjoy the show.
    
    Good luck to you all.
    
    - ttut21 August 18, 2009 11:30AM
    
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Another example

http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/news-fox-news-glenn-beck-calls-obama-racist-loses-advertisers

And this is the way things work the best I suppose. People vote with their wallets, and the execs listen. Isn't that so much nicer than suing?

- tek August 17, 2009 5:27PM

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It's all perspective...

What's the difference between two guys opposing Catholics on some Showtime television program, and the Catholic church opposing and publicly denouncing gays, condom use, or science for that matter? People always get offended when you criticize their beliefs. The only difference I've seen with religion is that it believes religion is law , or better! Oddly enough, for the longest time it really was that way. Also, when I say was, I mean still is.

- levi944 August 17, 2009 11:25PM

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- Difference
  
  "What's the difference between two guys opposing Catholics on some Showtime television program, and the Catholic church opposing and publicly denouncing gays, condom use, or science for that matter?"
  - levi944 August 17, 2009 11:25PM
  
  That one's easy.
  
  Scientists, doctors and homosexuals do not have overt (Italy, Germany) or clandestine (Phillipines, Samoa) agreements with other countries, as the Vatican does, to persecute those who speak out against them.
  
  - The Dark Ride September 3, 2009 11:40AM
  
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Altar-boy Screwing Catholic Church Must Go

As a recovered catholic, I think it is this church that needs to go. Penn and Teller may have said mean things about the catholic church, but have they raped any altar boys, systematically wiped out entire groups of people, burned any witches, or abused orphan children ? No? Well, who's the bad guy?
"...previous examples of their malicious assaults..." Obviously, none of the above atrocities listed above is considered to be bad enough for the church to act. Oh, and BTW, Mother Teresa was a closet atheist. Go Penn and Teller!!

- Enlightened1 August 19, 2009 1:33PM

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- Dude,
  
  You seriously kick ass.
  
  - tmaxredalia August 22, 2009 12:52AM
  
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- having read
  
  "Mother Teresa was a closet atheist."
  
  Having read the compilation of her letters I'm inclined to agree with you.
  
  - MrBook August 22, 2009 8:59AM
  
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watch for yourself

Here is the video of that episode. They are harsh on the Catholic leadership but are not discriminatory towards Catholics. The Catholic Leagues arguments for removal are highly disingenuous.

http://vimeo.com/6321872

- MrBook August 30, 2009 12:12PM

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- A little harsh!
  
  But should they be censored, canceled? No.
  
  - mike1948 August 30, 2009 3:33PM
  
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Thankfull for freedom FROM religion.

I'm glad the Catholics don't run this country. It would not be much different than living in Iran. Blasphemy might be punishable by death.

- Roy Humanist September 1, 2009 9:53AM

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Benedict had his say, though

I do seem to recall Benedict, while still a cardinal, blaming the priest-pedophile scandal on the larger American society -- something about us being such corrupt hedonists that even American priests are infected into doing what they wouldn't otherwise do. This was before a similar scandal was uncovered in Ireland. I don't believe he has explained how American society so fully infected the priesthood in Ireland.

- ducdebrabant September 2, 2009 3:07PM

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Hate speech?

It may be "speech" which you "hate", but the phrase " hate speech " is something entirely different (refer to Hitler's speeches for examples). If Penn and Teller had encouraged people to hate catholics, that would be hate speech. But they didn't do that, they simply quoted facts. You may dispute some of those facts, but the most important and scandalous ones are either easily verifiable or are actually the church 's OWN STATED POLICIES.

Fact: In the face of a global HIV epidemic, the church forbids the use of condoms under any circumstances. So, the church causes deaths .

Fact: In 2008, the church opposed a UN resolution decriminalising gay people worldwide. So, the church promotes anti-gay prejudice and intolerance.

Fact: The church's policy has been to protect it's reputation even at the expense of protecting paedophile clergy and allowing them to continue to abuse children . So, the church allowed children to be raped.

These three facts out of many, many unpleasant church charactaristics cannot be reasonably disputed. Even if you disregard every other allegation in the P+T programme, these should be ample proof that there is something, to put it mildly, highly dodgy about the catholic church.

But none of this is an attack on catholics (my entire family and most of my friends are catholics). To try to brand a programme which merely states facts about the catholic church as "an attack on catholics" or as "hate speech" is a disingenuous attempt to abuse a very important principle, that of tolerance, in an attempt to protect a particular organisation.

- Mark D September 2, 2009 6:14PM

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DVD

How do I get on the mailing list for that DVD??
I love Penn & Teller and I don't get Showtime.
I am a survivor of 12 years of nuns and Catholic " education ".
Don't forget that if you don't like something on TV, USE THE OFF BUTTON!!!!!

- Dalips September 3, 2009 5:37PM

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If you can't take the heat...

If the Catholic church can't stand up to a little scrutiny, maybe they should call it quits.

Seriously, if you're scared of some criticism towards your religion , you really should be examining the validity of the religion you practice.

- Johnny September 17, 2009 12:29PM

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