That’s Bill Donahue, President of the ultraconservative Catholic League, who seems to be suffering from excessive testosterone in his old age. I say that because it seems Mr. Donahue is ready and willing to put a beat down on Bill Maher, comedian and host of the show Real Time on HBO, because Maher, a self admitted atheist, had the audacity to say he doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Christ, our Lord and Savior, the Son of God. In other words an atheist saying he doesn’t believe in Christianity constitutes fighting words (and therefore unprotected speech under the First amendment) in Bill Donahue’s universe. He even wants to hold the fight in Madison Square Garden! See for yourself (courtesy The Raw Story):
That Maher deigned to question the divinity of Jesus Christ — saying he was more skeptical of Christian mythology than that UFOs regularly visit earth — sent Donahue into an apoplectic rage. The 60-year-old Donahue challenged his longtime nemesis Maher to a fist-fight. Fox News host Megyn Kelly offered to televise the fight right there on Americas’ Newsroom.
“Bill Maher … constantly is going after not just religion in general, he really has it out against Christians,” Donahue charged. “I’m at the point right now where I’d love to challenge this guy in a ring … preferably Madison Square Garden. I’m a lot older than he is, but let me tell you something, I’d floor him.” […]
Donahue has made Maher one of his favorite targets for verbal vitriol, and Thursday’s challenge apparently marked his blood boiling over. Indeed, the Catholic League president alluded to his deep yearning to battle the HBO host just three weeks ago.
“Unlike most non-believers, who are generally content to respect the right of most Americans to believe in God, guys like Maher want a brawl,” Donahue said Jan. 7. “He should be careful what he wishes for because there are those who pine to deliver.”
Dear Mr. Donahue, it is with the sincerest concern that I ask you to have yourself (and your gonads) checked out by a competent urologist as soon as possible. Excessive testosterone can lead to a number of medical problems including loss of brain cells, acne, head aches, anxiety, irritability, rage (you may already know this, but that sounds a lot like what you’ve been experiencing for quite a while), an increased risk of violent behavior including suicide, as well as increasing the risk of of some forms of cancer.
Oh, and I’d recommend not watching Mr. Maher’s show in the future. Clearly he isn’t good for your health, spiritual, mental or physical.
Hm, sounds like Donahue is the one that wants a brawl. All Maher did was peacefully express his opinion about Christianity. But then, that is the way those people are: they’re content for you to keep your yap shut about your non-belief, but actually voicing it constitutes an attack.
It’s tiresome, these persecution complexes are. It’s not just the Christians, either. You hear it from Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, certain stripes of Hindus, and a large swath of believers in less popular but equally puerile fairy tales. The less plausible it is, the more loudly they complain. What’s the US — 80% Christian or so? Persecution my ass.
Of course, if you believe the sort of things these people believe — this has long been my contention — you injure your ability to think rationally about the real world in other areas, too. So now Bill Maher is — what? Beating up Christian kids for their lunch money? Sheesh.
What’s that famous quote? If fascism ever comes to America it will be wearing a cross (or something to that effect).
Even better, I think it’s: wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
How positively Christ-like of Mr. Donahue to want to beat some ass.
I’m sure there’s something wrong with me but I have this mental picture in my head that cracks me up : of Bill Maher beating the crap out of Donahue and yelling out “The power of Christ compels you!” with each punch, like a priest performing an exorcism.
My father grew up with a boy who later became a Roman Catholic bishop. What I remember most about him was when he came over for dinner he drank like a fish and became all red-faced and loud and obnoxious, even telling off-color sexist jokes. Every time I see Donahue I think of that bishop.
I just realized he was an Irish guy named Bill, too.
…and yet another religion quack laughs all the way to the bank with the loot he got through yet another free-publicity coup.
I love Bill Maher. This reminded me of a bit he did in one of his comedy shows about Christians having a neurological disorder. I looked and looked but couldn’t find a YouTube of it. I think it was part of his “Victory Begins at Home” special on HBO a couple years back.
But here’s a good one…
I’m sure that once Bill Maher hears about the threatened beating that he will instantly be converted add begin to be a good, church-going, tithing Christianist and Dominionist.
I’m surprised that “fundamentalist religion” (Christian (includes Catholic), Muslim, Hindu, etc.) has not yet become a recognized form of mental illness and placed in the Psychiatrist’s DSM-IV as a diagnosis. Bill Donahue may well have two mental illnesses. Fundamentalism and senility. He certainly isn’t a sane man.