The White House has started a cockamamie procedure where regular citizens can launch petitions and if they get 25,000 signatures the White House will respond.
Some are serious, like the one to exempt Hobby Lobby from the HHS contraceptive mandate. Some are silly, like the one asking for Joe Biden to be in a reality show. There is a petition for the arrest of NBC’s David Gregory for showing a magazine clip on his Sunday morning show, something that is illegal in Washington DC.
A new petition has gone up, on Christmas Day no less, asking for the Catholic Church to be labeled a hate group.
In his annual Christmas address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Benedict XVI, the global leader of the Roman Catholic Church, demeaned and belittled homosexual people around the world. Using hateful language and discriminatory remarks, the Pope painted a portrait in which gay people are second-class global citizens. Pope Benedict said that gay people starting families are threatening to society, and that gay parents objectify and take away the dignity of children. The Pope also implied that gay families are sub-human, as they are not dignified in the eyes of God.
Upon these remarks, the Roman Catholic Church fits the definition of a hate group as defined by both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.
As of this writing, only 1700 have signed.
January 4th, 2013 | 3:47 pm
Is there actually a legal procedure for officially recognizing hate groups?
January 4th, 2013 | 3:50 pm
Is there any serious Catholic who did not see this Kulturkamph coming? The San Francisco City Council several years ago passed a resolution denouncing the Church as a “hate organization,” and the council’s right to do so was upheld by the 9th Circuit court. The Left is exploiting the plight of Same Sex Attraction persons for the purpose of discrediting the Church precisely because it is the Bride of christ that stands between mankind and the dreams of totalitarians. Cdl Dolan says, “We didn’t ask for this fight,” but they certainly should have seen it coming. We would not be in this fix if more had followed Abp Chaput’s lead and abandoned the idea that the Left’s supposed social welfare programs compensated for its uspport of objective evils.
January 4th, 2013 | 3:54 pm
Austin, It would interesting if the petition were to garner 25,000 signatures. I am quite curious to know the response of the Administration.
January 4th, 2013 | 4:28 pm
I hope it succeeds. They are absolutely correct that under current definitions, the Catholic Church qualifies as a hate group. The lunacy will not end until you stop fighting the label, as if it has some kind of actual meaning. It is a political label. The proper response isn’t to fight, it’s to say “So what?”
January 4th, 2013 | 5:02 pm
Is there a link to the Pope’s address so we could read it for ourselves? Just wondering…
January 4th, 2013 | 5:16 pm
Meanwhile , we can join those who are interceding on behalf of all with personality disorder traits , such as psychopathic traits – that , in Name of Jesus , many such be free from the spirit of deception and hatred and fear , to be filled with the Holy Spirit , even unto the very moment of their conceptions , repenting of all the occasions for the enemy claims , such as from spirit of bestiality , unholy attachements , from watching related media or violence or adultery , even in past generations , that the life giving Precious Blood of The Lord flow back into generations , cleanse away all impurities and weaknesses , and bring the Spirit of love , into all the afflicted hearts for all to be able to live in the truth and dignity and power, as children of God !
The Church wants no less , for any of Her children !
January 4th, 2013 | 5:29 pm
That there are people who hate the Church we have known for a long time. That people project their hate on others is common. I suspect we all do it, to our shame, from time to time. To me this is mainly silly if concerning. It’s a protest not unlike all the petitions to secede from the Union.
I don’t know how the State Department designates external hate groups or how the Justice Department do so internally, but I’m pretty sure that the Anti-Defamation League and SPLC are not an official part of the process.
January 4th, 2013 | 6:42 pm
Here’s the address: http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-christmas-urbi-et-orbi-message-full-text
January 4th, 2013 | 6:42 pm
So, does this mean that the citizens of the United States of American can petition for impeachment of the President with only 25,000 signatures? I can think of several million who would sign… Wonder if they thought of that when they created this process?
January 4th, 2013 | 6:53 pm
Sorry, that was the actual Christmas Day address. I believe this address is what the petition is referring to: http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-address-to-the-roman-curia
January 4th, 2013 | 7:29 pm
You can find the text of the address at this link:
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/benedict-defends-traditional-family-in-christmas-address-to-roman-curia
I believe the offending paragraphs are the fifth and sixth ones in which the Holy Father speaks of the importance of commitment and family and then presents an argument against gender theory.
I suppose if the Pope were to limit his talks to singing “Kumbyah” he would still be vilified for his colonial imperialist appropriation of African culture.
I wonder how many of the people who sign this petition actually read the Pope’s speech first?
January 4th, 2013 | 7:34 pm
Allison
I assume they meant the Holy Father’s address to the Roman Curia, not the College of Cardinals. Here’s the link:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2012/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20121221_auguri-curia_en.html
January 4th, 2013 | 8:55 pm
Abortion isn’t just a political issue; it can also be a religious one. In which case, forcing employers to pay for abortion-causing drugs violates their freedom and practice of religion, a Constitutional right.
If you agree, make your voice heard and exempt companies like Hobby Lobby from the healthcare mandate.
http://j.mp/ULnpUm
January 4th, 2013 | 8:57 pm
It should come as no surprise that when the truth shines, those in the dark are confounded. This persecution has been heating up for some time. Several years back, a priest friend of mine gave a homily on the evil of homosexual acts. The diocese received a complaint about this homily. The bishop “invited” the parish priest to meet with the complainant who demanded an apology. Rightfully, the priest declined. Unfortunately, the bishop seemed to think he should apologize. Too many bishops are not shepherds for the people or the priests. Lucky for us, most of the liberal, i.e. unfaithful, bishops are getting older and we have been blessed with some more faithful ones. I’m getting older, too. I don’t know if I will live long enough to see sanity return.
You don’t say where this petition originated.
January 4th, 2013 | 9:09 pm
I think 25,000 people might agree that the sky is green… doesn’t make it so. We should be afraid.
January 4th, 2013 | 9:50 pm
Is there a petition to have the Southern Poverty Law Center declared a hate group?
January 4th, 2013 | 11:20 pm
“So, does this mean that the citizens of the United States of American can petition for impeachment of the President with only 25,000 signatures?”
The petition stating “We request that Obama be impeached for the following reasons” has over 48,000 signatures.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/we-request-obama-be-impeached-following-reasons/cpk4V6zK
January 5th, 2013 | 1:36 am
There is a good article on this in Catholic News Agency (CNA) by Michelle Bauman. The article helps understand what the Holy Father actually said.
Here is the address:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/white-house-petitioned-to-label-catholic-church-a-hate-group...
January 5th, 2013 | 4:26 am
The Devil is very worried because he knows he is running out out of time. He is amassing and consolidating his followers to attack and destroy the work of the Gospel that releases hiis followers from the bondage of sin. N matter what he gets his followers to do, it is predestined for all mankind to die once and then face GOD’S judgment. But those who are redeemed by the BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST will be saved into eternal life where there is no death for them that believe on GOD’S prpmise to all mankind …in his word JOHN 3:16.
January 5th, 2013 | 1:22 pm
There is no legal definition for “hate group,” which is why even the FBI does not, cannot, designate “hate groups,” but somehow private fundraising groups like the SPLC and ADL can?
“Hate group” is nothing more than a marketing ploy created by the SPLC’s PR chief, Mark Potok.
Mr. Potok has designated just over 1000 “hate groups” but he cannot seem to locate 247 of them on any map, including his own “Hate Map” fundraising tool.
http://wp.me/pCLYZ-ce
That’s 25% right off the top.
Some “experts”
January 5th, 2013 | 2:03 pm
My favorite current petition: “Publicly admit and disclose all information about extra-terrestrial beings, our true history, and peaceful technologies.”
Only 263 votes?? Come on, people!
January 5th, 2013 | 4:10 pm
Well, in a certain sense, it is true. I’m a Catholic and I hate. I hate the way the culture is normalizing ever more immoral attitudes and behaviors, not just of one particular kind. I hate that the Church is being persecuted in this way, and I hate that it is going to get far, far worse in our own lifetimes. I hate that the voice of reason is shouted down and drowned out so often. I hate the coarseness and incivility of our popular culture. I hate that Truth, Beauty and Goodness are losing their power to touch people’s hearts.
January 5th, 2013 | 4:14 pm
the church teaches that gay people are to be treated with respect as they are made in the image of god but we oppose the sin they commit just like people who have sex before marriage and many others.
January 5th, 2013 | 7:02 pm
This was inevitable: “Designate as a hate group the bigoted people who started the petition to designate the Catholic Church as a hate group.“
January 6th, 2013 | 11:23 am
On page 3 of the FBI’s 1999 Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines, we find the following definition of “hate group”:
“An organization whose primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons belonging to a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin which differs from that of the members of the organization, e.g., the Ku Klux Klan, American Nazi Party.”
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/hcguidelinesdc99.pdf
(“To ensure uniformity in reporting nationwide, the following definitions have been adopted for use in hate crime reporting.”)
January 7th, 2013 | 9:31 am
Benighted Savage,
While the FBI definition you cite exists, it is still the case that the FBI keeps no list (or at least no public list) of “hate groups.” So petitioning the federal government to “officially recognize the Roman Catholic Church as a hate group” is basically nonsensical. Obviously it’s offensive, but why some seem to feel it’s threatening is something I don’t understand.
There’s an interesting graph over on dotCommonweal that shows the religious make-up of the House and Senate. The House is 31.4% Catholic and the Senate 26%. And of course everyone knows 6 of the 9 Justices on the Supreme Court are Catholic. I saw it pointed out somewhere that with the (presumed) confirmation of John Kerry for Secretary of State, the line of succession to the presidency will be vice-president (Biden), Speaker of the House (Bohner), President Pro Tempore of the Senate (Leahy), and Secretary of State (Kerry). All four men are Catholics. Even if the federal government did keep a list of hate groups, the idea that the Catholic Church could become one when there are so many highly placed Catholics in government is preposterous.
January 7th, 2013 | 11:25 am
I have signed a couple of petitions there, but it always crosses my mind that it could be a way for them to gather names of people who support various issues. Maybe I’m just paranoid….. :P
January 8th, 2013 | 1:12 am
David Nickol,
Please note the first several words in the FBI definition of hate group: “An organization whose primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons…” The idea that the Catholic Church’s primary purpose is to promote hatred against any group of persons is preposterous: according to the FBI, the Catholic Church is by definition not a hate group.
Of course, the petition writer did not refer to the FBI or any other gov’t agency for the definition: he deferred to the authority of the ADL and the SPLC. Unfortunately for petitioners, the ADL will have none of it:
“‘The claims made in this petition to the White House are abhorrent, and the notion that the Catholic Church could be defined as a hate group is an outrageous and offensive conceit,’ said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. ‘While one may agree or disagree with the Church’s position on homosexuality and marriage, any attempt to label the entire faith as a hate group is illegitimate and unacceptable. It was irresponsible for the promoter of this petition to use our name.’”
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/VaticanJewish_96/Church_Not_A_Hate_Group
Still no response from the SPLC, though.
January 12th, 2013 | 1:25 am
The petition is a blatant misrepresentation of the Pope’ remarks. And a blatant, and stereotyping, mischaracterization of the Catholic teachings on human sexuality and the dignity of each human being.
This is not about religious differences, however, it is ludicrous for the petitioners to transform their asserted theologial dispute into a political accusation of hatred. The supremacy of gay identity politics corrupts all that it touches.
The petition is its own example of bigotry — hateful or otherwise. It is intended as another Alinsky attack on the pluralism of civil society.
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