Donohue responds to Sarah Silverman’s ‘Sell the Vatican, Feed the World’ video

Huh. This guy really is hell-bent on finding absolutely anything that could possibly be construed as anti-Catholic, and gnashing his studded teeth furiously at it whilst giving everyone else tons of ammo to take him out with. Yes, of course, I’m talking about the self-appointed Attack-Lemming of Catholicism, Bill “Jackass” Donohue, who seems to have taken issue with this recent humorous-slash-touché video from Sarah Silverman, which aired on Real Time with Bill Maher a few days ago.

Frankly, there isn’t anything that even the most ardent Defenders of the Faith^TM can say in contradiction of this video: the Vatican is one big monument to human hypocrisy and moral failure, and with barely a flick of the Pope's wrinkly old finger, he could have world hunger – or any number of global problems – wiped out. But does he?

But then, that’s expecting defenders of Catholicism and the Vatican to be sane and rational. Which brings us to “Jackass” Donohue and his new braying:

Comedian Sarah Silverman appeared on Bill Maher's HBO show on October 9 attacking the Vatican. She began her monologue bemoaning the plight of world hunger, and then found a solution: "What is the Vatican worth, like 500 billion dollars? This is great, sell the Vatican, take a big chunk of the money, build a gorgeous condominium for you and all your friends to live in…and with the money left over, feed the whole f---ing world."

Speaking of the pope, Silverman continued, "You preach to live humbly, and I totally agree. So, now maybe it's time for you to move out of your house that is a city. On an ego level alone, you will be the biggest hero in the history of ever. And by the way, any involvement in the Holocaust, bygones…."

Silverman closed by saying, "If you sell the Vatican, and you take that money, and you use it to feed every single human being on the planet, you will get crazy p---y. All the p---y."

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responds as follows:

Silverman's assault on Catholicism is just another example of HBO's corporate irresponsibility. Time and again, if it's not Bill Maher thrashing the Catholic Church, it's one of his guests. There is obviously something pathological going on there: Silverman's filthy diatribe would never be allowed if the chosen target were the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem and the state of Israel.

Here's a reality check for Silverman: the Catholic Church operates more hospitals and feeds more of the poor than any private institution in the world. It also saved more Jews during the Holocaust than any other institution in the world.

First of all, notice how cleverly he avoids actually responding to any of Silverman’s real points; you know, those about the Vatican being absolutely filthy Rich with a capital ‘R’, about it not doing anything to help the world in any major and tangible way, about the Pope and anyone else living in that city-of-a-home breaking their vows of living in poverty … amongst many others. Evasion: the hallmark of defensive Christians. Ignore the actual arguments and just weave your way around the criticism.

Then, even what Donohue did say in response is untrue. First, a little reality check for Donohue himself: as of 1999, only 604 out of 4,573 hospitals in America were religious, accounting for only 13% of the total (and 18% of all hospital beds). Also, many are mergers rather than standalone Christian religious structures, and only part of them are Catholic (others being Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, etc.). And even then, 99.9985% of their funding comes from public sources (Medicare, Medicaid, investments, charities, etc.) – the Church’s funding for its own hospitals accounts for about 0.0015%.

So, it’s safe to say the Church has virtually nothing to do with healthcare administered to the sick in America.

And second, about the Vatican’s role in saving Jews during the Holocaust? It’s fairly complicated, but the general story is that the Vatican, headed by then-Pope Pius XII, was one of the last organizations to recognize the problem and step in to help when it did; for years, it completely ignored the repeated pleas for help. Not exactly the mark of a beneficial establishment to me.

Oh, and lest I forget to mention: the Holocaust, and the Vatican’s role in helping the survivors (or lack thereof), has fuck-all to do with what Silverman said about selling the Vatican in exchange for feeding the world. Sheesh.

(via Pharyngula)