Donohue happy no-one’s ridiculing exorcism in The Rite

Yes, him again

It feels like it’s only been – [checks watch] – five minutes since my last post about the Catholic League’s irredeemably hypocritical blowhard, Bill Donohue, so do forgive me for posting about him so soon. But his latest press release, on the subject of the positive critical reception of The Rite, contains a couple of amusing tidbits that I couldn’t leave unmentioned:

Unfailingly, whenever there is a TV show or movie that touches on subjects like Transubstantiation—the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus—the Virgin birth, apparitions, the stigmata, even confession, it is the subject of ridicule and insulting commentary.

Wait … you mean they shouldn’t be?

But when it comes to the phenomenon of exorcism, it’s hard to find anyone who mocks it.

Oh? Then, perhaps Bill should ask those same non-exorcism-ridiculing film critics what they actually think about the subject when not writing in context of a proper film review. I doubt he’d still think they were all so complacent.

The cast of “The Rite” was also respectful: none lambasted the idea that demons could be purged by a trained Roman Catholic priest.

This is good news. Evil exists, and everyone save for a fringe minority, admits it. More important, the belief that the devil can be conquered also exists. That the Catholic Church has a mechanism to deal with it is hardly surprising. After all, it was founded by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

“Bad hocus-pocus exists, and we’re the only ones who can stop it!”

I honestly don’t know anyone other than Christians who indulge us with this sort of combined whackaloonery and egomania on such a regular basis.