THE Catholic League has just spent big bucks on an ad in Variety magazine lambasting an upcoming episode of Penn & Teller on Showtime – and has told CBS
To send Penn & Teller a message and let them know that they have crossed the line for the last time.
Penn & Teller
Created by Catholic League head honcho Bill Donohue, the ad points out that on August 27, Showtime will feature:
A vicious assault on Catholics. In the season finale of Penn & Teller’s show, they ‘take on the secretive inner world of The Vatican, the holy city of Catholicism and home of the Pope’.
How do we know it will defame Catholics? Because on the show’s website, it says so: There is a Showtime Advisory for ‘Graphic Language, Adult Content’.
If Showtime posted that warning about a show on Islam, Muslims would brace for the worst (and so might CBS). But Muslims need not worry: it’s not all religions that Showtime likes to trash – just Catholicism …
What will the upcoming show be like? On his Twitter page, Penn Jillette brags how he rips a Catholic encyclical on sexuality: ‘I’m dressed as Darth with a condom cock light saber. He even boasts that the show is ‘hardcore’, admitting that ‘we attack the Vatican’.
The ad continues:
From trashing The Last Supper to mocking Catholic prayers, anti-Catholic bigots who feed on this kind of stuff will have a stomach full.
This is not the first time Showtime has featured a vile Penn & Teller show. In 2005, Mother Teresa was called “Mother Fucking Teresa’, and her order of nuns were branded “fucking cunts.” The year after, Jillette said on his CBS radio show that Mother Teresa ‘got her [sexual] kicks watching people suffer and die.
Just recently, Jillette took after me again in his usual foul way. That doesn’t matter, but what matters greatly is his pathological obsession with bashing Catholics and their religion. There is no legitimate place for this kind of frontal assault on any demographic group.
CBS/Showtime needs to send Penn & Teller a message and let them know that they have crossed the line for the last time. This should be their final season. We know that they’ve been told before to drop the Catholic bashing, and yet they persist. By doing so, Penn & Teller have effectively stuck their middle finger right in the eye of CBS.
Donahue told Catholic Online:
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.
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.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
August 19th, 2009 at 10:17 am
They did a great episodeof Bullshit exposing Mother Theresa… who took money from the rich and gave it to the church while the poor suffered in her "care"
August 19th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Mother Fucking Theresa and her nuns described as cunts. Seems there could be a defence there of stating the facts. Theresa, currently heading for sainthood, was a friend of dictators, travelled first class, £10 million disappeared somewhere – give or take a couple of million – and while enjoying the good life herself denied suffering women drugs and medical equipment because she thought pain – their pain, not hers – was good for them. Nuns don't have too wonderful a record either if you have a look at some of their recent activities revealed in Ireland. OK for Ann Snotty Atkins to lie, bitch, and consign people to hell. Her comments on that stain on civilisation Thought for the Day recently were typically sly: if you cannot find an explanation then it has to be god. Didn't hear it myself. My wife did and apart from misquoting Conan Doyle, Atkins was as vile and fuckwit as usual. How much longer is this going on? She has to be removed and that sick santimonious verbal sewage with her. Have a nice day, folks. Penn and Teller started mine off well.
August 19th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Do you think they'll reveal the secret of that trick where a boy Nazi gets transformed into a pope?
August 19th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Though I don't always agree with them on politics (Penn describes himself as a 'Anarcho Capatalist') their views on religion are spot on. I had a Catholic education at nursery and at secondary school and there was always an emphasis on suffering and how good it was for us. At nursery I broke my arm falling off the climbing frame in the play ground, did the nuns call for an ambulance? Did they fuck. I had to sit in agony and wait for my Mum to pick me up. I was three.
Do Catholics have something against kids? (Insert paedophile-priest joke here)
August 19th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
As much as I enjoy Penn&Teller’s shows, I have to admit they went a little in the wrong direction.
The pownage of bullshit in “P&T:BS” cannot be propagated if every clip is being flagged as illegal.
Penn’s opinion on youtube is protected by copyright restrictions and nobody outside the US is allowed to watch him. He has also said some really stupid things about copyright and the modern culture. Nothing stinks like hypocrisy and closed-mindedness.
Well, I guess nobody’s perfect.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
If the biscuit munchers’ religion is – as they claim – based on revealed truth [whatever that is] then surely it would stand up to a bit of satire. Usual bleating about disrespect, wouldn’t do this to islam,…….yawn. But! If you are a zombie worshipper then it is OK to bugger and abuse children and persecute people based on your ridiculous beliefs. Hats off to Penn and Teller.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
It seems that the you tube clip you posted has been removed Barry–an attack by The popular front for the Libration of Catholicism ?
August 19th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
One of my favourites to do with this idiot Donohue was when she heard the Catholic League were after her because she offended Catholic sensibilities when receiving an award.
She'd said "You know, a lot of people get up here and they thank Jesus for winning these awards. I want you to know that no one had less to do with me winning this award than Jesus. In fact, I don't even think he likes me. If it was up to Jesus, Cesar Millan would be up here with that damn dog. But he's not and I am, so all I can say is – suck it Jesus, this award is my god now."
She said she was worried at first until she found out the Catholic League was one dude with a computer.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
BTW, I think it's worth pointing out that the Catholic 'League' consists of Bill Donahue and…. his laptop.
Also, from Donohue's latest bout of spleen:
" There is no legitimate place for this kind of frontal assault on any demographic group."
Bill Donahue's just written a book attacking and vilifying a particular demographic group. Anyone know which one it is?
August 19th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
what!? When did religion become so important as to curtail freedom of speech of a "human"?
August 19th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Their movie "Penn & Teller get killed" (1989) is very good by the way – I had seen a few clips of their act years ago – but the film really impressed me.
Not watched them since mind.
August 19th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Poor Catholics..they just cannot take any criticism…. it's Ok for them to promote hatred (gays, condoms, abortion) and sentence millions to death (telling Africans that condoms don't work) and fine to abuse kids left, right and centre (and cover it up for years)..but then someone says one thing against them and their silly cream crackers and they're taking out full page ads in magazines. Maybe the money they exhort from their deluded herd would be better spent elsewhere…their leader needs a new dress, nazi uniform and Prada shoes !!!!!!
August 19th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Penn & Teller shows can be readily seen on non-youtube video sites. You know, the ones nobody cares about so they're full of all the stuff that used to be on Youtube!
August 19th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I think the Vatican should someday be turned into a museum of religious horrors.
August 19th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
BTW, 2009 is the 800th anniversary of Albigensian Crusade (into France).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_crusade
August 19th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Urmensch —
For reasons of clarity, I think the words 'Kathy Griffin' should feature somewhere in your reply ;0)
August 19th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
As a Catholic, I'm amazed at what's been written here. There is more vitriol and self-righteousness amongst you"free thinkers" than I've ever seen from the most strident of religious sort. It would be foolish for me to embark upon some dialogue for the purpose of trying to change your minds. However, it's obvious to me that you know nothing about our faith. I’ll warn you, however: it's dangerous to believe the assertions of entertainers who are obviously inclined toward making an excellent living. I'll pointedly remind you that the Catholic Church is only as flawed as the human condition itself. I’d write more, but I’m leaving to help a disabled Catholic nun serve a hot meal to anyone who walks off the street. Gay, straight, atheist, drag queen, you name it. She’s been doing that daily for thirty years; ever hear of those like her? I don’t think Penn and Teller have featured any like her…so…I suppose not.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Seems appropriate since Christianity is the biggest threat to freedom of religion in America.
August 19th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
I'm looking forward to seeing this episode I love P&T bullshit the one where they exposed mother theresa ghandi and the dalai llama for what they are is awesome and in this series I liked the one they did on video game violence and the one taking the piss out of the 2012 doomsayers, this vatican one should be good:D
August 20th, 2009 at 2:28 am
There's nothing at all wrong with humanity. It's misery cults and the their cuture of sacrifice that have harmed the world and continue to do so every day. A nun is a symbol of evil–of someone sacrificing the only life she's got–I'm horrified at the sight of one of them. The Cracker Cult's continued fight against doctor assisted suicide is enough by itself to show the cult's real lack of concern for human suffering. Add to this the opposition to abortion and divorce and the indictment gets stronger and stronger. The flaws in this cult are the fault of the cult and not of human nature. And, don't worry about our cognitive relation to Pen and Teller; I, for one, don't look to movies for history and I don't look to comics for philosophy. In any case, I don't have "faith" in them and they don't claim to be establishing dogma that I must believe if I'm to remain an atheist. Jennifer seems to believe that no one thinks for themselves and that they need warnings. How ludicious! I think I'll spend the rest of the evening reading "Godless" by Dan Barker.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:11 am
When the Ryan report from Ireland came out recently, I looked around for something with some depth about the cause of the problem. The book I found is titled: "Sexual Abuse and the Culture of Catholicism: How Priests and Nuns Become Perpetrators" by Myra L. Hidalgo. I have it on my book wish list, but I don't know when I'll get to it. Maybe some of you would like to give it a look. Even from the nice descriptions at amazon.com, I can't tell if I'd agree with it or not, but it sure looks worth a read. I have the pet theory that knowledge about the psychology and psychopathology of religion would help us fight it. Check it out.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi.....il/-/078...
August 20th, 2009 at 3:38 am
Jennifer,
I congratulate you on your good works. However, just as the faults of Catholics lie in their human nature, so do their "virtues". That is to say, if you can be both a Catholic and a sinner (of any sort), can't you also be both a virtuous religious person? In other words, why is the religion part necessary?
August 20th, 2009 at 3:41 am
The last time I heard of Bill Donohue:
Bill and the Ryan report on YouTube: (he gets his ass kicked by the Irish interviewers)
part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....I&NR...
part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....w&fe...
August 20th, 2009 at 6:06 am
Oops. Thanks Tim.
As a slow typer I usually write in notepad and copy over. For those forums that time-out quickly. This is one of the times I failed to proof-read properly.
August 20th, 2009 at 6:23 am
So you found one of the nuns that isn't a despicable human being. Many of them are great people. Others were monsters.
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious which represents most of of the orders of Catholic sisters in the U.S. have to refused to allow survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic sisters to address the past few annual meetings.
The presense of good people doesn't nor shouldn't shield the institution of the church from criticism. And their presence is no reason to wish the church didn't exist at all.
The good people within it would still be good and the rest would be punished for their crimes as they should be, if they didn't have the institution actively aiding them to evade justice.
August 20th, 2009 at 6:23 am
I say Jennifer that YOU know nothing of your faith. I bet I know more about Catholic history than you would even dare look into.
To say that the RC church is an abomination on the face of this planet is an understatement. Learn some history, real history, and see for yourself about your stinking, corrupt, vile, fraudulent, disgusting, abusive, and wholly putrid 'religion' as run by the Vatican's dogs of crime, and you will see something so rotten even the whining 'I'm so victimised' catholics of this world would find sickening.
Flawed as its human condition my arse…the most devious bunch of bastards that ever existed, and just to support it in this day and age is the measure of your own delusion. Go Penn and Teller!
August 20th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Mother Teresa: Where Are Her Millions?: article from Stern Magazine, 1998.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/bajuu/
Very disturbing.
August 20th, 2009 at 8:43 am
When you are suffering "Jesus is kissing you", according to the Stern report which I mentioned above! What a load of bollocks!!
(BTW That report also claims that the order was receiving an estimated $100 million a year. No wonder the Pope can afford designer shoes!)
August 20th, 2009 at 8:52 am
As far as I'm concerned, Jennifer, your remark that this woman will even serve a meal to a "drag queen" (shock! horror!) tells me all I need to know about the pair of you!
August 20th, 2009 at 9:42 am
I have no idea how that happened …
August 20th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
as someone who ran screaming from the Catholic Church for fifteen years, I can assure you, you're wrong.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Oh please. The shock and horror is yours. Don't put words in my mouth, you're missing the point. If you actually knew me and my friends you would know how wrong your statement is, but who am I to burst your myopic bubble?? Please, by all means, subsist in your self righteousness. I've got better things to do.
August 20th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Hi repete. Do you mean "virtuous non-religious" person? Sure, I agree with you. Most of my friends are not religious and are excellent people. Religion is not a prerequisite of virtue. That being said, faith is not something I can adequately describe on a blog post. It's something that must be experienced; I won't even try to explain because I fear I'll just be met with hatred here. However, I wish people would open their minds to possibilities beyond reason. Sure, it's not for everyone, and not the only way to affect the world positively. Find whatever path works for you, but consider that all truth is not necessarliy tangible.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Fabulous piece of bullshit Jennifer, you quote the usual religious nonsense:
“….faith is not something I can adequately describe ……. It's something that must be experienced…. I wish people would open their minds to possibilities beyond reason.”
We freethinkers do have an open mind, that is why we are not hoodwinked by religious twaddle and quackery; but our minds are not so open as to let our brains fall out! Jennifer you do not have one shred of evidence to back up the claims of your belief system, just “believing” because some preacher says so is not evidence.
“….truth is not necessarliy tangible.” [sic] What a ridiculous statement!
You may be a charitable person in your works but chuck out the god bit, it is rotting your mind.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I thought that's what it was!
August 20th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
The Crusades were "beyond reason": The Inquisition was "beyond reason": the treatment of both children and young unmarried mothers in Catholic institutions was "beyond reason": she's talking bollocks! I think we have another troll here!!
August 20th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
But don't judge her too harshly – she's got a friend who doles out food to GAYS and EVEN DRAG QUEENS if forced to!!!
August 20th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I love the selectivity of your argument…you would make an EXCELLENT Fundamentalist! Hell, we'd even feed YOU! Imagine that, we MUST be crazy.
August 20th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Exactly! What is "beyond reason is called "lunacy" or "unreason". Watch the writing of the holy men. They practice the "beyond reason" that they preach; you'll see sentence after sentence and page after page of untenable prattle. Religion needs and perpetuates a cuture of unreason and replacing this culture of unreason with a culture of reason is, in my view, the fundamental goal.
August 20th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Angela…I actually said "Faith is something I can't accurately describe on a blog post." If you want to make a solid argument, I would caution against taking words out of context.
August 20th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Part 1:
I've seen it before: the idea that atheists are closed minded about going beyond reason. In a case I read 2 or 3 years ago, the holy man ended up with "reasons of the heart" as his form of knowing that is beyond reason but is not just "feelings".. He attributes this solution to Pascal. He quotes Pascal: "The heart has its reasons which reason does not know." He's particularly vile because he spent so much effort berating those who insist on hard evidence; then he pops up with the completely subjective "reasons of the heart".
August 20th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Part 2:
The attack on reason by the pious takes many many forms and is not necessarily direct: "Science rests on faith" is an example; the popular "presuppositional apologetics" is another. One of the most loathsome things one person can do to another is to try to convince them to give up the rationality of their minds. If it saves their religion, however, the pious don't hesitate to use this ugly weapon. The pious have wishes for a magical escape from reality; they have to defy reason to maintain a hold on the wishes. If they can convince people that reason is limited or is itself based on faith, then the racket can continue for centuries more. The pious know what their enemy is; it's time that atheists understood this too.
August 20th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Part 3:
BTW, Aristotle had the basic rebuttal of any "science is based on faith" claims. Yes, there are things that cannot be proved, but that does not make them arbitray assertions of faith. The importance of this can't be overestimated.
Link to the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ("The Fundamental Principles: Axioms):
http://plato.stanford.edu/entr.....le-metap...
Wikipedia: "presuppositional apologetics":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.....onal_apo...
August 20th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
To your list of "beyond reason", let me add one of the great books of piety: "Malleus Maleficarum" (The Hammer of Witches–published in 1487). I've seen this book described as one of the most evil books ever written. BTW, the Cracker Cult can't take credit for the whole of European witch killing. As I recall, most of it was't by them.
Wikipedia: Malleus Maleficarum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_of_witches
As it happens, there's a new translation by Christopher S. Mackay now in paperback. I'm reading it but haven't yet finished the intro material (which seems quote good).
http://www.amazon.com/Hammer-W.....lete-Tra...
August 20th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
What you actually said was “That being said, faith is not something I can adequately describe on a blog post.”
Given that “faith” appears to be your raison d'être, I would have thought you would be able to articulate.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
I, for one, would need to be convinced by a rational argument that I should go "beyond reason". Otherwise, all I'd have is some form of argument "beyond reason" to justify going "beyond reason" (unless, of course, going beyond reason were an axiom–which it isn't!.) Bummer: I'll never be pious!
A well done description of "faith" pointed to with a URL would be quite adequate, and I would greatly appreciate the resource. Really! Otherwise, I'm stuck with a description such as: "Faith is a willful decision to not be conscious of reality–a willful rejection of the responsibilty of consciousness–brought about by placing the views of some herd authorities about one's own mind; it's an attempt to escape the fact that each of us is fundamentally cognitivly alone." The problem of knowledge (the philosophic science of epistemology) is not easy but "faith" is one of the most corrupt solutions ever devised.
August 20th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Yes, "virtuous non-religious" person.
I understand that the faith you have is a personal experience. I am atheist, but I am the kind that doesn't care if you are or aren't. It's really none of my business what you are as long as you're a decent person. And so as long as you (meaning anyone) don't shove my face in your religion or try to insert your religion into government then I have no problem with it at all.
Much of the vitriol you see on sites like this one is a direct reaction to just such behavior perpetrated by religious people. There's a bit too much lumping going on. Rather than treat each person individually, many theists are lumped in with the worst sort of theist (and vice versa). Much of it is also in good fun, so try not to take it personally.
August 21st, 2009 at 3:21 am
If I'm so wrong, why did you run screaming from the RC church? I am not wrong. Like I said, study some history, not the RC version of history. Every crime known to humanity? the RC church committed it, and still commits crimes to this day. But of course, taking a look at history and learning the truth is something religious people never do, either through the fear of what they might find, or just that old, "I'm not listening!" cowardice. Yeah, the truth is really hard.
August 21st, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I used to be one – that's how I know all about the bigotry and hatred which lies just beneath that thin veneer of "compassion" that the religious boast about so nauseatingly!
August 21st, 2009 at 7:38 pm
http://www.redefinegod.com/vid.....-teller-...
here you go.
highly disturbing – I find the actions of this twisted crone sickening. The twisted pervert.
August 21st, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Oh wow. I'm sorry. No wonder you hate religion so much. One last thing before I leave a place for good where I'm obviously not welcome. I showed some of my gay friends (shock! horror!) your responses and we all had a great laugh. Not at your expense…don't get me wrong, just at how willing people are to read into things and jump to conclusions without being fully informed. Good luck, please try to drop the hatred bit; it's not becoming for a "free thinker," atheist or no.