Secular Sabotage: How Liberals Are Destroying Religion and Culture in America

by William A. Donohue

This assault is not happening from accident or whim. It is happening because disaffected liberals have deliberately set out to upend our Judeo-Christian traditions. Indeed, they are determined to tear down the traditional norms, values, and institutions that have been part of American society from its founding. The cultural debris that these saboteurs have created will take decades to clean up.

In feisty prose Donohue explores our nation where a college student is threatened with expulsion because she prayed on campus, a civil rights organization protests a statue of Jesus found on the ocean floor and a housewife sues a school district to stop the singing of Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer at a school choral production. These are just a few examples cited that demonstrate a culture descending into madness.

Donohue takes no prisoners as he digs out and exposes the groups behind this all-out attack on our Christian traditions. Among these are the radical atheists, the proponents of multiculturalism, the sexual libertines, the Hollywood elite with their not-so-hidden agenda and lawyers who collaborate for profit.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

William Anthony "Bill" Donahue was born in 1947 in New York. He is a sociologist, civil activist and current president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States, a position he has held since 1993.

Reviews

[Elliot Ratzman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Donohue is the head of the Catholic League which I assumed was the ADL for Catholics. They rightly mobilize against anti-Catholic bigotry and Donohue narrates a number of outrageous incidents. They also mobilize against legislation, films, art exhibits and other moves in the culture that they perceive to be insulting to Catholicism as such—from abortion rights to Catholic and/or gay artists depicting Christian subjects in, well, artistic ways. I thought this book might shed some light on a serious Catholic position about materialism and vice in American culture. Instead, it is an inane series of “strawman” arguments so ludicrous as to be embarrassing. Most of the alleged “nihilists” who “hate” Western Civilization and Christianity turn out to be non-Orthodox Jews—materialists and Christ-killer art enablers—along with liberal Catholics, Mainline Prots and LGBT activists. The few outrageous cites I fact-checked were out and out distortions. This book, and this guy, should not be trusted.

[Winston Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually try to listen to audiobooks at least twice before making my opinion public. I am proud to say that I have indeed done so in this case. Kudos to Bill for seeing fit to grace us with a detailed dissertation in an interview. I found it quite enlightening. :)

Bill Donohue, an unabashed right-wing, Catholic ideologue, opens with headlines that are designed to make almost anyone cringe, but which upon further investigation reveal a diatribe reminiscent of a child's conniption fit.

Very early on, Bill claims that diversity and inclusion are mutually exclusive; that diversity necessarily precludes inclusion. Nonsense! Inclusion requires nothing more than mutual respect for all of society's members. He seems to love repeating Dinesh D'Souza's tired, mendacious claims that the great men, the literal saints that founded the US, wanted to found a Christian nation. Wrong again. Read the personal writings of the Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and George Washington if you still believe or insist on claiming that the United States should have religion dictating what its 300 million plus citizens should do. Not only would this be a logistical nightmare (Catholics vs Protestants, Puritans vs Calvinists vs everyone else), but it would relegate anyone not glib, rich or organized to second-class citizenship. Christian values, unless subject to cherry-picking, would

Donahue also trots out the tired old canard about objective morality. According to Donahue (and WLC, Ravi Zacharias et al), objective morality cannot exist without god. What they fail to realize is the false dichotomy (one of a few in this book) inherent in this statement. Even veteran apologist Bill Craig has conceded on his Reasonable Faith website that god is not subject to these selfsame "objective morals." Wow. That would make those morals subjective and arbitrary. Special pleading, the weak last resort of apologists trying to justify biblical genocide. Just google "william lane craig" +Canaanites if you doubt me.

I fail to see the "radical secularism" present in nuns advocating a woman's right to choose abortion, especially since they tend to be frequent rape victims in unpropitious parishes. As for the college students who were threatened with arrest for passing out Christian leaflets without faculty permission, I'd have to land squarely in the university's corner here. Adult students should have more respect and be more tactful in a public environment (or a private one populated by individuals of multiple creeds, religions and ideologies). Christians are bound by the law too. No one should be able to violate the peace with impunity. I would include captive-audience preaching in public trains, parks, streets and schools in this category. I do not wish to hear Ray Comfort's voice overpowering my headphones.

William's disingenuous tactics of equating the mainstream liberal/secular movement with extremists who see no difference between incest, child rape and homosexuality. Is he deliberately obtuse, or is he trying to stir up emotions against equality? I don't think too many individuals outside NAMBLA are actively trying to legalize child rape. Do you think so? Does anyone outside Bill's Catholic League? Not surprisingly, another of his many targets is Sam Harris. What is Bill's issue with Harris, specifically his Letter to a Christian Nation? The "fact" that the US is a Christian nation (it's also a white, rich elitist nation if most polls are to be believed). Bill actually sees nothing wrong with a majority of Americans believing in a literal creation and a young Earth. Is he sane? Evolutionary theory was the basis for most of modern medicine, including new vaccines against new strains of influenza that emerge every year. The fewer people accept evolution, the fewer cutting-edge doctors will be working for the Land of the Free. I do not see anything even remotely helpful about Creationism.

He waxes poetic for a few pages about "immoral" and "disgusting" works of art. Why the Puritanism? A recent study (Pornography, Public Acceptance and Sex Related Crime: A Review) has even shown that religious sexual repression, and NOT pornographic access, are far more likely to result in an individual committing sex crimes. There has also been absolutely no correlation at all between more porn and more sex crimes. A healthy attitude towards sex is crucial here; humans are sexual beings, like all animals, and aside from mass castration, this is never going to change. For the record, a recent study also showed that the average of a child's first pornographic exposure is ELEVEN YEARS OF AGE. So we're really pushing poo uphill when we attempt to institute abstinence-only education and expect it to work (it never will).

Donahue fails to understand the First Amendment. There is no such thing as a one-way wall, as he seems to imply. Compounding his ignorance is his claim (also spouted by Dinesh D'Souza during bouts of verbal runs) that Christianity was responsible for religious freedom and democracy. Wrong again. The concept of democracy originated in ancient Greece, and Christianity waltzed hand-in-hand with the Roman Empire (among others) led to repeated acts of ghettoization and genocide, and it was only through teachings garnered during the Enlightenment that democracy finally took hold.

In summation, this is good for a laugh, much like Rush Limbaugh's books. If you're looking for actual discourse, I would recommend something more middle-road, like Tammy Bruce's book The Death of Right and Wrong.

[Gef · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering I'm one of those godless heathens that Bill Donohue often rails against, my opinion on this book may not be well met among his fans. So, sufficed it say, I read the book and was disappointed at its approach to the perceived problem. Unfortunately, Donohue does little more than preach to the converted.

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally, I'm not one to read books like this. Sociology is not personally my cup of tea, although when something catches my eye, I go for it. Now, I've been hearing good things about Bill Donohue for years, so I finally decided to check out one of his books and see what all the fuss was about. May I just say that this was an excellent book? It really was. I could not put it down! I was drawn right in, and spent many a sleepless night curled up in bed with this fascinating piece.

I'm sure that some people would give me flack for reading a book like this. But, I say, why not? I'm a conservative Catholic who feels that my faith is under attack in the modern world. Catholics in general are a bit too nice and mousy when it comes to blaspheming, heresies, and other attacks on the faith. Not Bill Donohue, though. Not one to take things sitting down, he leaps right into the action, taking these offenses into his own hands in a spectacular defensive maneuver. He's classy, he's aggressive, and he still manages to be respectful of the opposition, but most of all, he's funny! I did not expect to laugh half as much as I did while reading this book! Despite reading about things that would turn the stomach of any Catholic (and most everyone, actually), I still found many occasions to laugh. It was a nice balance.

I'm certainly going to keep reading Donohue's work. He's a wonderful Catholic writer.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

stress virtues, 8 of 10 Christian, secular as termites, diversity or inclusion, dictatorship of relativism with no truths, Disney and Miramax bias, Hugo Black and kkk, don Brown controversy sparks sales, aclu rights from state and civil rights against Catholics, right law vs interpret, most molesters gay, no institution survives when termites welcomed, annihilate w/o blueprint of succession just destroy, militant atheism madness on steroids, multiculturalism errors, short power vacuums, thou shall not, take command in own neighborhood, abuses in public schools, God exist in human nature.

[Melissa]

This is still not received. I am thinking it will not be. Should it be, a review will be added.

Won on first reads. As the world lost a great lady when my wonderful friend, Ramona, just passed away, this review will serve for her, when it is received. She will be dearly missed and cancer will be cursed for taking her from us so young.

[Heather]

I won this through First Reads. Woohoo! I think I want to make my husband read it too so we can argue, I mean debate, some of the ideas.

I'll post a review as soon as I've read it.

November 2009 - Still have not received the book. I can't review what I don't have!

[Ramona]

I won this on first reads. Please check my friend Melissa Murphy's review for this book.

[Nick]

I won this book on first reads, but have not received it. I am thinking I am not going to.