I thought Bill Donohue's head was going to implode on the Larry King Show.
On the other hand, by his words, I'm not sure America could tell if it had.
Still... Bill Donohue is a hypocrit. He demands evidence - including DNA evidence - to prove that a certain tomb in Jerusalem was the final resting place for the body of Jesus. Otherwise, it is an absolute lie.
DONOHUE: Well, here's my thought. You know, at the Catholic League, we have been tracking this stuff now for about 15, 20 years. That is to say every single Lenten season there's somebody, some author or someone of these TV magazine shows which puts out some doubts about the resurrection or Jesus' divinity.
Last year it was NBC. The year before that it was ABC. You can go back check it out on our Web site. Now look, I'm not imputing bad motive here. I'm simply saying this, we have a mountain of speculation with the icing on the top is some kind of corroborative statistical argument here.
I do agree with James on one thing, I want to see the evidence on this. I'm not afraid as a Christian to see the evidence on this.
Okay. That's all good and all, let's see the evidence. But where is Donohue's evidence that Jesus rose from the dead? Can't we hold all the arguments to the same evidentiary standard? And that's what Simcha Jacobovici is claiming to try to do:
JACOBOVICI: By screaming, it does not make it true or false. All I'm trying to tell you is that Dr. Crombine (ph), who is the world's top expert on stone, in the world, has testified in that trial the inscription, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus," is authentic. I have just told you that Suffolk City CSI lab says it's authentic. The Royal Ontario Museum says it is authentic. What I'm trying to tell you is — you don't have to get excited. You have to just listen to the evidence and weigh it.
Of course, then Donohue claims he wants to hear the science, although his mind is already made up...
KING: What are you — Dr. Mohler and Bill Donohue, I guess we will ask Bill first, are you afraid of learning something? I'm trying to figure out.
DONOHUE: Oh no, no. As a matter of fact, I want this pursued because someone is wrong here. And I like this idea of looking at the empirical evidence. But you know what you can't do? This forced idea of connecting dots. I have seen it in the social sciences and they exist in natural sciences.
Somebody takes — starts off with a predicate this could be true. And then they tie it to something else, which could be true. By the time you're finished with this game, you have nothing but a mountain of speculation. And the idea that is preposterous that somehow you are going to come up with some statistical measure. Dr. Al Mohler is absolutely right on the money when he says, you don't have any DNA evidence here in 2007 that you can resolve this. I think we have to be extremely tentative and cautious. But, no, Larry, I want the truth to come out. And I am confident.
Oh, and he also calls this a "Titanic fraud". I wonder how long it took the Catholic League to come up with that line. They are so clever!
Here's the Donohue argument in a nutshell: even with science, you can't absolutely prove that Jesus is in that tomb. And so that proves that Jesus rose from the dead!
Hey! They never found Jimmy Hoffa!
It really is time that William Donohue be cut from the guest lists of television programs. He's an embarrassment, if not to the Catholic Church, then to thinking people who watch television. I don't mind having faith-oriented viewpoints on television, but just like any other viewpoint, I prefer them to provide more than bluster and attack. I would think Catholics would also - wouldn't they prefer that their faith be represented on television talk shows with somebody who can intelligently discuss items within his own supposed expertise?