Catholic league attack demands Time Warner have 'serious talk' with Bill Maher

The president of the Catholic League has had enough of HBO's Bill Maher mocking his religion.

Earlier this week, Catholic League President Bill Donohue sent a letter asking Time Warner to have a "serious talk" with the atheist comedian.

"There is no other entertainer in the nation who has repeatedly spoken about the Catholic Church, especially its priests, in more vile and obscene terms than Bill Maher," Donohue wrote to Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt. "Vicious beyond belief, his remarks would be condemned – indeed he would be fired – if directed at any other demographic group. Over and over again he libels [sic] priests, portraying all of them as sexual abusers. And he does so with impunity."

"Catholics need to know just how far Time Warner is prepared to play the role of spectator," Donohue added. "From the enclosed report, it is evident that Maher's bigotry is not merely visceral, it is relentless."

"Time has come for someone in a position of responsibility to sit down and have a serious talk with this man."

In the "New Rules" segment of his HBO Real Time talk show earlier this month, Maher had included Donahoe’s Catholic League as one of many conservative groups who try to appear larger than they really are.

Maher called the phenomenon "shit-kicker inflation, which is the problem of all things conservative being portrayed as way bigger than they really are."

"The Catholic League is another group constantly in the news because they love to get freaked out about nonsense that would make even Pat Robertson go, 'Oh for Christ sake, relax.' But just as there aren't a million moms in One Million Moms, there is no league in the Catholic League. It's one guy with a fax machine."

On the most recent episode of Real Time, Maher had weighed in on the selection of a the new pope, suggesting that the Catholic Church had been "running a child-sex ring since forever and you still keep your customers."

Watch this video from HBO's Real Time, broadcast March 22, 2013.

(h/t: Talking Points Memo)