Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the decision by the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to put the word “God” back into the Democratic National Platform:

The Democrats intentionally took the word “God” out of the Platform, took heat for doing so, failed to persuade delegates to put it back in, did so anyway by fiat, and then lied about the entire event.

The White House would have us believe that President Obama intervened to save the day, ordering the delegates to rediscover both God and the capital of Israel. But it was too late. Earlier, the Obama campaign told Politico that Obama had personally approved the Platform, choosing to intervene only after the pushback began.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC chair, who has been caught in a string of lies this week, said the decision to excise God was “essentially a technical oversight.” David Gergen told CNN viewers the exact same thing. But someone, assumedly with the consent of others, threw God out. Moreover, even if the oversight process failed, it does not explain why the word “God” was initially deemed offensive, thus meriting deletion.

Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who is in charge of the Platform committee, explained the revised wording by saying, “I wouldn’t call it an error. It was a clarification.” Michelle Obama called the whole thing “a non-issue; and I think it’s a distraction.” It was nice to know that Obama’s faith-based director—of all people—Rev. Derrick Hawkins, also said the flap about God was “a non-issue.”

Terri Holland, a New Mexico delegate, disagrees with these assessments. She said the changes were made to “kow-tow to the religious right.” This is revealing: speaking about God in the Platform is not the kind of thing that thoughtful Democrats want to be associated with. Evidently, one has to be a right-wing loon to reference our “God-given potential.” Her honesty is very much appreciated.