This saddens me a great deal--but maybe it's not so bad

Update:
LifeSiteNews is reporting the USCCB denies signing on to this:

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Speaking for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has stated that a religious coalition, which recently petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clamp down on "hate speech" by conservative talk-show hosts, has misrepresented the U.S. bishops' involvement in their initiative.

The USCCB Office of Communications is listed as a member of the So We Might See Coalition, a group billing itself as a national interfaith coalition against hate speech in media led by the United Church of Christ's (UCC) Office of Communications' Executive Director, J. Bennett Guess.

The USCCB drew fire from conservative and Catholic commentators after the So We Might See Coalition launched a petition to the FCC, signed by the USCCB, that called for an investigation into "hate speech" in media and that singled out conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh as a primary culprit.

Don't these religious organizations realize that their efforts to squelch conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh will backfire on them--at least the ones that still preach anything Christian concerning life and human sexuality?

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Deal Hudson writes at Inside Catholic:

In an important article for the American Spectator, Jeffrey Lord describes the effort of "So We Might See" -- "a national inter-faith coalition for media justice," according to its Web site -- to force a Federal Communications Commission investigation of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

The organization's petition to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and the assistant secretary for communications and information, Larry E. Strickling, specifically accuses Limbaugh of causing the June 2006 beating of two Mexican men by four teenagers in Rocky Point, New York. "This incident occurred after radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh called Mexican immigrants, regardless of legal status, 'a renegade, potential crime element that is unwilling to work.'"

So We Might See regards Limbaugh's words as an example of "hate speech" that led to violence. But Limbaugh is not the only talk radio host considered dangerous. In his article, Lord notes that Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, and Lou Dobbs are also singled out in an e-mail from So We Might See staffer Rev. Ben Guess, a United Church of Christ minister.

Several religious groups are listed as "principal partners" in the interfaith coalition of So We Might See, including the National Council of Churches, Islamic Society of North America, Presbyterian News Service, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) -- and the Office of Communications for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Preach about civility and virtue all you want. Call us to come up higher in our discourse. But PLEASE, I beg you, do not go to government to shut anyone down unless they are threatening your life, lying about you with malicious intent (as people have done about Limbaugh, who may be polemical but he is no racist) or fomenting others to commit violence against you.

Otherwise, you, my Christian brothers and sisters, will be next.