July 21, 2021

On January 7, the day after the insurrection riot in the nation's capitol, two Wisconsin priests, James Altman and Richard Heilman, went on a podcast, sharing QAnon conspiracy theories:

The Wisconsin Examiner reported in January about the hour-long podcast, saying it was “making excuses for Trump supporters and Christians who stormed the Capitol; discussing COVID-19 conspiracy theories; attacking the media as ‘godless;’ complaining about cancel culture; portending a coming civil war; attacking Breonna Taylor and Trayvon Martin and saying that real Catholics didn’t vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.” The other priest was Richard Heilman of St. Mary of Pine Bluff Catholic Church in Cross Plains. Heilman remains on the Diocese of Madison website and is shown on YouTube giving sermons on Wednesday and Thursday.

Altman stated at the time that in being killed by the police Breonna Taylor was to blame for her own death: “Listen, nobody’s got the guts to say, ‘Hey sweetheart, you were hanging around a bad guy to begin with, that’s why the police were coming over there.’ … Okay, you brought that on yourself.”

Subsequently, the Diocese removed him from the pulpit on July 10.

The day after he was removed, he appeared on stage at CPAC, giving the welcoming prayer, which in itself is a doozy, but he fit in well with the other nutjobs appearing on stage.

“So now and always, let us realize our help is in the name of the Lord, who actually did make heaven and earth, and that’s all the science we need to know,” Altman said in his prayer, adding, “Nourish us and strengthen us with such grace that we may be such witnesses of faith, family and country that the whole world will come to know we will not be canceled.”

Altman also appeared on a panel entitled "Why Faith Matters."

It again fits in well with the theme of the convention, and is another strong piece of evidence that these Trumpanzees and conspiracy theorists are nothing more than members of a cult.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon