Austin Ruse

Austin Ruse is an American conservative political activist, journalist and author. He is the President of the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM), which has been listed as an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[1][2] Through C-FAM and his own writings, Ruse advocates anti-LGBT and anti-abortion conservative positions, and has advocated for the criminalization of homosexuality.

Austin Ruse
Ruse in 2009
Alma materUniversity of Missouri
OccupationPolitical activist, author, columnist, journalist
Known forCenter for Family and Human Rights
TitlePresident, Center for Family and Human Rights

Career

Ruse received a Bachelor of Journalism degree as well as a Bachelor of Arts in political science (University of Missouri) and received an Honorary Doctorate from the Franciscan University of Steubenville.[3]

Having been involved in the establishment of the C-FAM, he has headed this organization since the summer of 1997, holding the title of President since 2000.[4] In July 2013, Ruse was identified as a convener of a meeting of the Groundswell coalition among conservative activists and journalists.[5]

In 2017 Ruse published the book Littlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ,[6] which profiles three devoutly religious children who died after extended periods of illness.[7] The book won two awards, including one from the Catholic Press Association.

Ruse's second book, Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data was also published in 2017.[8]

Ruse's third book --- The Catholic Case for Trump --- was published by Regnery Publishers just prior to the presidential election.[9]

Ruse was a regular contributor to the media outlet Breitbart and was instrumental in encouraging Steve Bannon to get involved with Vatican reporting, which paved the way for the establishment of Breitbart's Rome bureau.[10] Moreover, Ruse has published in First Things, The Washington Times, National Review Online, The Weekly Standard, Human Events as well as Touchstone (magazine), and he has been a columnist for The Catholic Thing (biweekly)[4] and Crisis Magazine.[3]

Awards and Honors

He has received the John Cardinal O'Connor Award from Legatus (an organization for Catholic business leaders).[11] In 2004, Ruse and his wife Cathy were awarded with the John Paul II Award for Advancing the Culture of life from the Institute for the Psychological Sciences.[12] His book Littlest Suffering Souls earned a gold Illumination Award in 2018.[13]

Views and controversies

Anti-left views

Ruse stated that the "hard left, human-hating people that run modern universities... should all be taken out and shot” while hosting a radio talk show on American Family Radio in March 2014.[14] Monsignor Anthony Frontiero, of the St. Joseph Cathedral in Manchester, New Hampshire, resigned from the board of C-FAM because of Ruse's comments.[15][2] The next day on the same radio program, he described Democrats "get[ting] into the ballot box" as "really dumb ... low-information voters."[14]

After the fallout from his comments, AFR removed Ruse from their airwaves, stated that his views were "un-Christian", and scrubbed all of Ruse's shows from their online archives. Ruse also deactivated his Twitter account.[2]

Ruse issued a statement on C-FAM's website later that week in which he said he regretted using the phrase "taken out and shot".[16]

Anti-gay views

The Advocate has described Ruse as "fanatically anti-gay", stating that he has supported anti-gay legislation backed by Vladimir Putin in Russia as well as the continued criminalization of homosexuality in many African countries. At the UN, Ruse has worked to overturn the Human Rights Council's decision to investigate violence on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Ruse has warned against "radical homosexuals" and suggested that "they are coming for your daughter and your son and your grandchildren. They don't have any children of their own. They are deliberately barren. So, they have set their sights on yours, your innocent girls and boys."[17] Ruse supports legislation in Russia that criminalizes free speech concerning homosexuality, and has argued that most Americans would like to see a similar approach in the US.[18]

In 2017, Ruse attacked Jesuit priest James Martin on social media for his work that urges gay Catholics to begin conversations with their bishops. Michael Sean Winters described Ruse's attacks as "vulgar and childish", and stated that when it comes to Catholicism, Ruse "seems to adopt the most hurtful interpretations possible and hurls them at the feet of others."[19]

Support for Donald Trump

Ruse has repeatedly publicly expressed his support for Donald Trump. He has stated that Trump "more closely adheres to Catholic social teaching than Joe Biden".[20]

Ruse mocked the speech impediment of a 13-year-old child appearing during the 2020 Democratic Convention on Twitter, drawing comparison to Donald Trump's past history of mocking people with disabilities.[21] He subsequently claimed he was mocking Biden and claimed, with no basis, the former vice president never had a stutter.[22]

Personal life

Raised Methodist, Ruse converted to Catholicism.[23] Ruse is a descendant of early English colonists. He and his wife Cathleen, a senior legal advisor to the Family Research Council, have two daughters, and live in Virginia.[4]

References
  1. "Hate Map: DC" splcenter.org
  2. "Could Austin Ruse's Violent Rhetoric Endanger C-FAM's Status with the UN?". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  3. "Episode Info". Stitcher Radio. August 13, 2017. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  4. "Austin Ruse". Catholic Answers. Retrieved January 18, 2019. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. Corn, David (July 25, 2013). "Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War"". Mother Jones. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  6. Ruse, Austin (2017). Littlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ. TAN Books. ISBN 978-1505108392.
  7. "Pope in Fatima". Crux. 2017-05-10. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  8. Ruse, Austin (17 July 2017). Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data. Regnery. ISBN 978-1621575948.
  9. https://www.regnery.com/9781684510962/the-catholic-case-for-trump/
  10. "Steve Bannon is 'a good Catholic,' Charlie Rose said on '60 minutes.' Was he right?". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  11. Austin Ruse; et al. (December 1, 2015). "The raucous Synod and a call to action". legatus.org. Legatus. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  12. "IPS Honors Pro-Life Couple". Arlington Catholic Herald. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
  13. AWARDS, 5th ANNUAL. "2018 Illumination Awards Results". Independent Publisher - feature. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  14. Shadee Ashtari,"Catholic Group Leader Calls For Liberal Academics To Be 'Taken Out And Shot'", Huffington Post, March 13, 2014; retrieved March 14, 2014.
  15. John Gehring, The Francis Effect: A Radical Pope's Challenge to the American Catholic Church, New York, 2015 (chapter 2, p. 26)
  16. "Statement by Austin Ruse". Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. 2014-03-14. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  17. "Trump Gives Haters a Prominent Spot at the United Nations". 2017-03-21.
  18. "Anti-LGBT Roundup of Events and Activities 6.26.17". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  19. Winters, Michael Sean (2017-09-08). "Fr. James Martin's works will outlast recent, childish Twitter attacks". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  20. Mucha, Sarah (18 July 2020). "Joe Biden is a man of faith. That could help him win over some White evangelicals". KTEN. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  21. Dreher, Rod (21 August 2020). "Brayden Harrington, Hero". The American Conservative. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  22. Gifford, Storm (22 August 2020). "Trump-loving author Austin Ruse claims Joe Biden never had stutter". NY Daily News. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  23. "Austin Ruse – Former Methodist". The Coming Home Network. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
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