Austin Ruse

Austin Ruse is an American conservative political activist, journalist and author. He serves as the President of the Center for Family and Human Rights, also known as C-FAM, a United States-based research institute/think tank and conservative, anti-abortion NGO.

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.[1]

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.[2] In July 2013, Ruse was identified as a key member of Groundswell, a coalition of conservative activists and journalists.[3][4]

In 2017 Ruse published the book Littlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ,[5] which relates the story of three children, including Margaret Leo of McLean, Virginia who died from complications related to spina bifida.[6]

Ruse's second book, Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data[7] was also published in 2017. This challenges scientific findings on a range of public policy issues including global warming, genetically modified foods, and fracking.

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.[8] 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)[2] and Crisis Magazine.[1]

Ruse is a founding member of the Diplomatic Society of St. Gabriel as well as a member of Sons of the American Revolution.[2] He is a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and a Knight of Malta.[2]

Views and controversies

Anti-left views

While hosting a radio talk show in March 2014, Ruse stated that "the hard left, human-hating people that run modern universities" should "all be taken out and shot".[9] This led to a Catholic priest on a board of C-FAM resigning in protest at the comments.[10] Ruse issued a formal apology for his comments, stating "the expression 'taken out and shot'... was not intended to be taken literally."[11] According to the Huffington Post, he has also described Democrats ″get[ting] into the ballot box″ as “really dumb ... low-information voters.”[9]

Anti-gay views

The Advocate has described Ruse as "fanatically anti-gay", suggesting 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 he 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."[12] 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.[13]

He has strongly criticized the Jesuit priest James Martin for his work which urged has gay Catholics to begin conversations with their bishops in order to help move the direction of Church teaching towards greater acceptance of homosexuality. Ruse has described Martin as "leading young men to perdition".[14]

While Ruse has not commented on Martin's book Building Bridges, Ruse has been a vociferous critic of the Jesuit priest for what Ruse and others view as Martin's heterodox views on human sexuality, specifically homosexuality. In a September 2017 column Ruse said, “James Martin SJ gallivants around the country telling young men and women that their sexual lifestyles are acceptable to the Church, which is not true; that the Church welcomes them no matter what they may be doing, which is certainly true.” [15]

Two weeks later Ruse wrote:

Martin has been a master manipulator of the narrative. He…says criticism of him springs only from hatred because of his "outreach" to homosexuals, and his rather anodyne book .... the charge that his critics oppose outreach to homosexuals is laughable, particularly since all his critics fully support the apostolate Courage. His critics just do not support the Martin kind of outreach, which is clearly supportive of the gay way of life.[16]

In April 2018, Ruse referred to Martin as “slippery.” [17]

Private life

Raised Methodist, Ruse converted to Catholicism.[18] 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.[2]

References
  1. "Episode Info". Stitcher Radio. August 13, 2017. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  2. "Austin Ruse". Catholic Answers. Retrieved January 18, 2019. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Vicens, AJ (July 25, 2013). "Meet Groundswell's Major Players". Mother Jones. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  4. "Meeting with the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam)". Ministry for Foreign Affairs website. Government of Malta. December 22, 2008.
  5. Ruse, Austin. Littlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ. ASIN 150510839X.CS1 maint: ASIN uses ISBN (link)
  6. "Pope in Fatima". Crux. 2017-05-10. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  7. Ruse, Austin (17 July 2017). Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data. ISBN 978-1621575948.
  8. "Steve Bannon is 'a good Catholic,' Charlie Rose said on '60 minutes.' Was he right?". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  9. Shadee Ashtari,"Catholic Group Leader Calls For Liberal Academics To Be 'Taken Out And Shot'", Huffington Post, March 13, 2014; retrieved March 14, 2014.
  10. John Gehring, The Francis Effect: A Radical Pope's Challenge to the American Catholic Church, New York, 2015 (chapter 2, p. 26)
  11. "Statement by Austin Ruse". Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. 2014-03-14. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  12. "Trump Gives Haters a Prominent Spot at the United Nations". 2017-03-21.
  13. "Anti-LGBT Roundup of Events and Activities 6.26.17". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  14. "Fr. James Martin's works will outlast recent, childish Twitter attacks". National Catholic Reporter. 2017-09-08. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  15. "The Perfidious James Martin SJ". 2017-09-15.
  16. "James Martin SJ Thinks You're a Nazi". 2017-09-29.
  17. "James Martin S.J. Vs James Martin S.J". 2018-04-13.
  18. "Austin Ruse – Former Methodist". The Coming Home Network. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
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