{{short description|American political activist}}
{{Infobox person | name = Austin Ruse | image = Austin Ruse PHOTO.jpg | caption = Ruse in 2009 | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | occupation = Political activist, journalist, author | title = President, Center for Family and Human Rights | spouse = Cathy Cleaver Ruse<ref>{{Cite book |last=Joyce |first=Kathryn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WhhCQY_7sogC |title=Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement |date=2009 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-1070-9 |language=en}}</ref> | alma_mater = University of Missouri }} '''Austin Ruse''' is an American conservative political activist, journalist and author. He is the president of a nonprofit NGO, Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM), which is in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council <ref>https://esango.un.org/civilsociety/showProfileDetail.do?method=showProfileDetails&profileCode=622217</ref>. The group holds anti-abortion and anti-LGBT views.<ref>[http://www.splcenter.org/hate-map#s=DC "Hate Map: DC"] splcenter.org</ref><ref name="violent">{{Cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2014/03/19/could-austin-ruses-violent-rhetoric-endanger-c-fams-status-un|title=Could Austin Ruse's Violent Rhetoric Endanger C-FAM's Status with the UN?|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|language=en|access-date=2019-05-29}}</ref>
==Career== After graduating from the University of Missouri, Ruse moved to Washington D.C. where he began work with American Film Magazine, run by the American Film Institute. He moved to New York for AFI and opened their first New York office in Greenwich Village. From there he went to work --- in order --- with The Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, Fortune Magazine and Forbes. In was in these years that he was recruited to join the nascent UN lobby group then known as the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, the name of which was eventually changed to the Center for Family & Human Rights.<ref> https://www.catholic.com/profile/austin-ruse</ref>
In July 2013, Ruse was identified as a convener of a Groundswell coalition meeting among conservative activists and journalists.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Corn|first=David|title=Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War"|journal=Mother Jones|date=July 25, 2013|url=https://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/07/groundswell--rightwing-group-ginni-thomas/|access-date=October 13, 2020}}</ref>
==Books== Littles Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ (Tan Books, 2017) tells the story of three children who suffered greatly, died young, and brought many people to the faith. Included among the three children is Margaret Leo, the daughter of Leonard Leo. <ref>Ruse, Austin (2017). Littlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ. TAN Books. ISBN 978-1505108392 </ref>
Fake Science: Exposing the Left’s Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data (Regnery, 2017) where Ruse explores various scientific claims of the political left.<ref> Ruse, Austin (17 July 2017). Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data. Regnery. ISBN 978-1621575948.</ref>
The Catholic Case for Trump (Regnery, 2020) in which Ruse argues that Catholics can in good conscience vote the Trump. <ref>"The Catholic Case for Trump -". Regnery Publishing. Retrieved 2021-04-12.</ref>
Under Siege: No Finer Time to be a Faithful Catholic (Crisis Books, 2021) in which Ruse argues that Catholic should embrace the current cultural and political challenges. <ref> Crisis Publications ISBN 978-1644130346 </ref>
==Journalism== Ruse was a longtime columnist at The Catholic Thing and is currently a bi-weekly columnist at Crisis Magazine.<ref>https://crisismagazine.com/author/austin-ruse</ref> <ref>https://www.thecatholicthing.org/author/austin-ruse/</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/11/charlie-rose-of-60-minutes-just-called-steve-bannon-a-good-catholic-is-that-true|title=Steve Bannon is 'a good Catholic,' Charlie Rose said on '60 minutes.' Was he right?|last=|first=|date=|newspaper=Washington Post|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-02-10}}</ref>
===Education=== Ruse earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri <ref> https://www.catholic.com/profile/austin-ruse </ref><ref> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrs2hW9dXBE </ref>
===Awards and honors=== In 2004, Ruse and his wife were awarded the John Paul II Award for Advancing the culture of life from the Institute for the Psychological Sciences.<ref>{{cite web|title=IPS Honors Pro-Life Couple|url=http://www.catholicherald.com/stories/bIPS-Honors-Pro-Life-Coupleb,2216|publisher=Arlington Catholic Herald|access-date=March 18, 2014}}</ref>
Ruse received an Honorary Doctorate from Franciscan University of Stuebenville in 2003 <ref> https://franciscan.edu/fact-book/ </ref> ==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.<ref name="HuffPost1">Shadee Ashtari,[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/13/austin-ruse-shoot-liberals-_n_4959747.html "Catholic Group Leader Calls For Liberal Academics To Be 'Taken Out And Shot'"], ''Huffington Post'', March 13, 2014; retrieved March 14, 2014.</ref> Monsignor Anthony Frontiero of the St. Joseph Cathedral in Manchester, New Hampshire, resigned from the board of C-FAM because of Ruse's comments.<ref>John Gehring, ''The Francis Effect: A Radical Pope's Challenge to the American Catholic Church'', New York, 2015 (chapter 2, p. 26)</ref><ref name="violent" /> The next day on the same radio program, he described Democrats "get[ting] into the ballot box" as "really dumb ... low-information voters."<ref name="HuffPost1" />
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.<ref name="violent" /> Ruse stated on C-FAM's website later that week in which he said he regretted using the phrase "taken out and shot".<ref name=statementbyaustinruse>{{cite web |url=https://c-fam.org/statement-by-austin-ruse/|publisher= Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute|access-date=December 30, 2015|title=Statement by Austin Ruse|date= 2014-03-14}}</ref>
In 2020, Ruse criticized George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, stating that Floyd's history of drug abuse led directly to his death. Following intervention from one of his publishers, he deleted the tweet. However, he later defended the original remark.<ref name="Leaving Twitter">{{cite web |last1=Ruse |first1=Austin |title=Leaving Twitter |url= https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/leaving-twitter |publisher=Crisis Magazine |access-date=22 October 2021 |date=1 October 2021}}</ref>
===Anti-lgbt views=== {{Blockquote |text=Radical homosexuals... 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. |author=Austin Ruse addressing his followers in 2016<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2017/3/21/trump-gives-haters-prominent-spot-united-nations |title = Trump Gives Haters a Prominent Spot at the United Nations|date = 2017-03-21}}</ref> }} At the UN, Ruse has worked to overturn the Human Rights Council's decision to investigate violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. ''The Advocate'' has described Ruse as "fanatically anti-gay", stating that he has supported anti-gay legislation backed by Vladimir Putin in Russia. 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/06/26/anti-lgbt-roundup-events-and-activities-62617|title=Anti-LGBT Roundup of Events and Activities 6.26.17|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|language=en|access-date=2020-02-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Wulfhorst |first1=Ellen |title=US sends pro-family group to UN fuelling fears over LGBT rights |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-women-hategroup/us-sends-pro-family-group-to-un-fuelling-fears-over-lgbt-rights-idUSL2N1GS263 |work=Reuters |date=15 March 2017 |language=en}}</ref>
In 2017, Ruse attacked Jesuit priest James Martin on social media for his pro-lgbt advocacy. Michael Sean Winters described Ruse's attacks as "vulgar and childish".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/fr-jim-martins-works-will-outlast-recent-childish-twitter-attacks|title=Fr. James Martin's works will outlast recent, childish Twitter attacks|date=2017-09-08|website=National Catholic Reporter|last=Winters|first=Michael Sean|language=en|access-date=2020-02-10}}</ref>
===Support for Donald Trump=== Ruse has publicly expressed his support for Donald Trump. He has argued that Trump "more closely adheres to Catholic social teaching than Joe Biden".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mucha |first1=Sarah |title=Joe Biden is a man of faith. That could help him win over some White evangelicals. |url=https://www.kten.com/story/42384122/joe-biden-is-a-man-of-faith-that-could-help-him-win-over-some-white-evangelicals |publisher=KTEN |access-date=20 July 2020 |date=18 July 2020}}</ref>
In 2020, Ruse was charged with mocking the stutter of a 13-year-old child appearing during the 2020 Democratic Convention on Twitter, something Ruse vehemently denies.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/brayden-harrington-hero/ |title= Brayden Harrington, Hero|last= Dreher|first= Rod |date= 21 August 2020|website= |publisher= The American Conservative |access-date= 21 August 2020 }}</ref> During the same controversy, he claimed that Joe Biden never had a stutter. <ref>{{cite web |last1=Gifford |first1=Storm |title=Trump-loving author Austin Ruse claims Joe Biden never had stutter |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-biden-never-had-stutter-20200822-zp2liyujfrhpjdldr242bdjz7m-story.html |publisher=NY Daily News |access-date=14 October 2020 |date=22 August 2020}}</ref> One of C-FAM's board members resigned over the incident.<ref name="Leaving Twitter"/>
==Personal life== Raised Methodist, Ruse converted to Catholicism.<ref>{{cite web|title=Austin Ruse – Former Methodist|url=https://chnetwork.org/journey-home/austin-ruse-former-methodist/|publisher=The Coming Home Network|access-date= January 20, 2019}}</ref> He is a supernumerary member of Opus Dei,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://churchandstate.org.uk/2019/03/opus-deis-influence-on-the-u-s-judiciary/|title=Opus Dei's Influence on the U.S. Judiciary|date=21 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Faith and the City: Opus Dei Assumes Responsibility for St. Agnes Church|url=https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/faith-and-the-city-opus-dei-assumes-responsibility-for-st.-agnes-church|access-date=2020-08-28|website=National Catholic Register|date=15 June 2016 }}</ref> a personal prelature of the Catholic Church.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.c-fam.org/ Center for Family and Human Rights]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruse, Austin}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century American diplomats Category:American activist journalists Category:American magazine journalists Category:American nonprofit chief executives Category:American anti-abortion activists Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Diplomats for the Holy See Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Methodism Category:Knights of Malta Category:Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Opus Dei members Category:American people of English descent