The Catholic League says the condom tree is part of San Francisco-based Levi Strauss' funding of programs that advocate promiscuity among homosexuals. The press release apparently worked, because the tree, part of the company's events to recognize World AIDS Day, is being scrapped, according to Levi Strauss.

Before the tree was canceled, I called Clarence Greibey, director of communications at Levi Strauss.

The jeans company has been involved with AIDS prevention since 1982 and has spent $20 million on programs to prevent the disease, he said.

World AIDS Day is Dec. 21, and Greibey said Levi Strauss will sponsor forums in several cities around the world, including New York City. Those forums are intended to educate young people about the danger of AIDS.

"The message will be, if they elect to be sexually active, they risk contracting the AIDS virus," he said.

Levi Strauss will donate $1 for every person who attends the New York forum. The money will go to Life Beat, a nonprofit organization that works to prevent AIDS.

You might wonder what right the Catholic League has to attack Levi Strauss in such a way, particularly a company trying to do something decent about an epidemic threatening every person on the globe? Is it plain ignorance, or is something more sinister involved?

The Catholic League is the same organization that brought down "Nothing Sacred," a television show about a modern priest. Most critics felt the show, starring Kevin Anderson, was a well-done drama. It's true the priest character was a bit progressive, but the Catholic League attacked the program as if it were the most evil and heretical show ever seen on television.

The Catholic League convinced sponsors to pull their advertising from the show, and the network pulled the plug. What a tragedy, because the show told the story of progressive religion, the kind of faith that makes us feel obligated to feed and shelter the poor and accept people with all their warts.

When will another network ever take a risk on a progressive religion show? It'll be a cold day in Satan's lair.

The Catholic League's president, William Donohue, said he would call a boycott of Levi Strauss if the "condom tree" went up.

"This proves that they are more than just bigots. They are plain stupid: to do this at a time of the year when sales are critical is irrational," Donohue writes in his release.

The same day the Catholic League's press release arrived, I also received a long letter from D. James Kennedy, a television preacher in Coral Ridge, Fla., attacking CBS television for running Howard Stern's program late Saturday nights. Kennedy asks his viewers to sign a letter demanding that CBS pull Stern off the air.

Because Stern is abrasive, filthy and obsessed with sex, I wouldn't watch or listen to his program even if he were the only show in town. Stern says his show will feature strippers and strange folks from all walks of life, so it might appeal to some. But I bet a lot of other decent people won't watch.

Even though I don't like Stern's show, I'm not about to tell others not to watch it. There's a thin line between censorship and freedom of speech, and the wrong side of that line is tyranny. When fundamentalist preachers dictate what we watch on television, we have all been attacked.

"Nothing Sacred" aired no objectionable material. It was about a priest who sometimes bent the rules. But the Catholic League, blinded by a moral fog, decided the show would be a target of their hate campaign.

Kennedy says CBS has "made a bad call ... and has possibly begun a pattern of bad calls."

He's taking a stand, saying, in effect, "If we let this one in, many more will follow." But that's not necessarily true. If Stern is successful, more shows like his might follow. But other networks may respond by offering more programming that appeals to decent people.

Letting fundamentalist preachers decide what is going to be allowed into your family room is like trashing one of our most treasured freedoms, the freedom of speech.

Freedom of religion is also important, but its supporters can't lie or misrepresent the facts. If they do, their reputations are ruined.

I'm not saying we shouldn't complain when our faith is attacked. But action's like the Catholic League's have to be contained. Boycotts that we should support are those that help religious groups who are attacked repeatedly for their faith.

Those kinds of fights -- not against jeans companies and television shows -- would keep the Catholic League plenty busy for a good long time.

Clark D. Morphew