Miramax chairmen Bob and Harvey Weinstein are on a crusade to protect Kevin Smith's religious satire Dogma.

In April, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights issued a press release in which president William Donahue responded to Dogma star Ben Affleck's comment that films like this one "are meant to push buttons."

"The Catholic League has a few buttons of its own to push, and we will not hold back," Donohue said, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.

The release and Donohue's comment prompted the Weinsteins to have their lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, draft a letter to the League.

"Statements like these may be interpreted to announce or imply an intention by the League to go beyond the bounds of legitimate and peaceful dissent or protest," Petrocelli writes, "and to stimulate, motivate, or incite danger or violence."

The letter continues, "Please be advised that any such impermissible activity authorized, committed, or encouraged by the League that harms or threatens harm to any person will not be tolerated. We intend to hold the League fully accountable for any wrongdoing, injury, or damge it causes."

Although Petrocelli was careful to add that the Weinsteins do not intend to quelch the League's freedom of speech, Donohue said Wednesday, "The letter … is wonderful. It proves who the true enemies of free speech really are. The Catholic League protest of Dogma will now proceed with even more vigor than ever before."

Later that day, Petrocelli countered that the goal of the letter was "to encourage the League to exercise its rights under the First Amendment in a responsible manner and without abridging the same rights and others."

The League is largely responsible for the cancellation of ABC's religious drama Nothing Sacred, which depicted the challenges of an urban priest. The organization has also attacked The Simpsons, Ally McBeal, and Miramax's 1995 release Priest, about a gay clergyman.

Dogma's reputation precedes itself. Already, the inclusion of such plot elements as fallen angels (Affleck and pal Matt Damon) and a female God (singer Alanis Morissette) prompted the Weinsteins to buy the project back from Disney, which was unsure as to how to promote and release the film. The fourth project from Smith, who directed Clerks and Chasing Amy, is still without a distributor.