Is Anti-Catholicism dead?

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This is a very interesting article on the New York Times web site.

The general consensus is that anti-Catholicism is alive and well.

Here are some excerpts
When Gov. Alfred E. Smith ran for president in 1928, his candidacy was derailed in large part by anti-Catholic prejudice. It has been nearly 48 years since John F. Kennedy became the first (and so far only) Roman Catholic president, but experts say that anti-Catholic sentiment — much of it originating in, or as a response to, immigrants in New York — remains an enduring force in American culture.
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The next speaker, James P. McCartin, a historian at Seton Hall University, said that “anti-Catholicism in a sense is at the center of Western modern history,” emerging from the “crucible of violence and hatred” that characterized the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. Among the major themes of anti-Catholic sentiment, he said, were a revulsion toward that violence; a “long memory of real and imagined Catholic oppression”; a persistent anti-clericalism; and a prurient interest in the sexuality of nuns and priests.
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The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus — a leading conservative intellectual, a former Lutheran pastor and the editor of the leading Catholic journal First Things — offered a surprising view on the question.
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“To be a Catholic is not to be refused positions of influence in our society,” he said. “Indeed, one of the most acceptable things is to be a bad Catholic, and in the view of many people, the only good Catholic is a bad Catholic.”
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Full story here.
 
The spirit of antichrist knows exactly which church to attack. From without and from within. Where is the Lutheran scandal? Where is the Southern Baptist scandal? Where is the no-denom scandal? Nope. hey are all against the mother church. Always have been and always will be. The evil one does not change, either his intent or his tactics.

It is going to get much worse as the end times approach.
 
As one living very deep in the bible belt I can assure you.
Anti-Catholicism is not dead.
 
As one who has read the New York Times, I can assure you that anti-Catholicism is not dead.

God bless, Annem
 
po18guy said:
The spirit of antichrist knows exactly which church to attack. From without and from within. Where is the Lutheran scandal? Where is the Southern Baptist scandal? Where is the no-denom scandal? Nope. hey are all against the mother church. Always have been and always will be. The evil one does not change, either his intent or his tactics.

It is going to get much worse as the end times approach.
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I’d love to agree with you, but does that mean that those Jim Bakker-televagelist scandals were attacks by satan which somehow prove the truth their ministry??? :eek:
 
I once signed onto a website that supposedly promoted ecumenism. It was multi-denominational. The first thing I noticed, however, was that the *‘Catholic-bashing’ *thread was the most popular. I tried to avoid it, but in time, I succumbed to anger and started quarrelling with the Fundies in defense of my religion. Some of the Fundies were ex-Catholics who absolutely hated the Church and spent hours online specifically to attack it. The crazy beliefs and deep-seated animosity toward Catholicism that possess many non-Catholics, especially a lot of Fundies, is shocking. It made me give up on ecumenism. Bible-based Fundamentalism will never accept Catholicism, ever. 😦
 
vz71 said:
As one living very deep in the bible belt I can assure you.
Anti-Catholicism is not dead.
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annem said:
As one who has read the New York Times, I can assure you that anti-Catholicism is not dead.

God bless, Annem
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As one who reads the “Non-Catholic Religions” section of Catholic Answers every day … 😉
 
vz71 said:
As one living very deep in the bible belt I can assure you.
Anti-Catholicism is not dead.
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I can confirm that. 😦

My mother likes to argue with the protestants that come door-to-door. I’ve seen her slip in something like, “It’s nice to see people out doing good works like this.”
The look on their faces… :rotfl:
 
Feedmysheep said:
I’d love to agree with you, but does that mean that those Jim Bakker-televagelist scandals were attacks by satan which somehow prove the truth their ministry??? :eek:
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No, this was an action of TV media itself so loathing and embarrassed by the conscpicuous incompetence of the Bakker’s suckling too deeply on the teat of the gullible (ref. PT Barnum’s famous quote) that they had to act out of self interest to prevent them from “screwing the pooch”. The balance of the competent TV scammers were worried about losing their fair share vig and they all got together to drum the Bakkers out.

Even organized scammers demand a minimum level of credibility and plausibility to keep the act going. The Bakkers were just no longer believable to even the most naive and had to be sacrificed to give the illusion of responsible self-regulation.
Caesar517 said:
I can confirm that. 😦

My mother likes to argue with the protestants that come door-to-door. I’ve seen her slip in something like, “It’s nice to see people out doing good works like this.”
The look on their faces… :rotfl:
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Classic. Tell mom she rocks! 👍

James
 
Caesar517 said:
I can confirm that. 😦

My mother likes to argue with the protestants that come door-to-door. I’ve seen her slip in something like, “It’s nice to see people out doing good works like this.”
The look on their faces… :rotfl:
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Good for your mother!

I firmly believe that anti-Catholicism is not only NOT dead but that it is growing. The fundamentalists are often extreme in their hatred (and ignorance) of the Church, and there is virulent anti-Catholicism alive and well on the other end of the spectrum. The Church hasn’t “changed with the times” regarding moral issues, women as priests, etc., and this is reason enough for many people to hate, insult and denigrate the Catholic Church and Catholics.

One of the reasons I have the very strong feelings I do about the recent clerical scandals is that I feel the perpetrators played right into the hands of those who already hated the Church, giving them fuel for the fire, but don’t get me started.

Anti-Catholicism is one of the last remaining acceptable prejudices.
 
Caesar517 said:
I think it always will be.
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I agree and so does scripture.
Matthew 13:40
“So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness (ed: those inventing their own precepts and not following Christ’s law and the authority of His Catholic Church), 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Let the anti-Catholics hate us all they want to in hell - they will have all the time of eternity to say all they ever wanted to say while they read their Jack Chic comic books …

James
 
rpp said:
This is a very interesting article on the New York Times web site.

The general consensus is that anti-Catholicism is alive and well.
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It definitely is. Anybody who says the opposite has their head in the sand. As one of the quotes says, the only ‘good’ Catholic is a ‘bad’ Catholic, unfortunately.
 
I grew up in a house without running water because, literally, my Dad refused to lie about being Catholic. I can turn on, say, Secret Life of the American Teenager, and see the Evangelical stereotype of us portrayed to a T, so no, I do not see it as dead.

But what I find interesting is that so many Catholics on these forums are directly involved in promoting Evangelical Protestantism. Didn’t anyone read the DOJ’s Inspector General’s recent report? Believing that we are polydiest pagans was essentially a hiring criteria under the current administration.

And it should be no surprise. Every national GOP aspirant has paid homage to Bob Jones for decades. One presidential candidate spent over a year wooing the endorsement of a religious leader who does not even consider us Christian! And it took months to get the candidate to drop the endorsement - even then he repeatedly indicated that he valued the person as an “important spiritual leader”.

The FAA gives out a booklet on the fundementals of teaching to aspiring flight instructors. It is worth a read. Based on those concepts, the situation probably makes sense. If you spend an hour each week in Mass, and 20-40 hours each work immersing yourself in Evangelical Protestant thought, it is only natural to start getting them confused.
 
There will always be anti-Catholicism and attacks against the Church, for a very fundamental reason - the messages and positions of the Church are very unpopular and difficult for many in our secular society.

The Church’s teachings on faith, moral and social issues are hard to accept in the “me” world - contraception, abortion, euthanasia, the existence of God as the creator of all, humility over pride, love your enemies, the Communion of Saints, Mary, male priestly ordination, the Vicar of Christ, Purgatory (whose existence implies the difficulty of the life Christ asks us to lead), the list goes on and on - very difficult teachings to accept in an immoral, prideful, and relativistic society.

It is no different than the times of Christ - he taught these to us, and look what they did to Him. Don’t expect any different for His Church, ever.
 
Anti-Catholicism is alive and well.

But it is more skillful and sneaky than in olden days.
 
Al_Masetti said:
Anti-Catholicism is alive and well.

But it is more skillful and sneaky than in olden days.
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I’m too young to consider myself having lived in the ‘olden days.’

But considering how blatent it is now, I am wondering what the extreme of the ‘olden days’ was…

Are you refering to the Roman Coliseum?
Where they tossed people in to the wild animals?
 
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