But there was also considerable prejudice by Catholics towards others during the times you mentioned. We could come up with lots of examples, but that does not mean that it was really part of Catholicism - even if in some cases it was taught by leaders in the CC as doctrine.
I am sorry, but prejudice was never taught by leaders in the Catholic Church as doctrine.
This is just error on your part. Not even the anethma’s of Trent qualify.
You are quite wrong though if you think that Catholics were not implicated in these larger societal attitudes. Recently a friend of mine adopted a child of another race - her traditional Catholic parents were horrified, and the OPs parents also seem to hold such views, even today.
Those views are not Catholic views. In fact, they contradict Church teaching. The appearance of heretics has happened from the beginning.
You are correct, Catholics WERE implicated in these views.
Did you read the article I linked? The Pope condemned the slave trade and mistreatment of the Indians in the New World, and Catholic Spain essentially ignored him entirely. Plus ca change! The issue isn’t what Catholics did… its what the Church taught. Protestant leaders (the reformers) justified slavery and racism and a host of other things. The Magesterium of the Church did not. Here is the key difference to my mind… that of doctrine.
Or consider the Residential Schools, some of which were run by Catholics, or some of the attitudes and actions of the Catholic Church toward Native Americans. Even within Catholicism there has been systematized bigotry.
I would put the Church’s history educating people of color (in the US and throughout history) against any institution of the world of any stripe. I can tell you didn’t read the article (part of the larger book) I linked because many of these issues were dealt with there.
I recommend the book “Rising Road” for the history of Catholics in America. I am sorry, but you cannot defend the Protestant track record for how Catholics were treated in this country when they arrived here. It is not defensible.
And Protestants, like Catholics, were among those who fought in the civil rights movement, were part of the underground railroad, and fought against slavery in NA and in Europe.
Fair enough, but without the unified message of the true Church of Christ, teaching doctrine through the Magesterium, they fought each other in these arguments. No central authority results in a cacophony, each side claiming God as his own.
And the theological defenses of slavery were ALL protestant.
There are a few groups who do teach these kind of bigotry even now, but they are fairly marginal.
If you find yourself unable to or uninterested in reading and learning about Protestant groups, it might be best to simply refrain from commenting on their beliefs. But perhaps some reading about Catholic history might be useful.
This is funny. I have a Masters Degree in history and have studied religion at the graduate level.
Let me make a case here:
Protestantism has not born good fruits in the West. Quite the opposite.
In the 1500s the reformers caused massive social upheaval in Europe. In England, the property of the Church was confiscated, and education for the poor and needy suffered immensely. The history of scientific progress was actually stunted as the monasteries were closed.
On the mainland, the reformation led to Calvinist states that burned people at the stake with reckless abandon. Violent upheaval against constituted authority was the norm, and the modern nation state was born. This modern nation state (informed by secularism… another of the reformation’s fruits) led pretty much directly to the bloodiest century in human history (the 20th).
Here are some good books I recommend to you.
The History of Christendom by Warren Carroll (Ph.D. History Columbia - Founder of Christendom College)
How the Church built Western Civilization by Thomas Woods (Ph.D. History Columbia. Undergrad History at Harvard).
How the Reformation Happened: Hillaire Belloc
Triumph (more popular, less scholarly and meaty… but quite good) by H.W. Crocker.
Thats for starters.
Can’t very well refrain from posting on something I know a great deal about.
Look, I want to see you in heaven someday (God willing I get there). And if you are protestant you are at a material disadvantage for your salvation.
Peace!