Why do people hate catholics

[hawkeye]

It really upsets me how much people hate Catholics.

Cynthia

Ignorance, malice, general hatred for all things Catholic, and because the Catholic Church makes us examine our own lives.
It doesn’t matter what you tell some, the don’t want to know, but we are supposed to be soldiers of Christ, so it is a spiritual and physical war, so lets not wane over these people, pray for them, Jesus said to.
I had this on Facebook, my face-book list will get smaller after this, and from Catholics, but I’m not bothered one way or the other.
If we deny Jesus, He will deny us before His Heavenly Father, so we all have to stand up and be soldiers of Christ. Shoes dust shake…

 

[sanctamaria17]

In the U.S., people may not like us and they’re free not to. However, I’m thankful that:

My employment in my field is not dependent on my faith.

My ability to get good housing is not dependent on my faith.

My ability to marry any man I want, provided he can consent, is not dependent on my faith.

I can go to Mass without worrying about bombs.

I can wear Catholic symbols without fearing violence.

I can hold political positions (except, more people would probably say, as a woman, my “time of the month” makes me likely to start a nuclear war, but that’s another issue).

I can send my kids to school and not have to worry about people throwing rocks at them because of their faith.

I can go to any college I want, regardless of my faith.

Our Catholic brothers and sisters in other parts of the world are not so lucky. I would take those small moments of frustration and offer them for people living in areas where faith expression can and does cost them their lives. And maybe turn that prayer into political advocacy or something like that.

Meanwhile, I’m dating someone who’s a Catholic convert from a Jewish family…Trust me, you would not go up to them to complain about persecution.

 

[cindydanleo]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond to my post.

Some of you are right…Hate may be a strong word but it’s close. As for me exaggerating…I am NOT and that was just a sample I wrote about.

I live in the Bible Belt. I’m sure some of you that have not experienced this problem…live in the North East or Midwest where there are tons of fellow believers and churches. You live in a different world.

I have more to write but my baby is crying and I have to run but I just didn’t want people to think I had abandoned the post.

 

[JackVk]

Yes, ignorance is the first, second, and thrid reason for anti-Catholicism. Those who hate the Church not only don’t know what she says, but don’t want to know. They are convinced that they know everything and don’t want anyone telling them otherwise. Even the vast amount of secular evidence for Catholic truth falls on deaf ears. So many people say, “don’t confuse me with the truth”.

 

[Cable]

…Just like we Catholics think it is absurd that someone would say that only Catholics will burn in the fires of Hell, that’s how other people feel when Catholics make such claims to them…

• right, we need to make sure we know, for example, the doctrine of purgatory and that “only Catholics being saved” and “selling indulgences” were never part of what the Church teaches. We don’t want to perpetuate any myths, but rather shed light on it by relaying the Truth, for people who are seeking it.

 

[ANNE_2]

Purchase the book “CATHOLICISM for DUMMIES” by Frs. Trigilio and Brighenti.
Read it yourself so that you are accurate when talking to your non-Catholic friends, and let them borrow the book from you.

It clears up many misconceptions that non-Catholics have about the history of the Church, and what we believe.

I use it as a reference when needed.

 

[LemonAndLime]

Purchase the book “CATHOLICISM for DUMMIES” by Frs. Trigilio and Brighenti.
Read it yourself so that you are accurate when talking to your non-Catholic friends, and let them borrow the book from you.

It clears up many misconceptions that non-Catholics have about the history of the Church, and what we believe.

I use it as a reference when needed.

Same here, however I’ve found that if you try and explain someone’s misconceptions they rapidly lose interest. For example a friend of mine told me with great authority that they “knew” the Catholic Church required all Catholics to NOT use ANY kind of contraception - including NFP, that they basically were not allowed any control. I informed them it wasn’t the case, and as they were at my house I offered to show them proof via that book. They suddenly lost interest and started accusing me of being “lame” for taking our “debate” so seriously I felt the need to get a book out to prove something.

 

[babylonsfalling]

You are right to say that the majority of non-Catholics have no issues with the Church. However, there are certainly those whose beliefs are hostile to the Church. They are few in number, but they do make their presence known from time to time.

A person once looked at the cover of my St. Joseph’s Bible, picked it up and told me that I really needed to get myself saved. I’ve gotten comments about the molestation issue, about declarations of nullity being all smoke and mirrors to make money, that we think we can live any way we want as long as we go to confession, and about the Church being too rich.Oh, the nearly totally misunderstood papal infallibility opens the door for a few shots too.

Virtually every barb I have gotten has been about misunderstandings about Catholic doctrine. Most have come from people of very fundamentalist churches. There have been a few from former Catholics who somehow got poor understandings of the faith.

I’ve gotten the presumptions that I wasn’t saved from people who didn’t even know what denomination I was, so that presumption isn’t limited to Catholics in the first place. The guy’s just standing outside a 7-11, setting Bible tracts on a pay phone and sneaking up on whoever picks one up to start his schtick, part of which is “you don’t know God”…even though he doesn’t know a thing about you.

All those things you listed are things I’ve heard too. The positive perspective is that it’s a micropercentage of people who are even worried about Catholicism, much less insulting about it. Most people are very civil when they disagree…presuming you even get into such a discussion them in the first place.

Most anti catholics are in fundamentalist churches. But in my experience it’s a lot more than “a few” who have been former Catholics, it’s a LOT.

I also don’t accept that they “somehow got poor understandings of the faith”. I know about ignorant Catholics, but being ignorant doesn’t necessarily cause them to leave the Church. They can be ignorant and just go through the motions of showing up for church once a week or just stop going to church and continue calling themselves Catholic as I did.

Being anti Catholic takes a bit of research anyway because you have to ***learn ***anti catholicism somewhere. In the pre-web days you learned it from fundy types handing out tracts to catch your interest and then they’d “teach” it to you. Now it’s probably the internet being used for “anti-catholic-school”. But either way, an anti catholic who used to be Catholic needs to be the type of person who is willing to read, listen and learn, which means they aren’t passively disposed toward ignorance and probably know something about Catholicism.

My experience leads me to harsher conclusions about ex Catholics who are anti Catholic. I know a lot of them are just telling intentional lies about the Church. The untruths aren’t accidental because they’re just such whoppers that no ex Catholic would believe them in the first place. When I hear an ex Catholic tell me that Catholics worship Mary, I know they’re lying because they were never taught such a thing while still in Catholicism. They heard about worshiping Mary from an outside source. They also grew up praying to Mary but knowing that Mary was not God-like in any way, so there was no reason to worship her, Mary worship never entered the Catholic-kids mind because it was never taught to them and probably never even mentioned. They grew up knowing that you can pray to her without worshiping her. Mary worship is a foreign concept in the Catholic Church so an adult Catholic knows they never worshiped Mary. I could see a non Catholic maybe making a mistake about Catholics worshiping Mary, but not a Catholic. Catholics grow up knowing the perspective on that and have no excuse.

The biggest whopper I’ve EVER heard from an ex Catholic is that the Church never taught her that Christ rose from the dead. This is why when I’m dealing with an ex Catholic who’s become anti Catholic, I presume I may well be in for some intentional lies.

They seem very insecure about leaving the church and I suspect the stuff I hear from them is actually more for their own benefit than for me. I think they need to believe the church is somehow evil so they can feel better about leaving it. Very conflicted crowd. They wrap it all up in a phony schtick about trying to save the poor dumb Catholic, but in reality, it’s all about them feeling better about leaving the Church and if they can get another Catholic to leave with them, that helps them feel better about their own departure.

 

[horselvr]

I don’t feel the OP is exaggerating at all.

Here in the bible belt I deal with it regularily. However, I rarely keep quiet when confronted with their ignorance concerning the Catholic faith/church. This actually shocks them back into being at least civil instead of confrontational and down right rude.

It is summer in the bible belt and I am outside for the better part of day and so as it always is, I soon will be bombarded with the Baptisit/fundamentalist/yada,yada pulling into my driveway to preach to me about the whore of babylon and how I’ll be going to hell and on and on they go. They can spot my St. Francis statue by the pasture from a mile away.

Last night a neighbor came over to introduce me to her 4th husband. She introduced me as _____, a catholic, and the both of them sneered and then actually chuckled. I was then told that her new husband use to be catholic but is now a Baptist like her and that Catholicism is a bunch of hog wash and the baptist church is straight forward. LOL!

I then said, “It never ceases to amaze me how truly ignorant people are of their own religion.” And then I asked exactly which baptist church she is actually a follower of since there are so many. I heard crickets for at least 30 seconds.

chirp, chirp.

Anyway, do a google search to find out if Catholics are treated rudely and how they are treated and they will even name the towns and states where some of this has occured. I think if you type in “Catholics civil right being violated” or something similiar you might be amazed. One incident happened right here in my little southern town.

I could fill a little book of all the rude remarks that have been made to me here in the bible belt as soon as someone finds out I am Catholic. However, I NEVER, EVER allow them to stop me from making the sign of the cross when out to dinner or make me feel lesser than.

When I went to Catholic school we finally had to have a couple of squad cars out in front because there would be a few people that would stand there and yell the most awful things to the Nuns. Now that I am much older and realize exactly the meaning of their words, I now know why the Nuns were so hurt and appalled.

I threw a party for my good friends son that become an Episcopal priest. Naturally their Episcopalian priest was invited and when we made a circle to pray for Iian, my son and I made the sign of the cross before and after and this made quite a few eyebrows raise. At the end of the evening Fr. Henry asked me if I was Catholic and I told him I am–he raised an eyebrow and said, “Well that explains the statues and holy cards” in a distainful way. I had these on a table in another room.

I told him—“why Fr. Henry, I hope you won’t hold THAT against me, because I sure don’t hold you being Episcopalian against YOU”.

OP: Let them know that you are praying for them. They are just truely rude and ignorant concerning all things Catholic.

 

[mark_a]

It really upsets me how much people hate Catholics. Why is this? It doesn’t matter how often you explain the common misunderstandings (ie Mary, Papal infallibility, prayer to Saints and on and on)…people just hate us. The comments on Yahoo News about Pope John Paul II beatification are beyond terrible. Vicious remarks about priests, the Vatican, Catholics in general are rampant. I deal with it everyday at local home school groups. Most of the mothers are evangelical and as soon as they find out I’m Catholic…its like I’m the outcast. A few people are “tolerant” of my religion but it is as if they think of me an ignorant child who needs to be “taught the truth”. Everyone assumes that I am a cradle Catholic. “oh you were indoctrinated as as child” they nod knowing …Nope, I converted about 6 years ago, I say. They are shocked that an otherwise intelligent person would be so stupid to join the “Catholics” as an adult.

Anyway…This just really depresses me and weighs on my heart. It saddens me that my 5 year old son is going to be noticing soon and start asking questions. I just don’t understand the anger…for example. There is a home school mother that I see alot and she is very nice but she often brings up that I should be raising my son in a more “Christ Centered Church.” I explain that everything about our Church is Christ-centered and her response is (and this is normally a mild sweet woman)…oh do you consider raping boys and worshipiing idols Christ centered? Then she gestured toward my crucifix necklace as being an idol. Agggghhh Can you please explain this to me or give me some advice?

God Bless,

Cynthia

And among atheists, Catholics are the most hated. Makes ya wonder, doesn’t it?

 

[Magickman]

All through history, the various tribes and religions have fought and quarreled, often very violently. Even now, this continues.

Each religious group sees itself as the true religion, and all others as false or heretical.

Today, we may add a political dimension. Catholics seek to use civil law to enforce Catholic rules upon the general population.

Of course, non-Catholics push back against this infringement on their freedoms.

If Catholic leaders were more sensitive to the rights of others, they would not be so much hated.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

All through history, the various tribes and religions have fought and quarreled, often very violently. Even now, this continues.

Each religious group sees itself as the true religion, and all others as false or heretical.

Today, we may add a political dimension. Catholics seek to use civil law to enforce Catholic rules upon the general population.

Of course, non-Catholics push back against this infringement on their freedoms.

If Catholic leaders were more sensitive to the rights of others, they would not be so much hated.

“Enforce Catholic rules?”

You mean things like “thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery” are only rules for Catholics, not everybody?

I mean, could you tell me what particular “catholic rule” that Catholic leaders are trying to use ‘civil law’ to enforce that ‘catholic rule’ on the 'general population?

 

[LemonAndLime]

“Enforce Catholic rules?”

You mean things like “thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery” are only rules for Catholics, not everybody?

I mean, could you tell me what particular “catholic rule” that Catholic leaders are trying to use ‘civil law’ to enforce that ‘catholic rule’ on the 'general population?

Abortion. That’s one.

Definition of marriage. That’s two.

 

[babylonsfalling]

I don’t feel the OP is exaggerating at all.

Here in the bible belt I deal with it regularily. However, I rarely keep quiet when confronted with their ignorance concerning the Catholic faith/church. This actually shocks them back into being at least civil instead of confrontational and down right rude.

It is summer in the bible belt and I am outside for the better part of day and so as it always is, I soon will be bombarded with the Baptisit/fundamentalist/yada,yada pulling into my driveway to preach to me about the whore of babylon and how I’ll be going to hell and on and on they go. They can spot my St. Francis statue by the pasture from a mile away.

Last night a neighbor came over to introduce me to her 4th husband. She introduced me as _____, a catholic, and the both of them sneered and then actually chuckled. I was then told that her new husband use to be catholic but is now a Baptist like her and that Catholicism is a bunch of hog wash and the baptist church is straight forward. LOL!

I then said, “It never ceases to amaze me how truly ignorant people are of their own religion.” And then I asked exactly which baptist church she is actually a follower of since there are so many. I heard crickets for at least 30 seconds.

chirp, chirp.

Anyway, do a google search to find out if Catholics are treated rudely and how they are treated and they will even name the towns and states where some of this has occured. I think if you type in “Catholics civil right being violated” or something similiar you might be amazed. One incident happened right here in my little southern town.

I could fill a little book of all the rude remarks that have been made to me here in the bible belt as soon as someone finds out I am Catholic. However, I NEVER, EVER allow them to stop me from making the sign of the cross when out to dinner or make me feel lesser than.

When I went to Catholic school we finally had to have a couple of squad cars out in front because there would be a few people that would stand there and yell the most awful things to the Nuns. Now that I am much older and realize exactly the meaning of their words, I now know why the Nuns were so hurt and appalled.

I threw a party for my good friends son that become an Episcopal priest. Naturally their Episcopalian priest was invited and when we made a circle to pray for Iian, my son and I made the sign of the cross before and after and this made quite a few eyebrows raise. At the end of the evening Fr. Henry asked me if I was Catholic and I told him I am–he raised an eyebrow and said, “Well that explains the statues and holy cards” in a distainful way. I had these on a table in another room.

I told him—“why Fr. Henry, I hope you won’t hold THAT against me, because I sure don’t hold you being Episcopalian against YOU”.

OP: Let them know that you are praying for them. They are just truely rude and ignorant concerning all things Catholic.

From another post in this same thread…

More specifically though…when I see the post titled “Why do people hate Catholics” I know I’m dealing with an exaggeration. Very few people (micro-percentage) hate Catholics, BUT they get the majority of attention because they’re so obnoxious about their anti catholicism.

I know that it’s going to vary geographically, but if you’re going to go that route, there are also areas where Catholics are more popular, where there are less fundy’s. In the big picture…Catholics are not hated.

In the really big picture, people have a much more negative perspective on anti Catholics than on Catholics because anti Catholics are bigots in a very self evident way.

Maybe think of it in reverse…when confronted with anti Catholicism, most people are turned off by it, they don’t like bigots. They probably have a non bigoted Catholic neighbor who appears much more likable and normal than the bigoted anti Catholic. If they don’t have a Catholic neighbor, they still have the common knowledge that Catholics aren’t doing anything to really distinguish themselves as bigots. You have a lack of bigotry from the average Catholic and the presence of bigotry in anti Catholics.

So between the two, who do you think ends up looking better in the eyes of the average person listening to the anti Catholic?

I was mixed up with some anti Catholics for about a year, and this was after I’d left the Catholic Church so I was pretty open to negative stuff about the Church. It was the anti Catholics themselves that turned me away from anti Catholicism.

Anti Catholics are self defeating…they aim their pointed fingers at Catholics every chance they get but the average person “gets it” and notices how the accusing anti Catholic behaves and Catholics end up looking better by default.

 

[silentstar]

According to this article, one out of every ten (10%) of Americans is an ex-Catholic, with about 1/2 of them becoming unaffiliated, another 1/2 becoming Protestant, and a small percent converting to another religion. That is a lot of people.

ncronline.org/news/hidden-exodus-catholics-becoming-protestants

I was raised Catholic and am currently unaffiliated. Sometime soon I’m going to talk to a priest about my personal issues; however I was warned against becoming bitter by 3 important people in my life, ironically none of them was Catholic. Two were Jewish and the other was raised Catholic, the product of a ‘mixed marriage’ who is not practicing any organized religion. They all said that while it can be understandable to be angry about certain issues, bitterness is not a good idea and a lot of issues often relate to the family of origin also since that’s where children learn the ways religion is practiced. There is a popular musician who has spent the last 20 or so years of her life being angry about her Protestant upbringing and it really has not done her a whole lot of good.

 

[Cat]

I spent 47 years as an evangelical Protestant before converting to Catholicism 7 years ago.

I don’t believe that people hate Catholics, but rather, they hate the Catholic Church.

The reason they hate the Catholic Church is because they LOVE you, and they want you to believe in Jesus Christ, experience the abundant life that He promised in John 10:10, and then go to heaven when you die.

They believe that the Catholic Church is stopping you from doing all those things because they think that the Catholic Church is a false church, a cult, an invention of man that takes its theology from ancient mysticism and occult practices.

They believe that the Catholic Church teaches salvation by works, not through faith in Jesus Christ. They believe that the Catholic Church teaches legalism and therefore is still mired down in the Old Testament law. They believe that the Catholic Church is more about rules and rituals than it is about relationship with Jesus. And they believe that Catholics are going to hell because they haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior.

They don’t want you to go to hell! So no wonder they hate the Catholic Church! They despise what it’s doing–or NOT doing-to you, their friend!

Why are you upset with that? How many of the people on CAF hate, or strongly dislike, the Protestant churches for teaching a partial Christianity that denies the Eucharist or the sacraments?! I’ve read a lot of posts on CAF that make it clear that many of the members hate Protestant churches and consider them cults, inventions of man, and full of false theology.

Or let’s clarify. How would YOU feel about a Church that denies everything the Catholic Church teaches and is clearly leading its members down the path to hell? Wouldn’t YOU hate that Church and do everything you can to rescue your loved ones and friends from its evil grasp?

Well, that’s how the people you have met feel about you and your Church. They want to rescue you and see you gloriously saved.

That being said, my suggestion is that you put on your deeper ears, and instead of hearing them say, “I hate Catholics” or “I hate the Catholic Church,” hear what they’re REALLY saying, which is, “I love you and I want you to believe in Jesus and go to heaven.”

Hear their heart talking, not their mouth. Hear their love for you and their concern for your soul.

That will give you a whole new perspective and help you not to become discouraged, but rather, to appreciate them because of their love and concern for you.

And then…prove to them by your ACTIONS and your life that you DO believe in Jesus and you do have the hope of heaven!

I think it would be good to study some of the apologetic works by the authors on Catholic Answers so that you can answer their questions and correct their misperceptions, but wait until they actually ask you. If they haven’t asked you, then they are not ready to hear your answer yet.

 

[horselvr]

“the average person “gets it” and notices how the accusing anti Catholic behaves and Catholics end up looking better by default.”

er umm—well, maybe in your neck of the subdivision, but I can assure you that here in the piney woods, here in the bible belt, it is my experience that there is much disdain for Catholics and we are out numbered, only Lord knows how many to 1, and when you get that many saying whatever they wish and pointing fingers in whatever direction they want, well, they just see themselves as right which they pretty much base on the “50 Million Frenchmen can’t be wrong” attitude and what their preacher tells them.

Did you even check out the reports of Catholics having their civil rights stepped on ? Have you done any research on the topic at all?

I wonder why there is a need for the Catholic League if there is not out and out distain if not hatred for Catholics by some others? From having all our Priests painted as molesters by the media and Bill Maher consistantly poking fun at the Eurchrist and Catholicism, and the media perpetuating anything anti-Catholic and actually spurring it along. People believe what the media tells them.

Re-read the OP’s post. You don’t find disdain for Catholics in her neck of the woods? Afterall, she is relaying HER experiences to us—who are you or any of us to say she is exaggerating?

 

[Mayita30]

I once had a Christian friend who told me that the Vatican prohibited the people from reading the bible and that the Vatican burned bibles a long time ago. She also told me that we were statue worshippers… I was so offended by this and was so shocked that I myself could not respond to the accusations. We as catholics don’t know anything about their faith and here they are pretendeing and thinking they know a lot about our faith and attack us.

and another thing, while she was telling me about catholics being statue worshippers , I couldnt help but notice the BIG statue of BUDDHA she had in her room. WHAT AN IRONY! I just kept quiet but eversince that experience I have read up on apologetics and now am able to defend my faith…

 

[franny50]

I think some people hate catholics because 1)Catholics are not always the most tolerant people,even toward more liberal members of the church, 2)Catholics often appear condescending and arrogant toward protestants and other religions,expressing their belief that they are the"true church",and 4) Because of some of the persecution catholics have carried out through out history(crusades,inquisition)
With that said,I know there are many good catholics out there who do not deserve the attitudes that are so prevalent in todays society.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Abortion. That’s one.

Definition of marriage. That’s two.

Abortion is not a 'Catholic rule". It is a basic HUMAN RIGHT. The right to life.

As for ‘definition of marriage’. . . in what way? What Catholic leader is forcing his non-Catholic followers into being married in a Catholic Church?

Oh wait, sorry, I was having a ‘duh moment’ (would like to blame flu but hey, no excuse). You mean ‘gay marriage’.

Well, first of all, in the U.S. anyway, 38 of the 50 states have either a DOMA act (Defense of Marriage Act) which stipulates that marriage is between one man and one woman, and I think a couple of others have similar statements that are now in the process of being argued in court.

So, um, it’s not exactly a "Catholic view of marriage’, right? 38 of 50 states appear to think that one man/one woman is a SECULAR point of view as well.

Also, there are not only Catholics but Jews, Muslims, Protestants, and even atheists and pagans, who believe in one man/ one woman marriage and not in ‘gay marriage’.

In actual legal fact, all current definitions of marriage in the U.S. and in most of the rest of the countries of the world state that marriage is one man/one woman. And these countries are not all Catholic. . .