Posted on 05/04/2007 5:46:36 AM PDT by Saundra Duffy
I think you seriously underestimate the depth of anti-Catholic feeling in the US pre-1960, or the degree to which, in the pre-Vatican II world, Catholics in the US were seen and saw themselves as very distinct from the rest of the population. By then not any less loyal Americans (the old charge of dual loyalty had already lost much of its bite by the time Kennedy spoke to the Houston clergy), but with a separate education system and with distinctly different cultural values. I think that if you were able to carefully interview people, you would find that most Protestants born before 1930 for sure, and likely those born before WWII, grew up and remain suspicious of Catholics would have been almost as uncomfortable with their child marrying a Catholic as with the child marrying a jew. Don't get me wrong, I think such prejudice is wrong, but it was quite real.
“Hm...Is that how you choose a **President**! By their underwear?”
It has happened. Clinton was elected because he wore briefs.
The persecution I experienced caused me to study in great detail the history, people, behavior and beliefs of an organization -- calling itself a "church" -- that could seemingly happily inflict so much pain. This will be my only post on this topic, but:
I would never vote for a Mormon Presidential candidate. I know far too much about the organization, its methods and aims to ever entrust a Mormon with that kind of power. Your Catholic analogy doesn't hold Holy water. Mormons are a very different kind of phenomenon, as America will learn if it makes what I consider the mistake of electing Romney.
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You personally know Mormon elected officials? Wow! You are breathing rarefied air.
I don’t know any elected officials of any sort of any religion.
I have no fixation creepy or otherwise as to the type of underwear that Mormons or any other faith wear. As a Methodist I wear briefs, and that is I might add, not an official position of my church.
My father was atheist, and my mother a devote Catholic.
Although, my father’s Protestant relations attempted valiantly to be respectful of Catholicism they weren’t entirely successful.
My brother married a Methodist girl in a Methodist ceremony. None of my Catholic relatives attended, and they shunned my mother and us for a few years. They refused to accept the marriage as even being valid.
Well...By the time I was growing up, Catholic prejudice was waning, and I personally experienced little of it.
My 2 brothers and I were very distressed by the religious upheaval in home due to my older brother’s marriage. Although I attended Villanova, an Augustinian university, I was not then practicing Catholicisms. I have been a faithful member of another Christian religion for 25 years.
It has happened. Clinton was elected because he wore briefs.
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Very cute! :)
“They Shoot Mormons Don’t They” pingaling.
My Southern grandmother, born during Reconstruction, was a yellow dog Democrat (despite being quite conservative and a teetotaler). She only voted other than for the Democrat twice in her life: against Al Smith in 1928 ("damned wet Catholic" in her words) and against Kennedy in 1960. (She would not say whether she voted for the Republican or some third party candidate - only that she had split her ticket and voted against Smith and Kennedy)
It's hard to know whether that was in his mind at the beginning, like Bill Clinton becoming President, or if he just took advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself later.
Cordially,
I have uncles who have huge issues with the Catholic faith.
I come from a long line of Anabaptists who were treated very badly during the 15th century.
Today I think most of them know some Catholics and have come to the realization that Catholics aren’t so bad. But the prejudices are still out there.
Have you informed the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?
Thanks for posting. I’m a Protestant, but I’m not any more fond of Mormon-bashing than I am of Catholic-bashing, both are just wrong. In a nation that is supposed to adhere to the Second Amendment, we ought to be prepared to vote for someone who fits our values and stand on the issues, regardless of their faith.
this does not sound Unitarian to me, course Methodists were quite different back then too.
So, are you consistent? Would you say: "Anyone who wouldn't vote for someone just because they a Muslim is a loon? Anyone who wouldn't vote for someone just because they are a Satanist is a loon?"
All of these are religious minorities.
BOOKbump
You don’t know that Teddy Kennedy is Catholic? That Harry Reid is Mormon? That Hillary Clinton and Bush are Methodist?
Where have you been hiding?
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