Anti-Catholicism, Hypocrisy and Double Standards

As a young Catholic I was unaware of the amount of irrational hatred that was directed toward the Catholic Church and Catholics themselves. Growing up in Los Angeles I was not subject to the Fundamentalist “tracts” being placed on my family car while we were at Mass as I would have been had I lived in the “Bible Belt”. My exposure to people of other faiths was frequent and always positive. The majority of my friends growing were Jewish as were the girls whom I had the honor of dating. My babysitter growing up was Mormon, as was my Paternal Grandfather. My Paternal Grandmother is a Methodist and my Father was an atheist for most of his life. My Maternal Grandfather was a Presbyterian from a family that produced many deacons. However, my Maternal Grandmother was an Irish Catholic and thus my Mother was a Catholic and therefore we were raised Catholic. None of this was seen as a conflict. None of the above people in my family ever acted as though anything was “wrong” with my siblings and I being raised Catholic.

In my college years I essentially fell away from the faith. I still called myself a “Catholic” but had no particular belief in any of the dogmas that makes one a Catholic. I just knew that I was of Irish ancestry and thus was “Catholic”. My beliefs were for the most part agnostic. I thought that true believers were absurd (I included both theist and atheist true believers as absurd).

While in college I heard all about how the Catholic Church was responsible for the Dark Ages, the destruction of the Native Peoples of the Americas, the Holocaust, the Inquisition, pimples on teenagers, Milli-Vanilli and just about everything else that negatively effected anyone anywhere at anytime everywhere. I learned how peaceful and wonderful Muslim societies were and how Christians lived very well under Islamic rule. And how the Crusades were an evil move by a corrupt Pope to throw off that wonderful balance and have a huge land grab for greedy Churchman and Nobles. I heard how nothing good happened in the Christian world and no good men were produced in the Christian world until Marin Luther and later "the Enlightenment". I look back now and marvel at how I remained a Catholic even if it was in name only. All my history professors with their fancy PhDs thought Catholicism was a force for evil in the Western World who was I to disagree? Of course I just went along and got good grades and degrees not really challenging the idiocy that I was being taught.

There I was just a young guy going through life not contemplating the great issues of life and certainly not contemplating being a Catholic when I had the misfortune to meet a Rabbi that was a friend of my wife’s family. During our discussion, the rabbi told me about things that Christians “buy into” like the Trinity and the fact that Jesus was God. I was told that I could never understand Jews and their suffering at the hands of Catholics. I was told that I “would never know what it is to be a Jew or how it feels to have your children forced to sing Christmas carols (oh the horror! the horror!)”. I would never know what it is like to look at someone like me and see the Inquisition and the Crusades. Now, anyone who is not a self absorbed bigot would know that talking to a person who is half Irish and Catholic knows a little something of prejudice and persecution. My ancestors could not own land in their own country. They had to pay taxes to a foreign English master and support his foreign Church that was a parasite on their own land. They had real persecution. If they could have gotten off with simply singing Church of Ireland songs rather than pay taxes to and be persecuted by the British, I'm sure they would have gladly accepted. But why look past ones on victim-hood in order to see truth, when victim-hood is so much more of a commodity in our modern society.

At that point I made a commitment to understand my faith. I would never let someone attack the beliefs of my ancestors as this rabbi did without making a strong defense. My ancestors were willing to be persecuted (the real kind of persecution not the Christmas Carol kind) rather than abandon their faith. The least I could do is understand what they found so important as to endure what they did. Thus starting my journey toward becoming a passionate believer. The irony of a anti-Catholic bigoted rabbi bringing me closer to the truth of Christ is absolutely wonderful.

I started reading books by the usual authors that are sold at Borders and Barnes & Noble like George Weigel. While informative they were, upon reflection, very superficial. However, I happened upon a book called “Catholicism verses Fundamentalism” by Karl Keating. I thought it was simply going to be an analysis of Catholic beliefs versus Fundamentalist beliefs. What I had purchased was a wonderful combination of satire and apologetics. It has become the definitive apologetics book produced in the last 30 years. The title of the book itself mocks Jimmy Swaggarts silly book “Catholicism and Christianity”. Throughout the book I was baptized by fire into the world of anti-Catholicism. I learned about such Fundamentalist writers and “thinkers” as Lorraine Boettner, Alexander Hislop, Jimmy Swaggart, Jack Chick and others. Keating dismantled their arguments so thoroughly that one wonders how these people are not all routinely dismissed even by honest Fundamentalists. Sadly, low rent bigots like Hislop, Boettner and Dave Hunt are still widely read in Fundamentalist circles. Swaggart has fallen out of favor as we all know. Keating opened up a new door to me. I now was ready for the next step and started buying every book by Chesterton and Belloc I could find as they are the greatest apologists for the Catholic faith in the last 100 years.

The Holy Spirit has a funny way of working. I became friends with a wonderful guy who happens to be a Fundamentalist Christian. As we would talk he would mention some of the things that Keating talked about in his book. I was informed that Peter never went to Rome and that the Church was founded by Constantine the Great, and that Easter is really “Ishtar” and other scholarly insights that occupy the minds of Fundamentalist writers. I was told all about Catholicism and how it is really just paganism re-written. To his and most Fundamentalists credit, they literally do not know they are repeating lies. These books are sold at Protestant Book Stores and Churches. Also, he informed me of these things out of love as he believed my soul was in peril. So he could not process the refutations that I would make to him and just go on to the next attack. Most Catholics know about this tactic that Fundamentalists use. They will tell us what we believe and how stupid we are for believing it. 99% of the time they are wrong. The problem is that they have been told by Dave Hunt (his bio is from "rapture ready") or James White that the Calumnies that they are stating are Gospel truth.

After a while I began to pick up more and more apologetics material to refute my friends claims. I also decided that I would no longer play defense with him. I would attack his belief in sola scriptura (scripture alone) and sola fide (faith alone). When I would press him and ask about where those teachings are found in the Bible he would have no answer. This lead to his anger that I was asking too much to show me where the Bible taught either one of those Protestant Traditions (Traditions of men, not of God I might add). I would also repeat what he would say to me but re-phrase it to see if he really was willing to stand by it. For instance, he once told me that he was passionately anti-Catholic. I responded “Really? So if I were Jewish would it be okay for you to tell me that you are passionately anti-Jew?” He was taken aback and responded “Of course not!” I then responded “I guess some hatred is acceptable while others is not”. His response….silence. And then move on to the next attack. That is generally the tactic of the anti-Catholic. Never acknowledge that they are wrong, just move on to the next attack until they find something that the Catholic cannot answer. Usually it ends with some obscure Pope from the 7th century that no one knows about.

Anti-Catholicism rots the mind. It blinds people and they become obsessed with the destruction of something that they cannot destroy. People have been trying for 2000 years. Churchmen like Roger Mahoney have done their best. But the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it. So this leads to desperation. Which then leads to all kinds of ridiculous theories and outright lies about what Catholics believe and do. It does not stop with Fundamentalist Christians though. Before we think “well that’s just those weird bible-thumpers” let’s examine some things that people just “know”.

People "just know" that the Catholic Church did nothing in the Americas but persecute the indigenous people and massacre them. We "just know" that Priests never stood up to the Spaniards. Of course this is untrue. It is true that there were Catholic Priests who conducted themselves terribly during colonial times. However, it was Catholic Priests who sought to make life better for the indigenous people. Jesuits armed Indians against the Spanish in Paraguay, Francisco de Vittoria pleaded with the Spanish King in defense of the Indians. Most people in the Americas have never heard of Bartoleme de las Casas. Las Casas, a Spanish Dominican Priest has been called the Father of anti-imperialism and anti-racism. There is also Antonio Montesino who was the first person, in 1511, to denounce publicly in America the enslavement and oppression of the Indians as sinful and disgraceful to the Spanish nation. There of course were villains in the Spanish system but so were there in the American and English systems that were dominated by Protestants. We don’t hear about the brutality of Protestant lands in the US. We hear about those backward Spanish Catholics (who built the first Universities in the Americas) but not about the theocratic police state established in Geneva by John Calvin or the massacres carried out by Anabaptists in Munster.

In some cases anti-Catholicism is not only profitable it can allow for common bullies to slander and desecrate the memory of men finer than themselves without repercussions. Take the case of Daniel Goldhagen. He has made a career out of slandering the Catholic Church. Commenting on Mr. Goldhagens slanderous book A Moral Reckoning, Rabbi David Dalin, described Goldhagens work as "failing to meet even the minimum standards of scholarship.” He went on to say “That the book has found its readership out in the fever swamps of anti-Catholicism isn't surprising. But that a mainstream publisher like Knopf would print the thing is an intellectual and publishing scandal." This statement is absolutely correct. Let us be honest though, Goldhagen simply represents the double-standard that exists in our society. He is a left wing Jew who attacks the only group that it is acceptable to attack in modern American society, the evil Catholics. If a right wing Catholic were to make his living by attacking Judaism and slandering a prominent rabbi while blaming Judaism for the Marxist massacres under the NKVD he would be an out of work “conspiracy kook” and a anti-Semite. He would certainly not be published in the New Republic. Goldhagen has made the absurd statement that Christianity is anti-Semitic at its core. Imagine if one were to say that Judaism is anti-Gentile to its core. They would be isolated as an anti-Semite. The message is clear. A Jewish bigot like Goldhagen gets published by Knopf and the New Republic while his mirror image would be isolated and vilified.

I would like to wrap up with some other observations. All Catholics are told endless stories about Catholics persecuting people. Generally it starts with a Catholic King who orders the persecution of a group and despite the Bishops or Pope condemning it, "the Catholics" are to blame. An example of his would be during the Crusades when Crusaders massacred Jews along the Rhine. That was “the Catholics” despite the local Bishops hiding and protecting Jews. When a Protestant barbarian like Oliver Cromwell slaughters Catholics at Drogheda and sells the women and children into sex slavery or sacks Wexford that’s not “the Protestants”. That’s just Cromwell.

Much is made about Hitler being a baptized Catholic by ignoramuses like Dave Hunt. Other bigots like Goldhagen argue that Nazism was an extension of Catholic bigotry through the ages. Yet these people do not mention that Karl Marx was a Jew and that the ranks of the NKVD, some of the greatest murderers of all time, were filled with Jews. By using Goldhagens logic should we not attack Judaism and Jews? If we Catholics are and our faith are responsible for a former Catholic who later went so far as to persecute the Church, should not Jews be held responsible for Karl Marx and Genrikh Yagoda and the fact that some of greatest murderers of modern times were Jewish. The answer is of course not. Your Jewish neighbor has likely not heard of the NKVD, Yagoda let alone support what he and they did.

As I wrap up my thoughts on this I should say thank you to all of the people that I mention above. Especially the Rabbi who started my journey. Had he not been a self absorbed bigot, he would not have angered me and I would not have explored my own faith. I would have continued in my ignorance and would not have understood the faith that built Western Civilization and sustained my ancestors. I would not have understood the faith that Christ taught to the Apostles, that was passed on to their successors, our Bishops. I would not truly know the joy of being a Catholic. His ignorant statements brought about my reversion back to the true faith and my wife’s conversion to it. For that, I will literally be eternally indebted to him.

You have not provided a citation for Pope Leo XIII’s words (publication, date, page number, etc.), so how do I know that you aren’t putting words in his mouth?

When you provide the exact quote, with appropriate citations, I will discuss it with you.

Theistic evolution means that it is evolution guided by God, Who is the sole Creator of the world from nothing.

That's funny. The idea that G-d guides evolution is called "intelligent design," and most evolutionists (including Catholic ones) reject them as "creationists in disguise." So how is a good Catholic evolutiionist to believe that G-d "guides" it without really "guiding" it, eh?

We believe that the Bible is inerrant inasmuch as it pertains to the questions of faith. It may get geological, historical, or biological facts wrong inasmuch as the inspired author never meant the Bible to be a manual of geology, history or biology.

I thought according to Vatican I the author was G-d? What did G-d get wrong?

Thank you for admitting that Catholics reject total Biblical inerrancy, which was the point I was trying to make! You have made it for me!

“So are you comparing Jesus at the transfiguration with your praying, sorry, talking to Aunt Bessie, the same thing?”

No. Why, do you?

I’ve talked to dad many times over since his entry into eternal life. Mostly I tell him I miss him and wish he were there to help me miter corners.

We pray, honor, adore and make homage to the Almighty God, Creator of the Universe.

We chat with everyone else.

Oooo, someone had a nerve hit.

It’s alright, have some chocolate and you’ll feel better.

Sorry, but I don't find the Catholic Church's anti-Biblicism as amusing as you obviously do. But then, I'm only a bigoted illiterate hillbilly. What do I know? How can I possibly compare to those millions of illiterate peasants the Catholic Church is so proud of?

I guess those peasants must have been evolutionists.

“Biblical inerrancy...”

And God created everything in seven days, right?

It says so. It doesn’t say days that only God knows what they are, it says seven days. Days were 24 hours long when the bible was written or told orally.

So, seven days, right?

Here's a website,offering protection from evil. Apparently God can't help you, but these things will

http://www.tldm.org/tldmstore/PersonalProtectionPacket.htm

Our Lady tells us to be protected from all evil, we must wear the following sacramentals around our necks: a rosary, a crucifix, the St. Benedict medal, the Miraculous Medal, and the scapular. We have all of these sacramentals in a packet we call "Heaven's Personal Protection Packet." This packet is available for a donation of $5.00 and is listed in the sacramental section of the order form. This packet is blessed by a priest

Well said. I confess the same.

Now, this is not meant as an attack; please follow it through.

If a person’s understanding of the Bible is not complete and whole, then it is possible that that person can err with regard to Biblical teachings. If a person can err with regard to Biblical teachings, then it is possible that that person can hold false beliefs and err in his theology.

Since all human beings are less than perfect and therefore do not hold a complete understanding of something as far-reaching as the Bible, then a human being on his own will therefore to one extent or another, be in error w.r.t. the Bible. This is extra-Biblical support for the concept of the Magisterium. There is either one Church (and one understanding) of the One God and his One Word, or there are many. It is illogical that God’s One Word would speak to all in different ways and have different meanings.

There are some that say that the Holy Spirit has come into them and guides them to the right understanding of the Bible, but, again, it is illogical for One Holy Spirit to guide all Christians to different understanding of the One God and his One Word.

Wait! Didn’t Jesus make that wine for his OWN wedding to Mary Magdelene? LOL!
The same people that freak at the myths of the DaVinci Codes, spout myths about Catholics and think it’s all okay.

I love how the “You worship Mary”
“No, I ask her to pray for me.”
“NO, you worship her, but my definition.” discussions go.

The Non-Catholics always know what is our intent, don’t they?

At least one heir of Paul that I can think of, off the top of my head, was Timothy. Paul calls Timothy “his beloved son” several times. There were others that St. Paul calls his children and he references himself as a spiritual father to them.

Your second paragraph doesn’t make sense. Can you please re-write it?

There were no other miracles, recorded in Scripture, between Pentecost and the Beautiful Temple. In the Scriptural account of Pentecost it states that “miracles were done” after that Day, but it doesn’t state what they were, when they were done, or by whom. Scripture does make a point to describe the miracle by Peter as the very next account after the Day of Pentecost.

Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone, whom the builders rejected. He founded His Church on Peter (Rock). We are building blocks.

So how is a good Catholic evolutiionist to believe that G-d "guides" it without really "guiding" it, eh?

If you understand the philosophical distinction between primary and secondary causes, then you will understand how theistic evolution is not a contradiction in terms. A good person to study on this matter of primary and secondary causes is Professor Freddoso at Notre Dame.

-A8

Well actually, I find it amusing that anyone would waste bandwidth having a hissy fit over how another Christian worships. You want to call yourself any of the above names, that’s your right. I would tell you that you are wrong but I think it’s one of those “do these pants make me look fat?” Your statement is loaded.

No one is telling you to worship as Catholics do, so don’t worry, be happy.

I love Butterfinger Bars. Perhaps you should try one.

“Biblical inerrancy...”
And God created everything in seven days, right?
It says so. It doesn’t say days that only God knows what they are, it says seven days. Days were 24 hours long when the bible was written or told orally.

So, seven days, right?

First of all, the Torah (the first five books) were written before the world was created and then dictated to Moses letter-for-letter. I don't expect the Catholic Church to teach this, but this is what happened.

Second, the argument of "how long is a day?" misses the point creationists are trying to make. True, the sun was created on the Fourth Day so it couldn't have figured in the first three days (though light had been created and hours are relative, being 1/12 of a day and 1/12 of a night). The point is that there is simply no use in interpreting the days to agree with evolution, since the universe did not, and could not have, formed "naturally." "Nature" and its "laws" exist within the created universe--not outside it. So why would any rational person insist on interpreting the six days as billions of years in order to allow the universe to form "naturally?"

Third, what is it about the six days of creation (and Jonah's great fish, for that matter) that makes the Catholic Church and most of its members so hostile? Do the six days or the great fish somehow undercut the Pope or the magisterium? What's the deal?

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