I don't believe it is. Read the story. I'm not sure defamation was even mentioned.
Then read the responses on the blog.
The question as posed is “Is Anti-catholicism Dead?”
It's not a protest against anti-catholicism, it doesn't mention defamation, it's not a statement at all! it's a question!
Don't you think that if it had been a self-pity party the NYT would eagerly have pointed that out?
Now skim the response on the blog. It seems to be a common
“take” on bunch of scholars getting together to wonder about the state of Anti-Catholicism: they simply MUST have been engaged in self-pity and objection.
What I personally brought to the article, as distinct from thee nonsense which followed on FR, was an interest in their opinions on the state of things, not some lament or sense of injury. I hope Neuhaus write it all up in First Things.
We have a culture clash here. Lots of things go into it. One is the difference of opinion about whether Athens has anything to do with Jerusalem. Another is a sense of history.
Some of us would think it a good thing that the Church would at least value and try to influence secular powers to value, say the life of neonates, monogamy, the general bad-idea-ness of daddies raping their daughters, and so on. Even now, I think some Protestants might think it a good thing if Christians, even if they labored under the horrible burden of the Ho of Bab'lon, actually succeeded in persuading, say, the USSR to be a little open to Solidarity.
Or do you think it a bad thing that Catholic clergy willingly died in Poland in the struggle that led to Gorbachev and then the dissolution of the USSR?
I think if we try to evaluate the historic behavior of the Catholic Church in terms of a system of nations states with constitutions and institutions which more or less accurately pretend to some notions of innate human rights and representative government, then we will fail to understand the political turmoil of the time from, say, Nero to Henry VIII. And failing to understand that we will be guilty of despising the giants on whose shoulders we stand, and mocking them for not being as tall or seeing as far as we do.
What happened from the first Pentecost, through the Milvian Bridge, Ferdinand and Isabella, to Lepanto and Augsburg had never happened before. There was no book of instructions. To us it's a big duh that denominations should not be political entities. I wonder if Luther, Calvin, Cromwell, or Pope St. Pius V would have found it so obvious, not having the evidence of their own errors to consider?
I thank God for you and this post.
What more can I say?
I want one of your t-shirts, please!
I think if we try to evaluate the historic behavior of the Catholic Church in terms of a system of nations states with constitutions and institutions which more or less accurately pretend to some notions of innate human rights and representative government, then we will fail to understand the political turmoil of the time from, say, Nero to Henry VIII. And failing to understand that we will be guilty of despising the giants on whose shoulders we stand, and mocking them for not being as tall or seeing as far as we do.
= = =
Perhaps there’s a few percent of truth to that. Maybe 2-3%.
At the bottom line, imho, it’s a bit like parents saying in the counseling session that they did all they knew to do . . . that little Johnny has just been rebellious from the first week of life yada yada yada.
And it’s actually quite obvious that there’s been tons of discipline WITHOUT RELATIONSHIP and TONS of PROVOKING TO WRATH unreasonably. Clear violations of Scripture.
The hierarchy had sufficient Scripture to have behaved more Christ-like at every stage along the way from it’s politically assumptive power-mongering around 300-400 or so on.
The Jewish magicsterical also had sufficient Scripture to have behaved as children of God instead of as children of satan as Christ accurately labeled them.
Essentially, there’s no excuse that will stand before Almighty God. The ten commandments have been around a long time.
The 2nd Commandment has been around a long time.
Doing unto others has never been rescinded or revised.
The Jewish, RC, Episcopal, Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal magicstericals have all done and do dastardly evil things because the heart of man, of individuals is deceitfully wicked (Jer 17:9).
Collectively—bureaucratically, they tend to gather evil interest and multiplied potency.
Historical context can be important in understanding trends etc. etc. etc. Such will not offer a shred of fig-leaf protection before Almighty God.
“Don’t you think that if it had been a self-pity party the NYT would eagerly have pointed that out?”