Anti-Catholicism: A Phony Issue [Religion Forum Piñata]

Washington Post ^ | March 14, 2007 | Susan Jacoby

[Alex Murphy]

The idea that anti-Catholicism is a significant force in American life today is a complete canard, perpetrated by theologically and politically right-wing Roman Catholics--a minority among the Catholic laity--and aimed at anyone who stands up to the Church's continuing attempts to impose its values on all Americans.

The people who scream "anti-Catholicism" at every opportunity use the same tactics as right-wing Jews who charge that any criticism of Israeli policies is anti-Semitic. And just as the Jewish Right attacks liberal Jews, the Catholic Right attacks liberal Catholics as well as liberal non-Catholics.

The major organization promoting the falsehood that there is significant discrimination against Catholics is the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, whose president, William Donohue, has conned the news media into treating him as a "spokesman" for all American Catholics.

One of the biggest blind spots in much of the press's coverage of religion is that it tends to treat groups like "Catholics" and "evangelicals" as if their members marched in lockstep. In fact, there are liberal Catholics and conservative Catholics, just as there are liberal Protestant evangelicals and conservative fundamentalist evangelicals. Liberal Catholics have much more in common with liberal Protestants than they do with the kind of Catholics whom Donohue's organization claims to represent.

The majority of American Catholics, as demonstrated in repeated public opinion polls, reject the league's arch-conservative views on such matters as the separation of church and state (the league wants as much religious intrusion into government as possible); abortion rights; and stem cell research....

[redgolum]

Paradoxically, many Catholics insisted on state religions, not realizing the price they paid for legal privilege.

Indeed, which is why the current Spanish government has no problem turning over churches to be mosques. Since the state "owns" them, they can do as they wish with them.