I ask for an odd reason. I’m reading a history of the Royal Navy and it’s dealing with the English Civil War at the moment, and the attitudes and motivations of the Independents in the Rump Parliament. What’s fascinating is how similar the attitudes towards Catholics in 1642 are compared to what you hear from some of the extreme fundamentalists, especially in the US. Britain at this time and in the century preceding wasn’t very friendly to Catholics in the first place, but the attitudes during Cromwell’s era are especially striking.
Thing is, I can somewhat see how those attitudes formed and held four-five hundred years ago. Where I’m confused is why there are still such feelings today, especially such similar ones. I mean, there’s no Catholic oppression here, no risk of Catholic Spain invading and forcing “popery” on the people.
Fundamentalists believe Catholics practice idolatry, orthdox church also I guess, but they’re less visible to the standard fundamentalist. This idolatory is due to the ‘worship’ of the saints and Mary as well as the elevation of the Pope as the authority, and not authority gained through reading and interpreting the Bible.
During the time of the reformation I could understand not being particularly fond of the Catholic church. At its worst it was badly behaved. But these days it’s just reflex action for formerly persecuted churches (many of which are now massive and wealthy themselves). Fundamentalists may consider Catholics barely a step above devil worshipers, but I think they do better than us Athiests :D
I grew up in a fundamentalist church, and saw little Catholic mistrust. Calistas has the main reasons for it, although Protestants in general (most Christian fundamentalists are Protestant, except for Mel Gibson and his dad) also don’t like the confessional. They believe Christians can ask Jesus directly for forgiveness for their sins, rather than having to go through a priest as an intermediary.
Seriously Jakub, the above is the correct answer. It is not just a clever comment by Angie. They hate anyone who is different then they are. The closer a religion is to theirs, but not exactly like theirs, the more they hate it.
Their vitriol is amplified when some group has the audacity to call themselves “Christian” yet have different interpretations of religious texts then they do.
Then again, you have things like the “troubles” in Ireland, which is a prime example of recent Protestant vs. Catholic conflict. The whole purpose of the Protestant church from the start was to replace the corrupt Catholic church, so it’s not too surprising that the two don’t really get along, even today.
When I was a fundamentalist (for over 15 years) I don’t remember ever hating Catholics. At the time I felt they were wrong/misled on doctrinal matters and wanted to show them what I thought was the truth but never felt hatred for them.
The other fundamentalists I hung around with and I would laugh at those Chick tracts. Only the real hardcore segment of fundamentalism distributes Chick tracts and outright hates Catholics. We’d run into the frothing-at-the-mouth types occasionally but they’d make us nervous and we’d leave them alone pretty quickly.
If you ask a sane, calm born-again American why Catholics aren’t Christians, he’ll say “Because they don’t ask Jesus into their hearts” and/or “Because they don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus.” Those are dumbed-down versions of “Because they seek salvation through good works rather than through sincere faith,” a point which goes all the way back to Luther, and “Because their church is an intermediary between them and God.”
It’s a shame that goofy bullshit about the Whore of Babylon and “Jesuitical” conspiracies has superseded those legitimate theological issues in the popular mind…But the whole divide became little more than an excuse for wars and coups pretty much right away anyway…So what the heck. Most people don’t become religious for intellectual reasons, y’know?
Except, of course, that the Troubles (and, indeed, the entire history of Anglo-Irish conflict) were not at their core a religious debate but were about self-determination, nationalism and sovereignty.
There was a religious aspect, as indicated by the Civil Rights movement in Derry during the sixties and sevents but for the most part the religious element was a bolt-on: Nationalists/Republicans were/are predominantly Catholic whilst Loyalists/Unionists tend to be Protestants. Going back further, the indigenous Irish were predominantly Catholic whilst the British planters were nearly always Protestants of some persuasion. Religion therefore became just another way to justify oppression and agression on both sides and to recruit more Catholics or Protestants to the cause.
Many of the leading lights in the Irish Republican movement were Protestant (Wolfe Tone, for example).
