It has often been stated that the last acceptable form of discrimination is that against Christianity. If this is true, then the most acceptable form of Christian discrimination is the new assault against Roman Catholicism.
This new anti-Catholicism — coming predominantly from liberal institutions such as the Democratic Party, the elite media and the ACLU — argues that Catholics are unqualified to hold certain government positions and recently has become increasingly hostile to all public forms of Catholicism.
The Constitution of the United States declares that no religious test shall be required as a qualification for public office. However, U.S. Senate Democrats have implemented a de facto religious test for the federal judiciary. The Democrats are currently filibustering one such nominee, Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, a devout Catholic, predominantly because of his religion’s opposition to abortion.
Abortion is the same issue behind the filibuster of President Bush’s other judicial nominees, and I believe it is the primary reason for this new anti-Catholicism. It must first be acknowledged that the so-called right to an abortion rests on shaky Constitutional grounds and can arguably be overturned on this basis. Because no faithful Catholic can ever support the legal right to an abortion, and because the Democrats will not allow anyone pro-life to sit on an appellate court, a de facto religious test has therefore been implemented that discriminates against Catholics.
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., a conservative Catholic, has been outspoken in denouncing this unconstitutional religious litmus test, but otherwise the Republicans have been disappointingly weak on exposing the anti-Catholicism of the Democrats. This is especially disturbing since two senators who have collaborated in this anti-Catholic religious test are Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, both from Wisconsin.
Another recent example concerning the new anti-Catholicism is the ongoing crusade to prevent Mel Gibson from releasing his latest movie, “The Passion,” which depicts the last 12 hours of Christ’s life. Some on the left claim their opposition to the film comes from fears the movie is inherently anti-Semitic.
But all who have seen the movie thus far have nothing but praise for the film, including Jews such as Matt Drudge, who called it one of the best movies in years. Furthermore, Cardinal Hoyos of the Vatican stated the movie is completely compatible with the Catholic understanding of the death of Christ.
However, certain elements within the left, prejudiced against the Catholic understanding of the Gospels, have launched a crusade to prevent the film from being released. Liberal Hollywood, quick to shout censorship at efforts to prevent the release of similar controversial films, has been strangely silent on the matter.
Leading the charge against the film, the New York Times originally decided to launch a smear campaign against Gibson, which included one reporter harassing his 85-year-old father. Fortunately, Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Channel exposed this hypocritical attack, and the Times has since been further discredited.
The elite media have also ridiculed Gibson for his traditionalist religious beliefs, including his devotion to the Latin or “Tridentine” Mass. I personally find it disgusting that the elitist media is so willing to engage in this despicable smear campaign, demonstrating their anti-Catholic bias.
To illustrate the hypocrisy of some of these groups, it is interesting to note that a version of the death of Christ is being performed here in Madison’s Bartell Theatre next March. The theatrical production “Corpus Christi” portrays Christ as a homosexual man having relations with His gay disciples and is crucified for being “king of the queers.”
The Blessed Virgin Mary is also grossly mocked in the theatrical. If these groups were actually concerned about religious bigotry, they would lead the effort in denouncing this production, which is greatly offensive to many Christians. But these individuals don’t care about religious bigotry and are merely prejudiced against all forms of traditional Christianity.
The malicious way the media covered the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal is another example of this anti-Catholic bias. After last year, one would assume every other priest is little more than a child molester. In reality, the number of priests actually guilty of such conduct was comparatively small, and the overwhelming majority of these cases involved adolescent boys, making it more of a homosexual problem rather than pedophilia.
There are countless similar examples of this new anti-Catholicism, from Bill Maher calling for the complete destruction of Catholicism to the Freedom from Religion Foundation demanding Madison Metro remove its image of Mother Theresa from public viewing.
However, it is sufficient to say that in the past several years, anti-Catholicism has become more and more acceptable among the elites in our society. While the Left as a demographic is not entirely anti-Catholic, powerful elements within that persuasion have become increasingly hostile to Catholicism, and it is necessary that this new bigotry be exposed for what it is.
Anthony Carver ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history.
