Where I grew up, the delinquent kids were sent to Catholic schools. They used to complain about the corporal punishment, but, if I'd had those awful kids in my class, they'd have to be tied up like Hannibal Lechter. <G>
I think there is less prejudice against Catholics than at any time in American history. They are part of the neocon alliance and the fundamentalists, the traditional bashers, have mostly shut up about them. I remember when JFK was running and many people said the Pope would be the real President. <G> Actually, Pope John the 23rd, the second one, was Pope at the time and was a heck of a guy and could have done better than most Presidents.
The stories when I was a kid were pretty silly. I attended mass several times with one of my Italian cousins and I didn't see any protestant babies being roasted over an open fire, no porno films with priests and nuns, and the smell of incense didn't seem to be to covering up the smell of drugs. (In fact, my Catholic relatives told me those were all Jewish practices. <VBG>) Yes, there were a lot of statues or idols, as the holy rollers called them. Yet, these same fundamentalists thought we all had to pledge allegiance to the flag, which seems kind of like idol worship to me.
I don't think there would be any bashing right now if the Church had not acted badly in the sex scandals. But there is a lot of hypocrisy, as Haggard and Swaggart, et. al, are supposed to be forgiven for their sins. I believe in forgiving, but I don't believe they should remain as ministers and I don't think predator priests should remain priests. |
