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Anti-Catholicism has a long history in America. And as Philip Jenkins argues in The New Anti-Catholicism, this virulent strain of hatred--once thought dead--is alive and well in our nation, but few people seem to notice, or care. A statement that is seen as racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, or homophobic can haunt a speaker for years, writes Jenkins, but it is still possible to make hostile and vituperative public statements about Roman Catholicism without fear of serious repercussions. Jenkins shines a light on anti-Catholic sentiment in American society and illuminates its causes, looking closely at gay and feminist anti-Catholicism, anti-Catholic rhetoric and imagery in the media, and the anti-Catholicism of the academic world. For newspapers and newsmagazines, for television news and in movies, for major book publishers, the Catholic Church has come to provide a grossly stereotyped public villain. Catholic opinions, doctrines, and individual leaders are frequently the butt of harsh satire. Indeed, the notion that the church is a deadly enemy of women--the idea of Catholic misogyny--is commonly accepted in the news media and in popular culture, says Jenkins. And the recent pedophile priest scandal, he shows, has revived many ancient anti-Catholic stereotypes. It was said that with the election of John F. Kennedy, anti-Catholicism in America was dead. This provocative new book corrects that illusion, drawing attention to this important issue.
The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice
Tags: Catholic, Roman Catholicism, Product, deadly enemy, prejudice, book publishers
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“The New Anti-Catholicism” is a comprehensive, timely study of modern anti-Catholicism. Drawing on recent events while simultaneously mindful of history, Philip Jenkins makes a solid case that Roman Catholicism is subjected to a disproportionate amount of scrutiny, satire, and scorn in American life. The subject of some ugly anti-Catholic remarks myself, I impulsively bought this book as soon as I learned of its existence. What I found was not the polemical denunciation of anti-Catholic prejudice that I had craved (in order to feel vindicated) but rather a careful, erudite–at times sociological–study of anti-Catholicism which I ultimately found no less fascinating!
Chapters 2 and 3 (there are ten total) concern the history of American anti-Catholic bigotry. Consisting of largely classic nativist paranoia about anti-Catholicism, the history itself I found to be rather dry. But I stuck with it, and I’m glad I did. Understanding the history of the prejudice, Jenkins demonstrates, is necessary to understand anti-Catholicism as a whole. Indeed, many of the vicious ultraliberal attacks on the Church that we encounter today are strikingly similar to the ultraconservative bigotry of a century ago. The book picks up pace after Chapter 3, however, as Jenkins explores topics like gay and feminist anti-Catholicism, Catholicism and the news media, Catholics in art, Catholics in Movies & TV, the recent sex abuse scandal, and what he calls “Black Legends,” distortions of Church history. The chapter on clerical sexual abuse is so engrossing that it is almost worth the price of the book by itself!
Throughout the book, Jenkins explores the definitional aspects of anti-Catholicism in addition to the topical aspects that I listed in the previous paragraph. He explains the difference (however slight) between anti-Catholicism and anti-clericalism. He notes that to spitefully disparage “the institution” of the Catholic Church, as opposed to “the members,” is to practice de facto anti-Catholicism since, unlike other religions, the institution is so deeply central to the Roman Catholic faith itself. He also explains that “it is not anti-Catholic simply to assert that the Church’s position on a given issue is dead wrong, nor that Bishop X or Cadinal Y is a monster or menace to the public good. … It is quite a different matter [however] to say that some essential features of [Catholicism] give rise to evil or abuse and that the evil cannot be prevented without fundamentally changing the beliefs or practices of the religion.” The author is a realist, not a sensationalist or somebody looking for controversy. Readers will be impressed with Jenkins.
It is important to note that Philip Jenkins himself, a distinguished professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University, is an Episcopalian. Indeed, he has no vested interest in defending Catholicism and doesn’t hesitate to criticize the Church when the situation merits. But he calls on America to recognize that harmful anti-Catholic intolerance pervades popular culture in such a manner that would be unimaginable concerning Muslims, Jews, homosexuals, or blacks.
This is a really scholarly investigation into the blatant bias against the Catholic Church as promulgated by all forms of media and tolerated by American society. The author,a former Roman Catholic, now an Episcopal teaches religious studies and history at the Pennsylvania State University. Although he has made a decision to remove from his Catholic roots he is none the less very fair in his analysis of the bias which has pervaded the Church for the whole of our country’s existence; in fact I believe he may be much more credible because of his independence from the Church.
Philip Jenkins takes many issues including abortion,homosexuality,race,contraception,Church hierachy and papal infallibility and discusses these issues in light of historical perspective. He clearly shows that in an earlier era the “conservatives” of the populace were most threatened by Catholicism and were the most vigorous in trying to suppress it. Now, however, it is clearly the “liberals” who for totally different reasons and for different agendas are vehemently opposed the the Catholic Church.
Dr.Jenkins brings to light issues that have become unpopular to discuss or even intelligently critique due to the transformation of social “norms” that even a generation ago were considered fair game. Even I, an orthodox Roman Catholic, find myself falling for some of these new acceptable prejudices. Dr. Jenkins clearly demonstrates the fallacy of these new biases.
When my local public library purchased Professor Jenkin’s study of anti-Catholicism I was ambivalent. I checked out the book with the intention to skim through it, but soon I began to more deeply read individual chapters, and eventually ended up reading the entire book. Prof. Jenkins (a non-Catholic) presents a solid and balanced portrayal of the radically changing face of American anti-Catholicism, as well as how American Catholics have both combatted and contributed to this anti-Catholicism in the past and present. The superficial similarities and profound differences between modern anti-Catholicism and past prejudice is simultaneously astounding and unsurprising. The only book I know which surpasses this one in presenting the history of American anti-Catholicism is out of print (“John F. Kennedy and American Catholicism”). Coincidentally, that other work was also written by a non-Catholic (a Jewish scholar to be exact). I highly recommend this book to Americans of all backgrounds who wish to understand the story behind American anti-Catholic prejudice today.
Jenkins has done it again. Hopefully this will be the first of many exposes of anti-Catholic bigotry. He has done all religions a great service by revealing the discrimination and hate that are heaped on Catholicism. Usually in the name of tolerance and by the most “liberal” of people. People who would never make a remark or joke about Jews, Muslims, or African-Americans have no problem doing so about Catholics. This book is a good scholarly first step towards fairness and respect. Make sure your library has a copy of this book on its shelves.
Though I haven’t finished this book yet, I hold Jenkins in very high regard, as one of the few writers on religion who knows what he’s talking about and consistently tells us little-known truths. The pervasiveness of anti-Catholicism in American elite culture is one of those truths. The incidents catalogued in this book are a real eye-opener.
The hostile reviews of this book illustrate the problem this book is about; the authors exhibit the characteristic symptoms of prejudice–a willingness to blame the victim combined with a willful distortion of facts. To take a few examples: the Church does not condemn gays (or anyone) as “hellbound” nor “attempt to frustrate their efforts to reach an accomodation with the larger society” ["accommodation" is hardly the word for the current effort to publicly redefine sex and marriage as having nothing to do with procreation, a view that directly attacks the very notion of human society as the Church understands it], freedom of conscience is not a “dead letter” in the Church (and it is grotesque to compare the contemporary Church to the Soviet Union–the Church is more tolerant of dissent on political matters than the University of Washington, where I have studied), Catholics do not believe or tend to believe in subverting the US Constitution, and I have never known any Catholic to “engage in seditious activity against fellow citizens” or advocate anything that “denies the democratic nature of the United States, as well as the rights of every individual”. I defy anyone to produce a single contemporary example of Catholics, as such, engaged in sedition or subversive political activities.
Consider for a moment whether anyone could make comparable blanket accusations about Jews, or Muslims, or any other human beings, and go untainted by the accusation of religious bigotry, especially when no evidence is cited in support of these claims. If someone said that certain Jews were engaged in sedition and subversion of the Constitution (and we have heard such claims, of course), giving no evidence to support the accusation, what would you think of them? What if someone says that Islam is incompatible with democracy and Muslims are enemies of America? If a Jew or Muslim complains about such things, does anyone argue that this is asking “special reverence” for Judaism or Islam?
Jenkins’ book is an impassioned plea for simple justice, on behalf of a religion routinely singled out for vilification in ways no-one would dare apply to any other group of human beings without fear of public obloquy. Please heed it.