The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice

by Philip Jenkins

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198035275
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/17/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	398 KB

About the Author

Philip Jenkins, one of the world's leading religion scholars joined Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion as Distinguished Professor of History and Co-Director for the Program on Historical Studies of Religion. His books include Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History, and The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity.

Table of Contents

	Preface	vii
1	Limits of Hatred	1
2	The Catholic Menace	23
3	Catholics and Liberals	47
4	The Church Hates Women	67
5	The Church Kills Gays	93
6	Catholics and the News Media	113
7	"The Perp Walk of Sacramental Perverts": The Pedophile Priest Crisis	133
8	Catholics in Movies and Television	157
9	Black Legends: Rewriting Catholic History	177
10	The End of Prejudice?	207
	Notes	217
	Index	249

Editorial Reviews

Jenkins argues that a pronounced double standard takes hold when principally liberal-minded critics attack the church and Catholic beliefs. Scurrilous protests, such as the desecration of the Eucharist in New York's Saint Patrick's Cathedral by ACT-UP or the grotesque mockery of Catholic belief employed in Christopher Durang's "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All to You," have few parallels among other religious or ethnic groups. Jenkins scores points by showing how objections raised by Catholics to insensitive depictions of the church or Catholics are written off as attempts to censor or as the reactions of yahoos. Movies and art insulting to black or Jewish sensibilities are viewed as more serious problems. — Paul Baumann

The Washington Post

The American media, usually painstaking in their efforts to offend members of no racial, religious or gender category, consistently make one major exception-the Roman Catholic Church. So argues Jenkins, professor of history and religion at Penn State and a prolific author whose titles include Pedophiles and Priests and The New Christendom. Though anti-Catholicism arrived with the Pilgrims, only since the 1960s has it been aided by dissenters within the Catholic Church, primarily those who disagree with the church on sexual matters: birth control, feminism, abortion, homosexuality. Citing copious recent examples of anti-Catholicism in public protests, movies, television, publishing, the arts, the news media and academia, Jenkins concludes that offenses against Catholicism, unlike those against, say, Judaism or Islam, are rarely censored and never considered hate crimes. Similarly, historical offenses by Catholics are treated differently from those against Catholics: "If seizing Christian Syria and Palestine by the Muslim sword was acceptable in the seventh century, why was it so atrocious to try to reclaim them with the Christian lance 400 years later?" Jenkins, an Episcopalian, wants evenhanded treatment for all religions, whether through equal respect or equal openness to attack. Liberal Catholics may contend that vigorous dissent helps keep the hierarchy honest; others might argue that the largest American denomination does not need the protections afforded more vulnerable groups. For Jenkins, however, it's about fairness: "One does not make light of black heroes and martyrs, of AIDS or gay-bashing, yet when dealing with Catholics, no subject is off-limits." (Apr. 20) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The author of the acclaimed The Next Christendom: The Coming of the Global Christianity, Jenkins (history and religious studies, Pennsylvania State Univ.) here offers a thought-provoking and balanced analysis of prejudice against Catholics. Once a Catholic but now an Episcopalian, Jenkins thoroughly relates the historical foundation of anti-Catholicism in American culture with salient, illustrative events and scholarly insight. Having no vested interest in defending the Roman Catholic Church, he delicately confronts popular and even socially acceptable views that denigrate this segment of society, dissecting issues like the church's hatred with stunning new insight. The entire pedophile crisis associated with today's priesthood takes on a unique perspective in this important book. Honest, passionate, and convincing, it will cause the reader to reconsider basic assumptions. Some 30 pages of notes and bibliography add heft to this serious work. Highly recommended for all academic and public libraries.-John-Leonard Berg, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., Platteville Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"During the recent season of scandals, Catholics have generally, and with good reason, been reluctant to point out the obvious, namely, that the media carnival was in significant part motored by old-fashioned anti-Catholicism. Jenkins, an Episcopalian, has no such inhibitions and here offers a spirited account of how deep, pervasive, and multifaceted is the elite culture's animus toward the Catholic Church."--First Things

"A book of powerfully convincing fairness, of impressive scholarship and of extraordinary courage.... His prose is energetic, assertive and blessed with a crystalline coherence."--Baltimore Sun

"This new book on anti-Catholicism as a fashionable prejudice is not a whine or a whimper, but a sober little list of facts, and that may make it hard to ignore.... An objective and irrefutable catalogue of biases."--National Review

"A provocative brief on some of the uglier prejudices lurking behind today's Catholic controversies."--The Washington Post

From the Publisher