anti-Catholicism

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Though there is anti-Semitism in every country in the world, anti-Catholicism I would argue, is stronger in America and Great Britain. Notice, the most infamous gangster, Al Capone, and the most infamous tyrant, Adolf Hitler, were both born into the Roman Catholic faith. This could indeed be a factor, although a small factor, as why those two are vilified above all others by the US Media.

The PC police and the shut it down people rarely target anti-catholic speech or art.

I'm not sure how much it lives to this day, but it was certainly true in the recent past. Anglo civilisation was heavily shaped by its conflict and split with the Catholic Church (back then a very different entity).

Yes. His chronology is quite ridiculous.

The English speaking worlds enmity with the Catholic world has more to do with the Spanish Armada attack than with any personality who lived in the twentieth century.

Very much so. Anti-Catholicism used to be very widespread and open in the U.S. People tend to forget that the Ku Klux Klan, established as the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Party, was as much anti-Catholic as it was anti-black. I think the old public anti-Catholicism has today strangely morphed into the more general anti-Christian prejudice that is widespread on the left.

I don't like any religion, but I prefer Jews to Catholics. Jews tend to keep themselves to themselves, but Catholics try to interfere in the lives of LGBT people and women seeking abortions. If Catholics didn't try to interfere with other people's freedoms, non-Catholics would like them more.

The KKK was mainly anti Black, and anti Federal government. Anti Catholicism (along with antisemitism) was only an afterthought. At least in the first version of the Klan in the Southern Reconstruction era.

Though later when the Klan reemerged in the 1920's and made inroads out of the south and into the urban Midwest when industrial workers felt threatened by the then current wave of immigrants from Catholic countries like Poland and Italy the anti papal element was probably more important than previously.

But....

Guess what! A few years ago the KKK announced that it now "allows Catholics to join!". I guess that's progress. Lol!

But saying that the traditional AngloAmerican hostility to Catholicism has "morphed" into the modern hostility to Christianity in general is several kinds of absurd.The later does not stem from the former. In fact hostility between Christian sects is one of the very things that alienates some moderns from Christianity and from religion itself. Folks who leave Christianity tend to do so because they get alienated by whatever sect they were raised in (which in the US is usually some form of Protestantism).

What does the KKK, which had been founded by the right wing Democratic party of the south, have to do with today's liberals at all? Incidentally, those southern Democrats switched to the Republican party when they were wooed first by Nixon, then Reagan.

There are plenty of crazy anti-Catholic conspiracies out there (such as the ones that were pushed by Jack T. Chick) but there are still legitimate criticisms of the Catholic Church.

My main issue with the Catholic Church is the concept of papal infallibility. That can't be good for independent thought.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_infallibility

I'm of German Catholic heritage, but a few generations ago many of us went Protestant. I have one great aunt who was a nun in Germany.

There seem to be many similarities between the Mafia and the Nazis, or at any rate similarities of how they are depicted in the US Media. The stereotypical Mafiosi and the stereotypical Nazi are very much alike. Indeed, the only other group of people as condemned and vilified as the Mafia is the Nazis, in the US Media.

Of course, this I would suspect is partially due to old fashioned anti-Catholic animosity on the part of the US Ruling Class. Notice, Al Capone is the most infamous gangster; Adolf Hitler the most infamous dictator, of all time. Also notice, though arguably the Soviet Communists and the Chinese Communists carried out many, many of the very same types of military atrocities and crimes against Humanity, we usually only associate with the Nazis; neither Joseph Stalin nor Mao Zedong are ever quite as condemned and and vilified by the US Media. Still, neither of them were Roman Catholics. Of the three, only Adolf Hitler was born into a Roman Catholic family. Could this be a factor? I wonder! It is interesting to think about.

The history of American anti-Catholicism is fascinating. This is especially so when one takes into consideration that it is precisely those two groups of people, whom the US Media vilifies above all others, namely the Mafia and the Nazis, who are for the most part Roman Catholic. The US Media usually vilifies the Mafia and the Nazis above all others. There are endless streams of gangster movies, and war movies (at any rate about The Second World War in Europe).

To a lesser extent, the US Media vilifies Communists, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Islamists. But, it is just not the same. Never feels quite the same.

What are you talking about?

Are you saying that the Sicilian Mafia, and the Nazis, do not deserve to be vilified? And are only vilified because those two groups are Catholic? Or are you saying that they do indeed deserve to be vilified, and that they give all Catholics a bad name? Or what?

They probably do deserve to be vilified. Still, I cannot escape the idea that part of the reason they are as vilified as they are is due to America's tradition of anti-Catholicism. Notice, no non-Catholic groups, including the Islamists and the Communists are ever quite as vilified (or, so it would seem to me).

I grew up catholic and never felt vilified or discriminated against because of it? I guess I couldn't have joined the KKK, but who cares about that..

You certainly can join the Klan now!