So, Newt Gingrich has converted to Catholicism and joins Bobby Jindal, Jeb Bush, Sam Brownback, and a bunch of other prominent Republican converts to the Catholic faith.
There have even been reports about a possible George W. conversion.
That's fine with me. I'm an atheist who's married to a Catholic woman. My Irish Catholic in-laws are the nicest people in the world and my two daughters count themselves as Catholic.
And I have to admit, they're really nice kids.
So, I'm about as down with Catholicism as someone can be who's horrified by the whole Judeo-Christian thing of a god who ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son, angrily destroyed the whole world in a flood, and then sent forth his own son to be killed for mankind's sins.
Living out here in Eastern Kentucky though, it's impossible not to notice that many Protestants who deny that Catholics are Christians and would therefore deny that Newt Gingrich is still a Christian just as much as they would deny that Mitt Romney is a Christian.
And it's kind of a pain to the little Catholic congregation in Morehead, KY.
I've known for years that many of my college students don't view Catholics as Christians. Also, the local "Bible Baptists" have picketed the Catholic Church after Mass seeking their own converts to "Christianity" from "popery."
But it struck home when a social studies teacher announced to my daughter's class that Catholics weren't Christians.
That bothered us enough as parents that we complained and got the teacher to stop.
Gingrich has been traveling in elite circles for a long time. So, he might have forgotten the extent to which the Protestant evangelical tradition denies the Christianity of Catholicism and condemns Catholics to damnation.
But it's something that's out there.
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9 comments:
This is very true (and sad). I grew up in a Southern Baptist church [shudder], and I remember one of my Sunday School teachers telling us that Catholicism was a cult.
- Amanda M.
"Popery" is pronounced the same way as "potpourri."
These silly Protestants need to learn that there is only one True Church--Holy, CATHOLIC, and Apostolic.
Uhh . . . yea. I especially like the "Apostolic" part.
That is an apalling example of Protestant bigotry run amock.
Members of my faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints get that from Protestants. (for the record, I DON'T LIKE MITT,I am a VERY LIBERAL DEMOCRAT, I AM PRO-CHOICE, AND I OPPOSE MEASURES TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE.)That said,how does one go about making the case that a religion called The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints is not Christian? How do the Protestant bigots make such a claim about the Catholic Church given that all Protestant faiths are mere offshoots of the Catholic Church?
Most of all, how dare any public school teacher declare ANY religion Christian, Muslim,... ANY faith to be "inferior" or "less than?"
The Establishment Clause was/is supposed to shield us from such ignorance on the part of public institutions. How sad that even a Social Studies "teacher" would ifnore that.
That is an apalling example of Protestant bigotry run amock.
Members of my faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints get that from Protestants. (for the record, I DON'T LIKE MITT,I am a VERY LIBERAL DEMOCRAT, I AM PRO-CHOICE, AND I OPPOSE MEASURES TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE.)That said,how does one go about making the case that a religion called The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints is not Christian? How do the Protestant bigots make such a claim about the Catholic Church given that all Protestant faiths are mere offshoots of the Catholic Church?
Most of all, how dare any public school teacher declare ANY religion Christian, Muslim,... ANY faith to be "inferior" or "less than?"
The Establishment Clause was/is supposed to shield us from such ignorance on the part of public institutions. How sad that even a Social Studies "teacher" would ignore that.
Newt, and GW are in for a rude awakening when this obvious act of pandering (at least on Newt's part), backfires as it surely will.
So let me see if I get this straight, there's only one true church, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic? Is that like the holy trinity or something, because unless I lost the ability to read, you counted three as one.
I've always thought of Newt as more the Druid type.
Perhaps more of a neo-Druid.
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