# Oh my Goddess

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 7, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518 "2015-05-07T20:52:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/81 "2015-05-15T20:26:57Z")

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> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> And as Mark Twain once noted, the Catholics of Europe seemed to worship, in descending order:
> 
> First: “The Mother of God” - otherwise the Virgin Mary.  
> Second: The Deity.  
> Third: Peter.  
> Fourth: Some twelve or fifteen canonized popes and martyrs.  
> Fifth: Jesus Christ the Saviour (but always as an infant in arms).

Twain is great and all, but the man was hardly an impartial expert on “the Catholics of Europe.” This slur - for it is a slur - should be seen in the context of [the rabid anti-Catholic biases of his time](http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/yankee/cycathhp.html).

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