# Where did this Anti-Catholic sentiment come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 23, 2000, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-this-anti-catholic-sentiment-come-from/46957 "2000-12-23T03:09:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2000, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-this-anti-catholic-sentiment-come-from/46957/41 "2000-12-26T06:57:06Z")
As someone brought up roughly equally as a Methodist and a Catholic, one half of me excoriates the other for being stodgy, repressive, and ritualistic. The other half chuckles and reflects that smoking, drinking, and boxing are pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2000, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-this-anti-catholic-sentiment-come-from/46957/42 "2000-12-26T17:47:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wendell Wagner \* > \*\*It seems to me that anti-Catholicism is most common in areas of the country where members of a single church “own” a town (i.e., are the clear majority of the population, have lived there longest, are the owners of land and businesses, etc.) The most likely places to find such a thing are small towns in the South where nearly all the people are Southern Baptist, and even being Methodist or Episcopalian is a little strange. I can’t think of anywhere else where this is true, except perhaps Mormons in certain parts of the West. Do Lutherans dominate the Upper Midwest enough to make this the case? If so, does anyone know of similar Mormon or Lutheran hostility to other churches? > > It seems to me that there really aren’t areas in the U.S. that Catholics or Jews dominate in the same way. Oh, there may be Catholic or Jewish neighborhoods, but they’re right next to neighborhoods of other sorts. I don’t know of any place in the U.S. where you can find Methodist or Presbyterian or Episcopalian towns. \*\* Uh, Wendell, no offense intended, but have you ever actually been to the deep South? I have lived in the deep South all my life, and have never once encountered a town that was homogenously Baptist, or even close to being so. My hometown was typical. The Baptist Church was the largest denomination, but its members didn’t even constitute a majority in town. The Methodists weren’t far behind the Baptists. In addition, there were sizeable minorities of Presbyterians, members of the church of Christ, the Church of God, and several other smaller churches as well. All of these various churches argued among themselves over various points of doctrine. I spent a number of years in my youth attending the church of Christ, which would be considered a “fudamentalist” church, in the sense that the members of the church looked to the words of the Bible as the source for all doctrine. I never heard any Catholic-bashing, either in my own church or in the protestant churches of other denominations which I visited from time to time. In my church, the Baptists were the usual targets of any sermons about erroneous doctrine. The attitude toward the Baptists was one of dismay that they interpreted the Bible incorrectly. (Not endorsing that view, just reporting it.) The attitude toward Catholics was similar, but members of my church were really more _flabbergasted_ by Catholic doctrine, since it seemed so far-removed from their own reading of the New Testament. There was never any hatred. On those rare occasions when one encountered a Catholic, the reaction was rather one of astonishment. (As in: How can you believe that stuff? It’s just so incorrect.) Catholics were viewed as people whose beliefs were seriously erroneous. Their souls were therefore considered to be in jeopardy, and they were to be converted if possible. Catholics were not viewed as wicked or evil, only mistaken. This also expains the dismay of some protestant parents whose children marry Catholics and convert. Looking at it from their perspective, they view their chilren as having placed their souls (and for that matter, their grandchildren’s souls) in danger. (Again, not endorsing that view. Just reporting it.) Given all of this, I have a semantics concern about the phrases “anti-Catholic” and “Catholic-bashing.” There’s a difference between: (a)believing (even to the point of stridency) that someone of a particular faith is doctinally wrong; and (b)believing that a person of a particular faith is evil. I believe you see a good bit of the former among Southerners, but not much of the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2000, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-this-anti-catholic-sentiment-come-from/46957/43 "2000-12-26T17:50:51Z")
I mean doctrinally wrong. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2000, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-this-anti-catholic-sentiment-come-from/46957/44 "2000-12-26T23:42:55Z")
: I have lived in the deep South all my life, and have : never once encountered a town that was homogenously : Baptist, or even close to being so. Danville, Virginia must come awfully close. I had a job interview there some several years ago, and thought I’d take a look at “Churches” in the phone book. There was one church of the major Protestant denominations, but about 50 Baptist churches – probably 80% of the total. Yes, there’s cities whose residents are predominantly one relition or another. Go to Utah, for instance. Ever hear of Kiryas Joel, New York? Little towns in northern New Mexico. Rural towns in Minnesota, where folks battle not over Ford versus Chevy, but ELCA versus Missouri Synod. Old, industrial cities in the Rust Belt and blue collar suburbs thereof. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-this-anti-catholic-sentiment-come-from/46957.md?page=2)