Anti-Protestantism
Encyclopedia
Anti-Protestantism is an institutional, ideological or emotional bias
, hatred
or distrust
and against some or all forms and divisions
of Protestantism
and its followers.
of the 16th century. Protestantism was denounced as heresy, and those supporting these doctrines excommunicated as heretics. Thus by canon law and Christian European practice and policies of the Holy Roman Empire of the time, politically subject to persecution in those territories, such as Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, in which the Catholic rulers were the dominant power. This movement was started by the reigning Pope at that time and various political rulers with a more political stake in the controversy then a religious one. These princes instituted policies as part of the then extant Spanish Inquisition, these abuses of that crusade originally authorized for other reasons such as the Reconquista, and Morisco conversions, ultimately led to the Counter Reformation, and the edicts of the Council of Trent. Therefor the fallout from the political repercussions of various European rulers for their own political reasons supporting traditional Catholicism or the new protestant groups, only subsequently branded as heretical, and after rejection by the adherents of these doctrines of the Edicts of the Council of Trent, resulted in religious wars
and outbreaks of sectarian hatred, one example of which is the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
By contrast, Eastern Orthodoxy initially viewed Protestantism as less of a threat. They had comparatively little contact for geographic, linguistic and historical reasons. Protestant attempts to reconcile with Eastern Orthodoxy proved problematic. In general, many Orthodox had the initial impression that Protestantism was a new heresy that arose from a previous heresy, the previous heresy being Latin Catholicism itself.
In 1771 Charles Walmesley
published his General History of the Christian Church from her birth to her Final Triumphant States in Heaven chiefly deduced from the Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle, written under the pseudonym
of Signor Pastorini. The book forecast the end of Protestantism by 1825 and was published in at least 15 editions and several languages.
By the 19th century some Eastern Orthodox thinkers believed that Northern Europe
had become secular or virtually atheist due to its having been Protestant earlier. In recent eras Orthodox anti-Protestantism has grown due to increasing nationalism and Protestant proselytization in predominantly Orthodox countries.
". This is a mildly derogatory term describing people of "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" background, but can be applied to all Protestants of Western European descent. It can describe upper middle class Protestant people and their values in teasing or disparaging terms. WASPs tended to be portrayed as rigid and emotionally reserved. This reference reflects the Early Puritanism of the New England area, and the struggle for acceptance in large population centers by non-protestants throughout much of the 18th and 19th, and well into the 20th centuries. These political struggles used religious epithets to brand the adherents and power brokers of the then establishment and their opponents as being primarily of one or the opposite religious persuasion, resulting in terms such as Papists and WASPs becoming common usage as derogatory terms. However this reaction is primarily based on mutual bias and emotionalism, rather than actual proof of a con-comittant anti-religious bias, as the establishment policies were based more on economics and politics than any true religious beliefs, and anti-protestant sentiment was more a reaction of disappointment to such exclusivism, than hatred. Pop-culture references to this occur in the discussions of the Mayor's background in Spin City
, the Jim Dial character in Murphy Brown
, and many characters in the film Mona Lisa Smile
.
Among conservative Christians (including traditionalist Catholics and Eastern Orthodox as well as Evangelicals), mainline Protestant denominations are often characterized as being theologically liberal to the point where they are no longer true to the Bible or historical Christian tradition. These perceptions are often linked to highly publicized events, such as the decision to endorse same sex marriage by the United Church of Christ
. While theological liberalism is clearly present within most mainline denominations, surveys show that many within the mainline denominations consider themselves moderate or conservative and holding traditional Christian theological views.
Politically-liberal journalists, bloggers, and commentators frequently castigate American evangelicals for supporting restrictions on abortion and voting against same-sex marriage. Such critics often equate evangelicalism as a movement with the Religious Right
, although the Religious Right is a diverse movement that draws support from Mormons, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, and the Unification Church, among other non-evangelical groups. A few critics have even suggested that evangelicals are a kind of "fifth column
" aimed at turning the United States or other nations into Christian theocracies
. Robert A. Heinlein
's If This Goes On—, among other science fiction
works, project this fear into the future. Liberal critics are alleged to devote disproportionate attention to fringe groups such as the Quiverfull
sect or Bob Jones University
, although these groups embrace beliefs that most evangelicals reject and define themselves as fundamentalists rather than evangelicals. The Associated Press Style Guide notes that the term "evangelical" is not to be used as a synonym for "fundamentalist", but the two terms are commonly conflated by many American journalists.
In Central
and Eastern Europe
the fall of Communism led to evangelization projects that have incited some resentment. The reaction has been perhaps the most intense in Belarus
. Programs in Belarus imply that Pentecostalism
is a destructive cult
or cults that can be compared to Aum Shinrikyo
. There are disputed claims that Baptists are also maligned in Belarusian textbooks. http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=824
In the Muslim world, hostility to evangelical Christians is widespread. This hostility focuses on evangelicals for a variety of reasons. In much of the Middle East
and North Africa
, Catholics and Orthodox Christians have lived in the region for centuries and have been successfully established trust and cooperation with Muslims in their societies. Evangelicals are seen as a destabilizing factor in these societies, in part owing to the close association of the evangelical religious agenda with the economic and political outlooks of the United States. Also, in nations governed by some form of Sharia Law, efforts to convert Muslims to Christianity would most certainly be deemed as encouraging apostasy
and could have legal repercussions. The punishment can vary from censorship to death. Still it is more common in the Islamic world for anti-Christian feelings to be generalized. Hence Christianity in general is viewed unfavorably in Turkey
and Pakistan
according to a recent Pew Survey
.
Some evangelical groups that hold to a Dispensationalist interpretation of Biblical prophecy have been accused to supporting Zionism
and providing material support for Jewish settlers who build communities within Palestinian territories. Critics contend that these evangelicals support Israel
in order to expedite the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem, which Dispensationalists see as a requirement for the return of Jesus Christ. Many evangelicals reject Dispensationalism and support peace efforts in the Middle East, however.
Some evangelical groups take the Bible as literal and exact truth, and so have been derided as "Bible thumper
s". Negative depictions of evangelicals as uneducated rubes or hypocrites are common in Hollywood movies and television shows, such as Saved!
, Shawshank Redemption, and Talladega Nights.
, it is the unfortunate result of a battle of the European religious wars
having been fought there, which polarised the people on religious, ethnic, and political grounds.
In more modern times, with the growth in ecumenism
among Protestants in the mid-twentieth century and with the advent of Vatican II, Catholic-Protestant relations have grown calmer. Nevertheless, in general the further a Protestant sect is from Catholicism in its doctrine, the more discomfort may arise among Catholic people. Anglicans and Lutherans are only sporadically viewed in a negative light in modern Catholic countries. However, a Zogby
poll of American Catholics showed Catholics having a more hostile attitude toward Fundamentalist Evangelical Protestants than to any non-Christian religion. It is also the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church
that Protestant faiths are not truly 'churches', do not contain the fullness of truth
, and are, in fact, heresy. There are Catholics, especially Traditionalist Catholics who deem Protestantism to be a rejection of "the one true faith", and thus in a state of mortal sin
. Although many Catholics in the United States and other developed nations are secularized (see Cultural Catholic
), some still retain resentment toward Protestants due to past historical conflicts.
In 1999, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
http://www.elca.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/romancatholic/jddj/declaration.html, a document created by and agreed to by clerical representatives of the Roman Catholic Church
and the Lutheran World Federation
as a result of extensive ecumenical dialogue
, substantially resolved the conflict over the nature of justification
(dealing colloquially with the issue of faith and works) which was a major issue at the root of the Protestant Reformation
. The churches acknowledged that the excommunications relating to the doctrine of justification set forth by the Roman Catholic Council of Trent
do not apply to the teachings of the Lutheran churches set forth in the text; likewise, the churches acknowledged that the condemnations set forth in the Lutheran Confessions
do not apply to the Catholic teachings on justification set forth in the document.
or pre-Catholic Emancipation
Ireland
, the issue is more complex and has more to do with communal or nationalist sentiments than theological issues. During the Tudor conquest of Ireland by the Protestant state of England
in the course of the 16th century, the Elizabethan state failed to convert the Catholic natives to Protestantism and thus followed a vigorous policy of confiscation, deportation, and resettlement. By disposessing Catholics of their lands, and resettling protestants on them, the official Government policy was to encourage a widespread campaign of proselytizing by protestant settlers and establishment of English law in these areas. This led to a counter effort of the Counter Reformation by mostly Jesuit Catholic clergy trained specifically for this purpose, to maintain the "old religion" of the people as the dominant religion in these regions. The result was that Catholicism came to be identified with a sense of nativism and Protestantism came to be identified with the State, as most Protestant communities were established by state policy, and Catholicism was viewed as treason to the state after this time. While Elizabeth I had initially tolerated private Catholic worship, this ended after the Papal Bull "Regnans in Excelsis
" (1570) pronounced her to be illegitimate and unworthy of her subjects allegiance.
The Penal Laws, first introduced in the early 17th century, were initially designed to force the native elite to conform to the state church by excluding non-Conformists and Roman Catholics from public office, and restricting land ownership, but were later, starting under Queen Elizabeth
, also used to confiscate virtually all Catholic owned land and grant it to Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. The Penal Laws had a lasting effect on the population, due to their severity (celebrating Catholicism in any form was punishable by death or enslavement under the laws), and the favouritism granted Irish Anglicans served to polarise the community in terms of religion. Anti-Protestantism in Early Modern Ireland 1536-1691 thus was also largely a form of hostility to the colonisation of Ireland. Irish poetry
of this era shows a marked antipathy to Protestantism, one such poem reading, "The faith of Christ [Catholicism] with the faith of Luther is like ashes in the snow". The mixture of resistance to colonization and religious disagreements led to widespread massacres of Protestant settlers in the Irish Rebellion of 1641
. Subsequent religious or sectarian antipathy was fueled by the atrocities committed by both sides in the Irish Confederate Wars
, especially the repression of Catholicism during and after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
, when Irish Catholic land was confiscated en masse, clergy were executed and discriminatory legislation was passed against Catholics.
The Penal Laws against Catholics (and also Presbyterians) were renewed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries due to fear of Catholic support for Jacobitism
after the Williamite war in Ireland
and were slowly repealed in 1771-1829. Penal Laws against Presbyterians were relaxed by the Toleration Act
of 1719, due to their siding with the Jacobites
in a 1715 rebellion. At the time the Penal Laws were in effect, Presbyterians and other non-Conformist Protestants left Ireland and settled in other countries. Some 250,000 left for the New World
alone between the years 1717 and 1774, most of them arriving there from Ulster
.
Sectarian conflict was continued in the late 18th century in the form of communal violence between rival Catholic and Protestant factions over land and trading rights (see Defenders (Ireland)
, Peep O'Day Boys
and Orange Institution
). The 1820s and 1830s in Ireland saw a major attempt by Protestant evangelists
to convert Catholics, a campaign which caused great resentment among Catholics.
In modern Irish nationalism
, anti-Protestantism is usually more nationalist than religious in tone. The main reason for this is the identification of Protestants with unionism - i.e. the support for the maintenance of the union with the United Kingdom
, and opposition to Home Rule
or Irish independence. In Northern Ireland
, since the foundation of the Free State
in 1921, Catholics, who are mainly nationalists, allege systematic discrimination against them by the Protestant unionist community. The mixture of religious and national identities on both sides reinforces both anti-Catholic and anti-Protestant sectarian prejudice in the province.
The term "black bastard" is a long-standing term of sectarian abuse directed against Protestants in Ireland.
More specifically religious anti-Protestantism in Ireland was evidenced by the acceptance of the Ne Temere
decrees in the early 20th century, whereby the Catholic Church decreed that all children born into mixed Catholic-Protestant marriages had to be brought up as Catholics. Protestants in Northern Ireland had long held that their religious liberty would be threatened under a 32-county Republic of Ireland, due to that country's Constitutional support of a "special place" for the Roman Catholic Church. This was amended in the Republic of Ireland
in 1970 however.
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
, hatred
Hatred
Hatred is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects. The objects of such hatred can vary widely, from inanimate objects to animals, oneself or other people, entire groups of people, people in general, existence, or the whole world...
or distrust
Distrust
Distrust is a formal way of not trusting any one party too much in a situation of grave risk or deep doubt. It is commonly expressed in civics as a division or balance of powers, or in politics as means of validating treaty terms. Systems based on distrust simply divide the responsibility so that...
and against some or all forms and divisions
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
of Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
and its followers.
History
Anti-Protestantism originated in a reaction by the Catholic Church against the Protestant ReformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
of the 16th century. Protestantism was denounced as heresy, and those supporting these doctrines excommunicated as heretics. Thus by canon law and Christian European practice and policies of the Holy Roman Empire of the time, politically subject to persecution in those territories, such as Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, in which the Catholic rulers were the dominant power. This movement was started by the reigning Pope at that time and various political rulers with a more political stake in the controversy then a religious one. These princes instituted policies as part of the then extant Spanish Inquisition, these abuses of that crusade originally authorized for other reasons such as the Reconquista, and Morisco conversions, ultimately led to the Counter Reformation, and the edicts of the Council of Trent. Therefor the fallout from the political repercussions of various European rulers for their own political reasons supporting traditional Catholicism or the new protestant groups, only subsequently branded as heretical, and after rejection by the adherents of these doctrines of the Edicts of the Council of Trent, resulted in religious wars
European wars of religion
The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe from ca. 1524 to 1648, following the onset of the Protestant Reformation in Western and Northern Europe...
and outbreaks of sectarian hatred, one example of which is the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
By contrast, Eastern Orthodoxy initially viewed Protestantism as less of a threat. They had comparatively little contact for geographic, linguistic and historical reasons. Protestant attempts to reconcile with Eastern Orthodoxy proved problematic. In general, many Orthodox had the initial impression that Protestantism was a new heresy that arose from a previous heresy, the previous heresy being Latin Catholicism itself.
In 1771 Charles Walmesley
Charles Walmesley
Charles Walmesley Pastorino, O.S.B. was the Roman Catholic Titular Bishop of Rama and Vicar Apostolic of the Western District of England...
published his General History of the Christian Church from her birth to her Final Triumphant States in Heaven chiefly deduced from the Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle, written under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Signor Pastorini. The book forecast the end of Protestantism by 1825 and was published in at least 15 editions and several languages.
By the 19th century some Eastern Orthodox thinkers believed that Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
had become secular or virtually atheist due to its having been Protestant earlier. In recent eras Orthodox anti-Protestantism has grown due to increasing nationalism and Protestant proselytization in predominantly Orthodox countries.
Hostility to mainline Protestantism
In the United States, hostility to mainline Protestantism comes from stereotypes of "WASPsWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
". This is a mildly derogatory term describing people of "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" background, but can be applied to all Protestants of Western European descent. It can describe upper middle class Protestant people and their values in teasing or disparaging terms. WASPs tended to be portrayed as rigid and emotionally reserved. This reference reflects the Early Puritanism of the New England area, and the struggle for acceptance in large population centers by non-protestants throughout much of the 18th and 19th, and well into the 20th centuries. These political struggles used religious epithets to brand the adherents and power brokers of the then establishment and their opponents as being primarily of one or the opposite religious persuasion, resulting in terms such as Papists and WASPs becoming common usage as derogatory terms. However this reaction is primarily based on mutual bias and emotionalism, rather than actual proof of a con-comittant anti-religious bias, as the establishment policies were based more on economics and politics than any true religious beliefs, and anti-protestant sentiment was more a reaction of disappointment to such exclusivism, than hatred. Pop-culture references to this occur in the discussions of the Mayor's background in Spin City
Spin City
Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike...
, the Jim Dial character in Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from November 14, 1988, to May 18, 1998, for a total of 247 episodes. The program starred Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional CBS television...
, and many characters in the film Mona Lisa Smile
Mona Lisa Smile
Mona Lisa Smile is a 2003 romantic drama film produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures in association with Red Om Films Productions, directed by Mike Newell, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles...
.
Among conservative Christians (including traditionalist Catholics and Eastern Orthodox as well as Evangelicals), mainline Protestant denominations are often characterized as being theologically liberal to the point where they are no longer true to the Bible or historical Christian tradition. These perceptions are often linked to highly publicized events, such as the decision to endorse same sex marriage by the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...
. While theological liberalism is clearly present within most mainline denominations, surveys show that many within the mainline denominations consider themselves moderate or conservative and holding traditional Christian theological views.
Hostility to Evangelicals
Some Western Evangelicals lay claim to discrimination. This is because of laws, such as the separation of church and state, which are often interpreted by evangelical critics to mean that they are unable to share their faith while on duty, and religious displays on public property. Some people reject the claim by some evangelicals that anyone who does not share their denomination's interpretation of the Bible should be evangelized.Politically-liberal journalists, bloggers, and commentators frequently castigate American evangelicals for supporting restrictions on abortion and voting against same-sex marriage. Such critics often equate evangelicalism as a movement with the Religious Right
Religious right
The term religious right may refer to religiously motivated right wing movements such as:*Christian right*Hindu nationalism *Islamism*Jewish right*Theravada...
, although the Religious Right is a diverse movement that draws support from Mormons, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, and the Unification Church, among other non-evangelical groups. A few critics have even suggested that evangelicals are a kind of "fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
" aimed at turning the United States or other nations into Christian theocracies
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
. Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
's If This Goes On—, among other science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
works, project this fear into the future. Liberal critics are alleged to devote disproportionate attention to fringe groups such as the Quiverfull
Quiverfull
Quiverfull is a movement among some conservative evangelical Christian couples chiefly in the United States, but with some adherents in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and elsewhere. It promotes procreation, and sees children as a blessing from God, eschewing all forms of birth control,...
sect or Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University is a private, for-profit, non-denominational Protestant university in Greenville, South Carolina.The university was founded in 1927 by Bob Jones, Sr. , an evangelist and contemporary of Billy Sunday...
, although these groups embrace beliefs that most evangelicals reject and define themselves as fundamentalists rather than evangelicals. The Associated Press Style Guide notes that the term "evangelical" is not to be used as a synonym for "fundamentalist", but the two terms are commonly conflated by many American journalists.
In Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
the fall of Communism led to evangelization projects that have incited some resentment. The reaction has been perhaps the most intense in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. Programs in Belarus imply that Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
is a destructive cult
Destructive cult
A destructive cult is a religion or other group which has caused or has a high probability of causing harm to its own members or to others. Some researchers define "harm" in this case with a narrow focus, specifically groups which have deliberately physically injured or killed other individuals,...
or cults that can be compared to Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
. There are disputed claims that Baptists are also maligned in Belarusian textbooks. http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=824
In the Muslim world, hostility to evangelical Christians is widespread. This hostility focuses on evangelicals for a variety of reasons. In much of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Catholics and Orthodox Christians have lived in the region for centuries and have been successfully established trust and cooperation with Muslims in their societies. Evangelicals are seen as a destabilizing factor in these societies, in part owing to the close association of the evangelical religious agenda with the economic and political outlooks of the United States. Also, in nations governed by some form of Sharia Law, efforts to convert Muslims to Christianity would most certainly be deemed as encouraging apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
and could have legal repercussions. The punishment can vary from censorship to death. Still it is more common in the Islamic world for anti-Christian feelings to be generalized. Hence Christianity in general is viewed unfavorably in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
according to a recent Pew Survey
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1990, Donald S...
.
Some evangelical groups that hold to a Dispensationalist interpretation of Biblical prophecy have been accused to supporting Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
and providing material support for Jewish settlers who build communities within Palestinian territories. Critics contend that these evangelicals support Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in order to expedite the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem, which Dispensationalists see as a requirement for the return of Jesus Christ. Many evangelicals reject Dispensationalism and support peace efforts in the Middle East, however.
Some evangelical groups take the Bible as literal and exact truth, and so have been derided as "Bible thumper
Bible thumper
Bible thumper is a pejorative term used to describe someone perceived as aggressively pushing their Christian beliefs upon those who do not share them. Its target domain is broad and can often extend to anyone engaged in a public show of religion, fundamentalist or not...
s". Negative depictions of evangelicals as uneducated rubes or hypocrites are common in Hollywood movies and television shows, such as Saved!
Saved!
Saved! is a 2004 teen comedy-drama film involving elements of religious satire. It was directed by Brian Dannelly and written by Dannelly and Michael Urban. It stars Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Eva Amurri, Martin Donovan, and Mary-Louise Parker...
, Shawshank Redemption, and Talladega Nights.
Catholic and Protestant disagreement
In several countries with a majority of the population identifying themselves as Catholic, there is a hostility to Protestantism as a whole . This distaste with Protestantism is often religious in nature, but in some areas, such as Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, it is the unfortunate result of a battle of the European religious wars
War of the Grand Alliance
The Nine Years' War – often called the War of the Grand Alliance, the War of the Palatine Succession, or the War of the League of Augsburg – was a major war of the late 17th century fought between King Louis XIV of France, and a European-wide coalition, the Grand Alliance, led by the Anglo-Dutch...
having been fought there, which polarised the people on religious, ethnic, and political grounds.
In more modern times, with the growth in ecumenism
Ecumenism
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
among Protestants in the mid-twentieth century and with the advent of Vatican II, Catholic-Protestant relations have grown calmer. Nevertheless, in general the further a Protestant sect is from Catholicism in its doctrine, the more discomfort may arise among Catholic people. Anglicans and Lutherans are only sporadically viewed in a negative light in modern Catholic countries. However, a Zogby
Zogby International
IBOPE Zogby International is an international market research, opinion polling firm founded in 1984 by John Zogby. The company polls and consults for a wide spectrum of business media, government, and political groups, and conducts public opinion research in more than 70 countries...
poll of American Catholics showed Catholics having a more hostile attitude toward Fundamentalist Evangelical Protestants than to any non-Christian religion. It is also the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
that Protestant faiths are not truly 'churches', do not contain the fullness of truth
Unitatis Redintegratio
Unitatis Redintegratio is the Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism. It was passed by a vote of 2,137 to 11 of the bishops assembled and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 21, 1964...
, and are, in fact, heresy. There are Catholics, especially Traditionalist Catholics who deem Protestantism to be a rejection of "the one true faith", and thus in a state of mortal sin
Mortal sin
Mortal sins are in the theology of some, but not all Christian denominations wrongful acts that condemn a person to Hell after death. These sins are considered "mortal" because they constitute a rupture in a person's link to God's saving grace: the person's soul becomes "dead", not merely weakened...
. Although many Catholics in the United States and other developed nations are secularized (see Cultural Catholic
Cultural Catholic
"Cafeteria Catholicism" is a pejorative term applied to Catholics who dissent from Roman Catholic doctrinal or moral teaching. Some examples would be Catholics who dissent from Church teaching in regards to abortion, birth control, divorce, premarital sex, masturbation, or the moral status of...
), some still retain resentment toward Protestants due to past historical conflicts.
In 1999, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is a document created by and agreed to by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999, as a result of extensive ecumenical dialogue...
http://www.elca.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/romancatholic/jddj/declaration.html, a document created by and agreed to by clerical representatives of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and the Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Federation
The Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran churches headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of Lund in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1947 to coordinate the activities of the...
as a result of extensive ecumenical dialogue
Lutheran—Roman Catholic Dialogue
Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue began in July, 1964 as an outgrowth of Vatican II and the new openness of the Roman Catholic Church to dialogue with other Christian denominations and other religions. It was held under the auspices of the U.S...
, substantially resolved the conflict over the nature of justification
Justification (theology)
Rising out of the Protestant Reformation, Justification is the chief article of faith describing God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice....
(dealing colloquially with the issue of faith and works) which was a major issue at the root of the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. The churches acknowledged that the excommunications relating to the doctrine of justification set forth by the Roman Catholic Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
do not apply to the teachings of the Lutheran churches set forth in the text; likewise, the churches acknowledged that the condemnations set forth in the Lutheran Confessions
Book of Concord
The Book of Concord or Concordia is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since the 16th century...
do not apply to the Catholic teachings on justification set forth in the document.
Anti-Protestantism in Ireland
In other cases, especially Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
or pre-Catholic Emancipation
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, the issue is more complex and has more to do with communal or nationalist sentiments than theological issues. During the Tudor conquest of Ireland by the Protestant state of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the course of the 16th century, the Elizabethan state failed to convert the Catholic natives to Protestantism and thus followed a vigorous policy of confiscation, deportation, and resettlement. By disposessing Catholics of their lands, and resettling protestants on them, the official Government policy was to encourage a widespread campaign of proselytizing by protestant settlers and establishment of English law in these areas. This led to a counter effort of the Counter Reformation by mostly Jesuit Catholic clergy trained specifically for this purpose, to maintain the "old religion" of the people as the dominant religion in these regions. The result was that Catholicism came to be identified with a sense of nativism and Protestantism came to be identified with the State, as most Protestant communities were established by state policy, and Catholicism was viewed as treason to the state after this time. While Elizabeth I had initially tolerated private Catholic worship, this ended after the Papal Bull "Regnans in Excelsis
Regnans in Excelsis
Regnans in Excelsis was a papal bull issued on 25 February 1570 by Pope Pius V declaring "Elizabeth, the pretended Queen of England and the servant of crime" to be a heretic and releasing all her subjects from any allegiance to her and excommunicating any that obeyed her orders.The bull, written in...
" (1570) pronounced her to be illegitimate and unworthy of her subjects allegiance.
The Penal Laws, first introduced in the early 17th century, were initially designed to force the native elite to conform to the state church by excluding non-Conformists and Roman Catholics from public office, and restricting land ownership, but were later, starting under Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, also used to confiscate virtually all Catholic owned land and grant it to Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. The Penal Laws had a lasting effect on the population, due to their severity (celebrating Catholicism in any form was punishable by death or enslavement under the laws), and the favouritism granted Irish Anglicans served to polarise the community in terms of religion. Anti-Protestantism in Early Modern Ireland 1536-1691 thus was also largely a form of hostility to the colonisation of Ireland. Irish poetry
Irish poetry
The history of Irish poetry includes the poetries of two languages, one in Irish and the other in English. The complex interplay between these two traditions, and between both of them and other poetries in English, has produced a body of work that is both rich in variety and difficult to...
of this era shows a marked antipathy to Protestantism, one such poem reading, "The faith of Christ [Catholicism] with the faith of Luther is like ashes in the snow". The mixture of resistance to colonization and religious disagreements led to widespread massacres of Protestant settlers in the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...
. Subsequent religious or sectarian antipathy was fueled by the atrocities committed by both sides in the Irish Confederate Wars
Irish Confederate Wars
This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....
, especially the repression of Catholicism during and after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
, when Irish Catholic land was confiscated en masse, clergy were executed and discriminatory legislation was passed against Catholics.
The Penal Laws against Catholics (and also Presbyterians) were renewed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries due to fear of Catholic support for Jacobitism
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
after the Williamite war in Ireland
Williamite war in Ireland
The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...
and were slowly repealed in 1771-1829. Penal Laws against Presbyterians were relaxed by the Toleration Act
Toleration Act
Toleration Act may refer to:* Act of Toleration 1689, in England* Maryland Toleration Act, of 1649...
of 1719, due to their siding with the Jacobites
Jacobite rising
The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by...
in a 1715 rebellion. At the time the Penal Laws were in effect, Presbyterians and other non-Conformist Protestants left Ireland and settled in other countries. Some 250,000 left for the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
alone between the years 1717 and 1774, most of them arriving there from Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
.
Sectarian conflict was continued in the late 18th century in the form of communal violence between rival Catholic and Protestant factions over land and trading rights (see Defenders (Ireland)
Defenders (Ireland)
The Defenders were a militant, vigilante agrarian secret society in 18th century Ireland, mainly Roman Catholic and from Ulster, who allied with the United Irishmen but did little during the rebellion of 1798.-Origin:...
, Peep O'Day Boys
Peep O'Day Boys
The Peep o' Day Boys was a Protestant secret association in 18th century Ireland, active in the 1780s and '90s and a precursor of the Orange Order.-Origins:The Peep-of-day Boys arose in the year 1784, in County Armagh, Ireland...
and Orange Institution
Orange Institution
The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland...
). The 1820s and 1830s in Ireland saw a major attempt by Protestant evangelists
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
to convert Catholics, a campaign which caused great resentment among Catholics.
In modern Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
, anti-Protestantism is usually more nationalist than religious in tone. The main reason for this is the identification of Protestants with unionism - i.e. the support for the maintenance of the union with the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and opposition to Home Rule
Home rule
Home rule is the power of a constituent part of a state to exercise such of the state's powers of governance within its own administrative area that have been devolved to it by the central government....
or Irish independence. In Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, since the foundation of the Free State
Free State
The Free State is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Orange Free State Boer republic and later Orange Free State Province. The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans...
in 1921, Catholics, who are mainly nationalists, allege systematic discrimination against them by the Protestant unionist community. The mixture of religious and national identities on both sides reinforces both anti-Catholic and anti-Protestant sectarian prejudice in the province.
The term "black bastard" is a long-standing term of sectarian abuse directed against Protestants in Ireland.
More specifically religious anti-Protestantism in Ireland was evidenced by the acceptance of the Ne Temere
Ne Temere
Ne Temere was a decree of the Roman Catholic Congregation of the Council regulating the canon law of the Church about marriage for practising Roman Catholics....
decrees in the early 20th century, whereby the Catholic Church decreed that all children born into mixed Catholic-Protestant marriages had to be brought up as Catholics. Protestants in Northern Ireland had long held that their religious liberty would be threatened under a 32-county Republic of Ireland, due to that country's Constitutional support of a "special place" for the Roman Catholic Church. This was amended in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
in 1970 however.
See also
- Religious toleranceTolerationToleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
- Anti-Christian sentiment
- Black LegendBlack LegendThe Black Legend refers to a style of historical writing that demonizes Spain and in particular the Spanish Empire in a politically motivated attempt to morally disqualify Spain and its people, and to incite animosity against Spanish rule...
- List of people burned as heretics
- Anti-CatholicismAnti-CatholicismAnti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
- Hate crimeHate crimeIn crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...
- International Christian ConcernInternational Christian ConcernInternational Christian Concern is a non-denominational, non-governmental, Christian watchdog group, located in Washington, DC, whose concern is the human rights of Christians...
, a Christian human rights NGO whose mission is to help persecuted Christians world-wide