Anti-Catholicism on the Internet
In a paper presented to The Fifth Biennial Conference on Christianity and the Holocaust in October 1998, Mark Weitzman of The Simon Wiesenthal Center states that, "the Internet has not been investigated or analyzed by researchers for its anti-Catholic propaganda. It would almost seem that no one expects to find vestiges of classical bigotry in this new medium. My own research demonstrates quite a different story. Along with other forms of extremism... one can find anti-Catholicism to be visible as well."
Anti-Catholicism on the Internet is neither hidden nor difficult to find. Logon to any of the popular search engines for the Internet and type in "Roman Catholicism" or "Roman Catholic." More than likely, you will find in one of your first 10 options for websites to explore an Internet site dedicated to anti-Catholicism. If the Internet is our most contemporary means of communication and information gathering, then anti-Catholicism is entering the new Millenium in a powerful fashion.
There are any number of sophomoric sites spewing anti-Catholicism. Run either as one-man shows on personal websites or organized more professionally for profit, these sites are generally witless attempts at satire. At The Onion, a site for an allegedly humorous weekly newspaper published out of Wisconsin, pseudo news stories are run that lack either wit or satire. In the "religious archives" in a recent posting headlines read: "Aging Pope 'Just Blessing Everything in Sight' Say Concerned handlers.'" One story --"Pope Calls for Greater Understanding Between Catholics, Hellbound" had the Pope saying: "During the Holocaust, the Church stood silently by while six million fellow human beings, guilty of nothing but the murder of Christ Our Lord, descended to the depths of brimstone at the hands of Protestants. Our intervention in that affair could have averted a monumental tragedy, and, more important, might have converted the souls of untold multitudes of evil heretics to the Holy Word of God."
At The Catholic Page, which is part of the "Anti-Religion Web Ring," there is "The Top 10 Reasons Why it Sucks To Be A Catholic." At Ask Sister Rosseta the so-called "Lavender Nun" engages in double-entendres and sexual buffoonery. Particularly blasphemous is a cartoonish rendition of Jesus on the cross that a person can "dress" in top hat and tails, rabbit slippers or other blasphemous outfits.
Pornography is ubiquitous on the Internet and sites that use Catholic imagery are commonplace. Models in various stages of undress garbed as clergy, bishops, priests, nuns and the pope engaged in sexual activity seems to feed in literally to the heritage of anti-Catholicism as "Puritan Pornography." The fetish nature of these sites is enhanced by the use of female models dressed in Catholic school uniforms. Even more repulsive are certain sites selling images of alleged Catholic girls. One such site, based in Canada, promises pornographic photos of "Catholic teens." (There appears to be no pornographic "Baptist teens" or "Jewish teens" sites.) In a particularly repulsive fashion, this site advertises virtual pedophilia--boys and girls--with a special emphasis on the Catholicity of the young models/victims of this pornography.
In mind-numbing detail are a host of traditional anti-Catholic cites. From rural churches and personal websites, to sites for fundamentalist publishing houses, the traditional anti-Catholicism that was said to have died with the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 thrives on the Internet.
A major website is for the Jack Chick Company. Jack Chick was one of the first to realize in the post-Kennedy years that old-fashioned anti-Catholicism could still make a buck. He released a series of traditional anti-Catholic "comic books" in the 1970s, the most popular being Alberto. Chick, who publishes today out of California, also produces a range of small black-and-white tracts that viciously attack Catholic practices and beliefs. Perhaps the most tasteless among the tasteless is the "Death Cookie," that portrays the Eucharist as a Satanic-inspired ritual rooted in pagan beliefs.
At jesus-is-lord website vicious anti-Catholicism flourishes. Convents are referred to as "torture chambers" and 19th-century anti-Catholic polemics are excerpted. Jesus-is-lord provides the "Anti-Christ Slideshow" that stars "the popes of Rome and the great whore of revelation XVII the Roman Catholic Religion." The slideshow promises "blasphemy, torture, licentiousness, damnation, whoredom" and "the power of the devil." The counter for hits on Jesus-is-lord for about a two-year period shows that 1,172,583 visitors have logged onto the website.
At Harbor Lighthouse, produced by the Ankerberg Theological Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, a wealth of anti-Catholic material is readily available. In a posted article entitled "The Spiritual Battle for Truth" --which can be downloaded for $2 --Michael Grendon, who claims to be a former Catholic, writes: "Satan has been profoundly successful in deceiving multitudes in the name of Christ because his servants appear as ministers of righteousness. They wear high priestly garments and religious collars and carry boastful titles such as 'most reverend,' 'right reverend,' 'his excellency' and 'Holy Father.'"
Login to Excite search engine for Roman Catholicism and one quickly will encounter the website for Cutting Edge Ministry. With advertising sponsors such as Hickory Farms, Cutting Edge claims to "love you all" and wants Catholics to simply know the truth. Cutting Edge then proceeds to offer a series of articles that, among other things, claims that the Mass is witchcraft, the Holy Father is the Antichrist, the crucifix in Catholic churches is a Satanic symbol, and that "Roman Catholic teachings are blatant frauds upon the faithful people."
Lamb and Lion Ministries states that it was founded in 1980 as a "non-denominational, independent ministry." Run by a board of 24 trustees "from a variety of Christian fellowships," it is based in McKinney, Texas. Though its mission statement claims that the ministry "does not seek to convert people to any Church" it makes clear its purpose toward Catholics. The website seems dedicated to peddling tapes, videos, books and tracts from Dr. David Reagan. Dr. Reagan writes on the "Whore of Babylon" that, "I believe that the harlot church of revelation 17 will most likely be an amalgamation of the world's pagan religions, including apostate Protestants, under the leadership of the Catholic Church." Reagan also writes that the "apostasies of the Catholic Church are great in number and profound in their implications for the Christian faith... (Catholicism) is the ancient Babylonian mystery religion parading in new clothes, worshipping Mary as the 'Queen of Heaven.'"
An army of individual pastors, and their local churches have put up sites dedicated to traditional anti-Catholicism. One of the most loathsome is from Pastor Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Phelps refers to the Catholic Church as a "fag" church and posts an alleged "Diary of Another Fag Catholic Priest." He asserts that, "fag priests and dyke nuns is the order of the day for Kansas Catholics. They deserve the sick, perverted leadership that now dooms and damns them."
There are numerous websites by alleged ex-Catholics that engage in evangelization aimed specifically at Catholics. Most use anti-Catholicism as their primary means of attack. Very few rely on a positive presentation of a faith to which they hope to convert Catholics. At Pro-Gospel they "untangle Roman Catholics from the dogmatic jungle in which they are held captive." So-called "born again" Catholics--those who have left the Church--are told to contact their Catholic friends to "rescue those who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They --Catholics--have been in submission to the controlling, irrefutable dogmas of the Catholic clergy." The site has registered 898,128 hits.
Good News for Catholics is dedicated to the proposition that the "Roman Catholic Church has led its people astray." The organization itself began in 1981 by a very public distribution of anti-Catholic booklets at the consecration of Bishop Pierre DuMaine at San Jose, CA. On the website, they describe the Catholic Church as an "unbiblical form of Christianity which has deceived the Catholic people. It cannot be reformed or revived."
In his paper on Anti-Semitism and Anti-Catholicism on the Internet, Michael Weitzman spends a great deal of his effort on fringe groups. Anti-Catholicism, however, is not confined solely to such fringes on the Internet. There are any number of strictly secular websites with particular secular agendas that routinely engage in anti-Catholic rhetoric. While it is easy to condemn a Jack Chick or a Michael Grenden, public activist organizations such as the National Abortion Rights Action League or the National Education Association routinely employ anti-Catholicism in their public positions.
The website for the gay newspaper The Advocate reproduced a recent commentary from the newspaper by Michael Signorille. Called "benevolent hatemongers," the author attacked Pope John Paul II for his comments on the gay pride march in Rome during the Jubilee Year.
While decrying alleged, "hate speech," Signorille engages in rhetoric not dissimilar to Grenden, saying that Pope John Paul II "revealed before the whole world that he is a hateful man... (his hatred is) no different from Stalin's or even Hitler's... But the fact that the pope is a virulent hatemonger is something that religious and political leaders don't dare admit --though they may privately agree --lest they be labeled attackers of the all-powerful Catholic Church." This is not taking issue. This is not disagreement. This is simply anti-Catholic hate speech. And it is everywhere on the Internet.
Robert P. Lockwood is the league's director of research. For a longer version of this article, complete with annotation, see his Anti-Catholicism on the Internet on our website (http://www.catholicleague.org). Click on "Research Papers."
© Catalyst, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 450 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10123, Telephone 212-371-3191.
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