Recently I've been asked to discuss Islamophobia on several ABC stations. This issue has come to the fore as a result of the threat of Koran-burning by a fundamentalist preacher in Florida. However, I've never been asked to talk about 'Catholicophobia' or, to put it bluntly, 'putting the boot into the Micks'. Generally I think Catholics should 'cop it sweet', although my patience is at present getting pretty thin.
Take the responses to a thoughtful opinion piece by UK Prime Minister David Cameron reprinted in the Fairfax media yesterday. Entitled 'Faith is a gift to be cherished, not a problem to be overcome', Cameron speaks of John Henry Newman 'as one of the greatest Englishmen' and refers specifically to his view of conscience. He also refers to his work 'as a simple parish priest' in Birmingham. He comments that 'Like other faith groups, the Catholic Church proclaims a message of peace and justice to the world' and says the UK government shares the same ideals.
But it is the sentiments in the blog that follows that are most interesting. Take this: 'The Pope; mouthpiece for the Great Sky Fairy, instiller of fear, harbinger of rites, rituals, and other blithering nonsense, perpetuator of ignorance, bringer of pointless mumbo-jumbo, leader of a mega-rich theocracy that sucks its adherents dry to lavish its temple walls with gold.'
Or this: 'The Catholic Church has either been the instigator or has been complicit in so many wrongs perpetrated against humanity.' Or this: 'The end of organised religion can not come around soon enough. There are already studies that show secular democracies, with a large atheist base, are better societies to live in than faith based societies.' And so on. The Rock, the Protestant paper, is far from dead!
All of the blogs are anonymous, of course. These are people too cowardly to put their full names to such views. But they are not alone. Liberal broadsheets in the UK such as The Independent and The Guardian, the BBC, Channel 4 and the chattering classes generally have been falling over themselves to publicly criticise Catholicism and Benedict XVI. Take actor Stephen Fry: 'You can't be part of an autocratic kingdom on Earth like the Catholic place is and claim to be a spiritual leader and expect the British taxpayer to foot the bill for your visit.'
Anti-Catholicism is a staple that goes back as far as 'Bloody Mary' in British history.