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There's one thing I wonder though. As it stands right now, among all Christians it's especially the Catholic church that's viewed by the identity politics left as the enemy. I assume this is at least in part due to the mostly Protestant background of most middle-class to upper-middle-class white anglophones in North America. (And I do mean "background"; even if they might be irreligious today, Protestantism would still influence their culture.)
I agree that Catholics are a bigger target for the left than "mellow" mainstream Protestants, but wouldn't evangelical Christians (generally a Protestant-inspired movement) be an even bigger target for the left?
You're not the only person on the left side of the political spectrum to have noticed this inconsistency. For one, there's a disconnect between the old-style left that's mostly interested in labour and economic issues, and the modern identity politics left that's the main guilty party here. As for why the identity politics left is much less tolerant of conservative ideas among Christians than among members of "minority" religions (especially Islam), a suggestion I've heard is that to them, conservative Christians are the outgroup, that is, a group that's close to them and as such a direct threat. While Muslim fundamentalists are a "fargroup", a group that's mostly far away and not perceived as a threat, and which also has the virtue of being the enemy of their enemy (conservatives in the West).
There's one thing I wonder though. As it stands right now, among all Christians it's especially the Catholic church that's viewed by the identity politics left as the enemy. I assume this is at least in part due to the mostly Protestant background of most middle-class to upper-middle-class white anglophones in North America. (And I do mean "background"; even if they might be irreligious today, Protestantism would still influence their culture.) But many ethnic minorities are overwhelmingly Catholic, for example Latin Americans and Filipinos. Is it possible that at some point a switch will flip, and overnight, criticizing the Catholic church will start being viewed with suspicion, as something that's indicative of a person's potential racism, the same way criticizing Islam is today?
More generally speaking, I think that people are going to be in for a big surprise with a fairly strong return of religion in all forms in public sphere in the coming years.
Nature abhors a void, and allowing the highest form of religious accommodation while at the same having the majority and more moderate religious beliefs evacuate the "commons" leaves an open playing field for less moderate beliefs to take up more space.
Slightly paraphrasing something I found on another forum:
Bomb threat at Concordia University in Montreal and Islamic Centre in Toronto set on fire on the very same day.
Moderate Muslims yet again paying for the ones with extreme views, unfortunately. If these communities could just "fly under the radar" like all other communities of all other religions manage to do in this country, doing their own thing peacefully without having 1) idiot coreligionists making the news murdering innocents in the name of Islam in various areas of the globe and 2) idiot coreligionists making the news demanding that we change our ways to accomodate them, then these things wouldn't happen (or at least, not anywhere to the same degree).
As a follow up to my previous post, it's worth mentioning that Muslims aren't at the top of the list for hate crime victims in Canada. And the most victimized groups (Jews, blacks and gays) could be said to be much more "under the radar" than Muslims are.
Though it's also been reported that the number of hate crimes against Muslims is rising faster than those against other groups.
I agree that Catholics are a bigger target for the left than "mellow" mainstream Protestants, but wouldn't evangelical Christians (generally a Protestant-inspired movement) be an even bigger target for the left?
Interesting enough the evangelical church is also growing in our cities in part due to immigration. Specially the more conservative and fundamentalist sects.
A good number of Catholics from Latin America in Canada also had leftist tendencies in their homes countries, many are not fans of conservative Christianity. In my home country Catholics were viewed as left sympathizers (many of them were) and there was persecution of some Catholic communities.
Last edited by UrbanLuis; 03-02-2017 at 07:17 AM..
Interesting enough the evangelical church is also growing in our cities in part due to immigration. Specially the more conservative and fundamentalist sects.
A good number of Catholics from Latin America in Canada also had leftist tendencies in their homes countries, many are not fans of conservative Christianity. In my home country Catholics were viewed as left sympathizers (many of them were) and there was persecution of some Catholic communities.
Yeah, I've noticed that evangelical Christian churches from the U.S. have been making inroads in Latin America for a couple of decades. Quite the contrast when you think of how totally dominated they were by Catholicism for hundreds of years.
And that the Catholic church, which was traditionally fairly open on moral issues down there, has maybe responded by becoming a bit more socially conservative.
Of course, these are just my impressions. You'd know better than me.
I agree that Catholics are a bigger target for the left than "mellow" mainstream Protestants, but wouldn't evangelical Christians (generally a Protestant-inspired movement) be an even bigger target for the left?
Target by the left? What form does this targeting of Catholics take? Are you talking about the denouncement of the coverup of pedophilia by priests, and if so why would you think only the left denounce it? I am sure Catholics themselves denounce it.
More generally speaking, I think that people are going to be in for a big surprise with a fairly strong return of religion in all forms in public sphere in the coming years.
Nature abhors a void, and allowing the highest form of religious accommodation while at the same having the majority and more moderate religious beliefs evacuate the "commons" leaves an open playing field for less moderate beliefs to take up more space.
You just watch.
Can you be a bit more exact with your words/predictions? What void? What less moderate beliefs? What should we be watching for? That Islamic fundamentalists will take over and dominate Canada and America's cultural and political institutions in the next few years?
Last time I checked, we have an ultra right wing ultra Christian fundamentalist in the form of Mike Pence as VPOTUS, and the Muslim Brotherhood hasn't won any seats yet in the Canadian parliament.
I also have issues with Orthodox Jewish men who ask to not sit next to women on airplanes or only deal with male police officers, Sikhs who want little kids to go to school with a big dagger and publicly-funded Catholic schools in Ontario who tell kids they can't do a project on the LGBT movement when the topic is human rights.
I am an equal opportunity critic.
Who just happens to relate every post back to the topic of Canada's impending Islamic takeover.
No offense, but you actually remind me of those who shout "ALL LIVES MATTER" (or worse) "Blue Lives Matter too" whenever there is a Black Lives Matter protest against systemic discrimination and incarceration of black people in America and discriminatory carding practices targeting young black men in Toronto.
Target by the left? What form does this targeting of Catholics take? Are you talking about the denouncement of the coverup of pedophilia by priests, and if so why would you think only the left denounce it? I am sure Catholics themselves denounce it.
Where did I say the Catholic church was undeserving of criticism? It most definitely is for this issue, and a number of others.
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What form does this targeting of Catholics take? Are you talking about the denouncement of the coverup of pedophilia by priests, and if so why would you think only the left denounce it? I am sure Catholics themselves denounce it.
