Anti-Catholic Sentiment Quotes

In this speech, and in {634756}, he argued against unification to a public that was mostly opposed. The leadership was interested because they were facing the Muslim Ottoman Turks who were getting more powerful each day. The Eastern Emperor, Constantine XI, more of a soldier and politician than a cleric, wanted the military strength of the Franks and other Western European Christian armies to help protect the Eastern Empire and Byzantium and were willing to reunite under the Pope to get it. Gennadios and his faction were not. They prevailed and the next year, the Muslims conquered Byzantium which had little help from the armies of the Western Roman Empire.

In April of 1689, Protestant William of Orange landed in England against Catholic King James I, in a Catholic-Protestant civil conflict which not only affected England but its colonies as well. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York City were confused and wary as to taking immediate sides, but there was a strong anti-Catholic movement in New York City. This group, functioning as “The General Convention for the Province of New-York,” elected Leysler, its leader—later appointing him Lieutenant Governor of New York. Leysler’s forces seized the government and imprisoned the King James Appointed Officials who would not turn against James. Leysler actually governed New York for almost two years. The old guard of New York, after William had been crowned King, attempted to regain the status quo ante. Leysler and his extremist followers saw them as traitors and Papal supporters although they themselves were English Protestants. But their appointment, loyalty and wavering regarding James I made them traitors in the view of Leysler. When initial troops tried to regain power for the original governor and council Leysler, he simply dismissed them as Papists. Finally, in March of 1691 Governor Slaughter, arrived with more troops, and after a significant Battle for New York, captured Leysler and his major followers where were executed shortly thereafter. This incident, sometimes referred to as “Leysler's Rebellion,” represents these American “firsts.” First successful revolution in America; First military coup; First military dictator. First successful counter-revolution. There were some contemporary critics who thought Leysler as interested in custom duties as Papists.

There has been a similar demographic condition since.

The relationship between Irish Catholics and the organized priesthood has at times been contentious. Forced tithing to support clergy in a lifestyle that was greater than average, together with some corrupt priests and monks produced hostility from even many Catholics.

Before the Protestant Reformation of Martin Luther, there had been a schism of the Catholic Church into the Western Roman Empire—the Latins, headquartered in Rome; and the Orthodox Church—the Greeks, headquartered in Constantinople (Byzantium). One of the main issues of the schism was the Papacy itself. As this quotation shows, Luther was by no means the first to attack the Papacy. Saint Mark’s quotation here was more than 50 years before Luther was born.

The “Know-Nothings” were populist extremists opposed to anything foreign and immigration and were religiously and racially bigoted—somewhat like the Tea Party of the early 21st century. The difference was that the Tea Party was not anti-Catholic and their bigotry was against foreigners and Blacks and Hispanics. However where the Know-Nothings were proud of their bigotry. Many Tea Party members were distressed by the racists in their ranks, However, they did little to stop bigots from having racist signs and slogans at rallies and did not purge the racists from their midst.

This was a very important historical quotation. In 1928 Al Smith, the Governor of New York, was the Democratic Candidate for President. He was the first Roman Catholic to run for the Presidency for a major party. He narrowly lost and the anti-Catholic sentiment of much of the country was one of the major reasons, Jones was one of the many Protestant religious leaders who were virulently opposed to a Roman Catholic in the White House. The analogy of a saloon on every corner was very important at the time as the United States had Prohibition, and alcohol had been Jones’ major issue beore then. The result was the election of Herbert Hoover and the subsequent Great Depression.