Anti-Catholic Intolerance And Bigotry In Unitarian*Universalism

Two weeks after U*U ministerial hopeful David Kling posted about the anti-Catholic bigotry that he encountered during a U*U "leadership training" at the Midwest Leadership School in July, Patrick Murfin blogs about the alleged anti-Irish bigotry of "famous Unitarian" Theodore Parker and the shameful anti-Catholic heritage of Boston Unitarians on his 'Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout' blog.

Here is the comment that I just posted in response to his blog post, with pertinent embedded links -

UNE EGLISE QUI N'EST PAS TRES CATHOLIQUE

from: anonymous

date: Aug. 13th, 2007 10:40 pm (UTC)

:Anti-Catholicism remained a strain of though (sic) in Unitarianism well into the 20th Century.

Try the 21st century Patrick. There is no shortage of anti-Catholic intolerance and bigotry amongst U*Us, including U*U clergy. . . here and now. Here is a blog post about a very recent example of anti-Catholic intolerance and bigotry on the part of a U*U minister.

http://fortitudeofspirit.blogspot.com/2007/08/every-man-and-woman-is-star.html

When Rev. Ray Drennan verbally defecated all over former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau's Roman Catholic rite state funeral in his appropriately titled 'Wrong Message' Op/Ed piece in the Montreal Gazette I responded by displaying the following picket sign slogans -

UNE EGLISE QUI N'EST PAS TRES CATHOLIQUE

and

A "CHURCH" THAT DESERVES A TRUDEAU SALUTE

If you are wondering what a "Trudeau Salute" is just Google it.

I also wrote a letter to the editor decrying Rev. Ray Drennan's anti-Catholic bigotry, which likely has its root causes in his Presbyterian Orangeman roots. . . only to discover that fifty other people had done likewise. Five representative letters, including one from a "devout atheist" of Roman Catholic background were published, further tarnishing the already seriously tarnished image of the Unitarian Church of Montreal.

:Beacon Press was still publishing—to great success—anti-Catholic screeds in the 1950’s.

Interesting. That might help to explain why the UUA hired an anti-religious bigot who had most of the trappings of a Presbyterian Irish "Orangeman" (except that he was a fundamentalist atheist "Orangeman" as it were) as a U*U minister as recently as the mid-1990s. . .

:UU’s have worked studiously to forget all of this.

Well they have certainly worked studiously to refuse to acknowledge this. . .

:When the topic is brought up, they are apt to stick their fingers in their ears and start humming loudly.

Believe it or not, a few U*Us have acktually done this walking past my picket signs that, amongst other things. . . protest against the anti-Catholic intolerance and bigotry of Rev. Ray Drennan and other "like-minded" U*Us.

:When I have brought the subject up before, I have been attacked for doing so.

Ditto. Indeed I have been physically assaulted by some U*Us for bringing up this and other subjects. Of course the verbal attacks are actually more harmful and damaging than the physical ones.

:And some defend anti-Catholicism as the legitimate aspect of the Radical Reformation heritage of which we are a part.

Yup. . .

:Others point to abuse scandals and the increasingly authoritarian and rigid posture of the Church with a certain smug “I told you so” attitude.

While denying, ignoring and minimizing the abuse scandals and the increasingly authoritarian and rigid posture of the U*U "Church". . .

Robin Edgar aka The Emerson Avenger

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