This anti-Catholic crap is getting to be annoying

[JDPriestly]

6. You have to understand that a lot of the anti-Catholic feeling

is simply the "karma"of the Church ricocheting back to it.

Remember, for centuries the Church refused to respect those with religious beliefs that did not comply with the Church's.

Even today, the Catholic Church theoretically does not permit its own members to share in Communion if they married in the Catholic Church then divorced and remarried. But even today, the Catholic Church does not care a bit if a person was married in a Protestant or other religion, divorces and then marries within the Catholic rites and the Catholic Church.

That's just one of the ways in which the Catholic Church places itself above other religions and shows contempt for other religions.

I'm sorry to have to remind you of this, but for those of us raised in other religions such as the various Protestant religions, it is very hard to hear Catholics complain about intolerance when the Catholic Church is unique in its history of intolerance.

The Inquisition, the ouster of the Hugenots from France, forced conversions and many other extreme practices of the past are not yet forgotten by people of other more tolerant religions.

Please be patient. Catholics need to take this time to think about what their Church, not their Christian faith, but the organization of their Church has done to itself, its members and those it has rejected over the centuries.

Many, many Americans, especially those descended from early Americans, came here to escape persecution by the Catholic Church. The family histories abound in tales of Catholic excesses and persecutions.

You just have to show others the understanding you want them to show you.

It's not about you personally. You are not responsible for the historic excesses of the Catholic Church. This is a good time for Catholics to think about why they are Catholics.

Peace, but I have to post these reminders.

On edit, I have to especially add a reminder of the historic animosity and cruelty of the Catholic Church toward Jews in Europe. The Catholic Church placed Jews on a Trail of Tears that lasted for centuries and centuries.

The last Catholic shrine that was based on an utter lie about Jewish people was finally done away with in Austria in the late 1970s. And that was long after the end of WWII. Jewish school children were taken to that horrible place. And there was no factual basis for the anti-Jewish claims that the shrine was based on.

Religious tolerance is of the utmost important. That is something we all need to remember. I think it is wonderful that so many Catholics are coming to appreciate that fact. One of the members of my family married a Catholic way back in WWII. The intolerance of the Catholic Church made things very difficult for her. What goes around comes around. That's true for all of us. We all need to carefully watch to be sure we are tolerant of others' beliefs.