David Bernstein on Volokh.com notes that Judge Sam Alito, if confirmed, will be the fifth Catholic on the Court, making it the first time a majority of Supreme Court Justices are Catholic.
He offers this observation:
"I'd venture that it's not simply a result of more enlightenment on the part of non-Catholic Americans, but also that Post-Vatican II, the Catholic Church is less foreign, both in prayer (in that mass is now in English), sociologically (because Catholics no longer differ that much from other Americans in where they send their kids to school and how many children they have), and in terms of ideas (e.g., the Church's renouncement of anti-Jewish theology; compare the 19th century Edgardo Mortara case). In short, as with American Jews and other groups, a story of both declining prejudice and assimilation." . . .
Anti-Catholicism came in two forms: the high protestant variety, which looked down on Catholics for being obedient peasants with too many kids and the low church (evangelicals) sort, which saw the Church of Rome as their historic religious enemy.
High protestants and their secular equivalents like the fact that ordinary Catholics are now virtually indistinguishable from the broader culture. Evangelicals have dropped their intense dislike of Catholics because they value the Catholic Church's fidelity to basic Christian teachings on abortion, marriage, and sexuality.
Thanks, Open Book.
