My 14 year old daughter is a freshman at a public high school. Recently, we have had some interesting conversations about the ways in which she has been a defender of her faith in the classroom. It is through stories like this that I am coming to realize how subtly yet profoundly anti-Catholicism has pervaded our culture and society, even in a state where Catholics are the largest single religious group.
My daughter is taking geography and history. Her class has been studying World War II. When they were studying the Holocaust and Naziism, she pointed out that there were Catholics and other Christians who were also put into concentration camps and murdered for their faith. A classmate retorted something to the effect that he thought it was the Catholics who were putting the Jews into the ovens. My daughter brought up the example of Maximilian Kolbe, of whom apparently none of her classmates (even the Catholic ones) had heard.
In science, she is told by classmates that Catholics don't believe in various scientific theories. She gets taunted with the example of Galileo (on whom she did an "A" grade report and poster display in the 7th grade). She is accused of geocentrism, flat earthiness, and who knows what else. She and I have had some long conversations on these issues.
A great resource I have found is the book Did Adam & Eve Have Belly Buttons? by Matt Pinto. Even though she herself hasn't read it through, we have found good answers to many of the questions that have arisen over the last few months. We are still looking for some zingers for her vegan friends, though.
