Panel: CATHOLICS AND THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: EUROPEAN AND US PERSPECTIVES



115.2 - CATHOLIC SECTARIANISM AND THE APPEAL OF DONALD TRUMP

AUTHORS:
Massa M. (Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College ~ Boston ~ United States of America)
Text:
This paper will examine how the Catholic right in the U.S. supports Trump because of the dramatic growth of sectarianism in the U.S. church Mircea once famously argued that the opposite of "Catholic" is not "Protestant," but rather "sectarian". Drawing on his new book Catholic Fundamentalism in America (Oxford), Massa argues that Trump appeals to conservative Catholics in the U.S, because he rings the changes on the sectarian carillon (e.g. strong inside/outside dichotomies - thus fear of immigrants and "others"; a simplistic reading of the American past [U.S. historians refer to this as primitivism - that at some point in the [primitive] past, U.S. culture achieved its perfect form]; constant use of apocalyptic language.