From the featured image, you can guess what some liberals think is the next symbol for political and religious extremism: the rosary. Is this a shock to anyone? At first, you might be taken aback by how utterly imbecilic this take is—and of all things to attack, the rosary. It’s not the Swastika, but when you think about it—the same people who write this stuff are those whose political party booed God in 2012. Backward reels the mind to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, where Democrats booed God and altered the event into a pro-abortion Lallapalooza.
As the Democratic Party and its base become more radical, left-wing, and all-around insufferable, this is the conclusion their media allies have come to regarding a symbol that over a billion Catholics use to recite prayers. I was raised Catholic but have fallen away from the Church. I wasn’t over the abuse scandals, but having faith is not in my DNA. To those who have. A strong faith—all the power to you.
So much ignorance displayed in so few words
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) August 14, 2022
The Atlantic is just a meme now pic.twitter.com/HbZhq3Rmn6
The piece was published in The Atlantic, and given the string of hilarious memes mocking liberal media headlines, I had stumbled on another moment of genius. These fake headlines have been driving so-called fact-checkers insane, but it’s an actual headline with the most predictable talking points penned to make its case. As some noted, the piece is a self-own when applied to the Left’s mortifying attempts to excuse or marginalize the damage done by radical Islam (via Fox News):
Putting aside the ignorant subheadline, the main evidence cited in the article is that some Catholic extremists are posting pictures that include Rosary beads.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) August 15, 2022
Would The Atlantic ever argue mainstream elements of Islam become extremist symbols bc radical jihadists use them? https://t.co/C8bBLEj2qW
Move over “Slate pitches”
— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) August 15, 2022
“Atlantic headlines” are the future. https://t.co/nivOMtb4wI
The rosary is a string of beads or knots used by Catholics as they pray a sequence of prayers, but one writer warned they have taken on a far darker meaning in modern times. "Just as the AR-15 rifle has become a sacred object for Christian nationalists in general, the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional (or ‘rad trad’) Catholics," Panneton claimed in the Sunday piece titled "How the Rosary Became an Extremist Symbol."
He added, "On this extremist fringe, rosary beads have been woven into a conspiratorial politics and absolutist gun culture. These armed radical traditionalists have taken up a spiritual notion that the rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something dangerously literal."
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He observed that rosary beads "provide an aide-mémoire for a sequence of devotional prayers, are a widely recognized symbol of Catholicism and a source of strength. And many take genuine sustenance from Catholic theology’s concept of the Church Militant and the tradition of regarding the rosary as a weapon against Satan."
The Atlantic contributor gave a wide variety of examples of how the modern association between rosaries and fighting men has become marketable to a niche audience, noting that "radical-traditional Catholics sustain their own cottage industry of goods and services" such as one store that "sells replicas of the rosaries issued to American soldiers during the First World War as ‘combat rosaries.’"
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Warning that Catholics are a "growing contingent of Christian nationalism," Panneton commented that "Catholic imagery now blends freely with staple alt-right memes that romanticize ancient Rome or idealize the traditional patriarchal family." He also commented that as the divide between American Catholics and Protestants has waned, they have become "cemented in common causes such as hostility toward abortion-rights advocates."
Within this group, saying anything critical or damning of Islam is bigoted. Well, if the rosary is a sign of extremism because it’s used in photos that some liberals assume promotes right-wing views, then Islamic symbols are also extremist since al-Qaeda and other terror groups have been using them in their actual propaganda campaigns since the 1972 Munich Massacre.
It's no secret that institutional leftism hates religion, and American liberals have a hatred for Catholics, given their traditional views on a host of issues relating to abortion, priesthood, and marriage. When then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett had her hearings regarding her nomination to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the anti-Catholic rhetoric was evident. She’s now filled the vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which drove the Left insane. Justice Barrett is decidedly the anti-Ginsburg justice sitting in her seat, with the Supreme Court now having a majority Catholic tilt regarding religion. As states deal with the fallout from the Dobbs case, which overturned Roe v. Wade, you know the anti-Catholic sentiments were going to bubble up. It’s one of the most underreported acts of bigotry and discrimination in America, and recent separation of church and state arguments are soaked in anti-Catholicism.
Have we reached peak idiocy with the liberal media takes on religion, or not?
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