anti-Catholicism

thumb|A notable 1875 editorial cartoon by Thomas Nast, a German immigrant to the United States who had been raised as a Catholic. It portrays bishops as crocodiles who are attacking public schools, with the connivance of Irish Catholic politicians. Published in Harper's Weekly, May 8, 1875|300x300px

thumb|"Wolf at the Door, Gaunt and Hungry. Don't let him in." Thomas Nast cartoon against both Samuel Tilden and the Roman Catholic Church (i.e. if the Democrat Tilden was elected president, the public school system would be "endangered" by the Roman Catholic Church.) Published in Harper's Weekly, September 16, 1876|300x300px Anti-Catholicism is generally understood as hostility, prejudice, or discrimination directed toward Catholics, as well as opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars commonly identify four broad categories of anti-Catholicism: political, involving concerns about Catholics' loyalty to the state; theological, rooted in disagreement with Catholic doctrines; popular, including fears and accusations that Catholics were heretics or potential traitors; and sociocultural, based on claims that the Church fostered or enabled forms of perceived immorality.