What exactly is wrong with Irish or Italians specifically converting to Protestantism?

[Associate Justice PiT]

Gully is indeed a Protestant, specifically a Calvinist. That he is also not religious is not terribly relevant in an Irish context.

     Reminds me of a joke I heard once. A man in Ireland is stopped and asked if he is Catholic or Protestant. He replies that he is an atheist. His inquisitor then asks him if he is a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist.

[Senator Incitatus]

Nothing specifically wrong with it.

It usually represents a nasty turn towards elitist conservatism common among newly rich social climbers. Evangelical converts are more likely to be zealous authoritarians than cultural Catholics.

I actually find the inverse to be truer. When I think of "nasty elitist conservative zealous authoritarian social climbers," Catholic converts are the first thing that spring to mind.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Reminds me of a joke I heard once. A man in Ireland is stopped and asked if he is Catholic or Protestant. He replies that he is an atheist. His inquisitor then asks him if he is a Catholic atheist or a Protestant atheist.

The original formulation is funnier: it is specifically Northern Ireland (and often specifically Belfast), often 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' are replaced with 'Taig' and 'Prod'... and the word 'atheist' is replaced by 'Jew'.

[DC Al Fine]

Nothing specifically wrong with it.

It usually represents a nasty turn towards elitist conservatism common among newly rich social climbers. Evangelical converts are more likely to be zealous authoritarians than cultural Catholics.

I actually find the inverse to be truer. When I think of "nasty elitist conservative zealous authoritarian social climbers," Catholic converts are the first thing that spring to mind.

Yeah, "ambitious conservative writer converts to Catholicism" is a bit of a meme on the right at this point. I

Indeed there is much lamenting in segments of the religious right that Evangelicals are basically foot soldiers for a movement whose intelligentsia is mostly Catholic.

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

Tbh it seems to me that the notion that religion is a personal choice is something that in and of itself is essentially Protestant and American. If you go to most other places in the world to be Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Zoroastrian and probably countless other things is a part of your cultural heritage and identity. I think that a lot of people would see converting to Protestantism as a form of cultural genocide.

[PSOL]

Nothing specifically wrong with it.

It usually represents a nasty turn towards elitist conservatism common among newly rich social climbers. Evangelical converts are more likely to be zealous authoritarians than cultural Catholics.

I actually find the inverse to be truer. When I think of "nasty elitist conservative zealous authoritarian social climbers," Catholic converts are the first thing that spring to mind.

Yeah, "ambitious conservative writer converts to Catholicism" is a bit of a meme on the right at this point. I

Indeed there is much lamenting in segments of the religious right that Evangelicals are basically foot soldiers for a movement whose intelligentsia is mostly Catholic.

Know I was referring to those whose origins are from lower stratas of the working class or who come from those families, but middle class converts to catholicism is also common yeah

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Tbh it seems to me that the notion that religion is a personal choice is something that in and of itself is essentially Protestant and American. If you go to most other places in the world to be Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Zoroastrian and probably countless other things is a part of your cultural heritage and identity. I think that a lot of people would see converting to Protestantism as a form of cultural genocide.

Conversion to Protestantism is extremely common everywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

And here's even an example outside it:
https://www.france24.com/en/20191023-iraqi-kurds-turn-to-zoroastrianism-as-faith-identity-entwine
https://syrianobserver.com/features/51332/kurds-embrace-christianity-and-kobani-celebrates-inauguration-of-church.html

[vitoNova]

I'm a non-practicing Catholic atheist/agnostic.

But by purely objective standards, Protestant cultism makes FAR more sense than Papist cultism.

I mean, if you're going to follow a cult, why on earth would you employ a middle man (the pope)?  Why wouldn't you follow the source material?  Go balls deep or nothing, bro.

Also, the Vatican is gay and overrated.  But the Swiss Guard has the DOPEST uniforms in all existence.  (that's vernacular for "cool")

Just sayin'

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Tbh it seems to me that the notion that religion is a personal choice is something that in and of itself is essentially Protestant and American. If you go to most other places in the world to be Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, Zoroastrian and probably countless other things is a part of your cultural heritage and identity. I think that a lot of people would see converting to Protestantism as a form of cultural genocide.

Conversion to Protestantism is extremely common everywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

And here's even an example outside it:
https://www.france24.com/en/20191023-iraqi-kurds-turn-to-zoroastrianism-as-faith-identity-entwine
https://syrianobserver.com/features/51332/kurds-embrace-christianity-and-kobani-celebrates-inauguration-of-church.html

Also, Protestant churches are growing very quickly in Latin America.  Lots of places that were uniformly Catholic a generation ago are now like 20-40% evangelical Protestant.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Increasingly I've begun to think of this matrix of issues as having more to do with historical preservation and the relationship between individual and group identity in general rather than anything special to do with religion. That's all I'll say for now.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Increasingly I've begun to think of this matrix of issues as having more to do with historical preservation and the relationship between individual and group identity in general rather than anything special to do with religion. That's all I'll say for now.

Having such a concern strikes me as incredibly reactionary though, especially prioritizing group identity over individual identity.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Increasingly I've begun to think of this matrix of issues as having more to do with historical preservation and the relationship between individual and group identity in general rather than anything special to do with religion. That's all I'll say for now.

Having such a concern strikes me as incredibly reactionary though, especially prioritizing group identity over individual identity.

I am one of the most conservative posters on the forum.

[afleitch]

In the US statistically Catholics are high 'switchers' with Pew some years ago having 40% leaving the faith they were raised in.

Amongst Latinxos we know, and have discussed on here about a sizable shift amongst older adults to Evangelicalism, and amongst younger to Nones.

Irish-American is, compared to a century ago, hard to define as a subset. As noted earlier, it was the General Social Survey in 2014 noted that half of self identified Irish-Catholics were Protestant, with only a third Catholic. But this definition can include Ulster Irish, 'Scots-Irish' etc or whatever background is fashionable to claim as Irish.

But even with that, I don't think original premise holds up much.

The same survey group noted that for those of Italian ancestry (easier to define) 89% identifed as Catholic in 1972 but had fallen to 56% by 2012 years later. I'd guess that a further decade on its somewhat less. Almost Latinos it was also 56% in 2012 but is now 49%.

So again, I don't think it holds up. Biggest losses amongst nearly every denomination this past decade has been to Nones, but earlier declines were more to different religions.

Where the OP premise does hold up, in terms of a 'cultural cringe' surprisingly, is in Scotland.