Before Muslims, It Was Catholics: America's Long History of Religious Fear
Puerto Rico Open Your Eyes · Nov 13, 2026 · 22:28
Puerto Rico Open Your Eyes · Nov 13, 2026 · 22:28
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Before Muslims, It Was Catholics: America's Long History of Religious Fear
Puerto Rico Open Your Eyes | Hosted by Edwin Ortiz
America was founded on the promise of religious freedom. But has that promise ever been applied equally to everyone?
Today, Muslims face growing criticism, political suspicion, and accusations that their religious beliefs threaten American traditions. But history reveals something remarkable: long before Muslims became the focus of these controversies, Catholics, Jews, and other religious communities faced similar discrimination.
In this thought-provoking episode of Puerto Rico Open Your Eyes, host Edwin Ortiz takes listeners on a historical journey examining how religion has repeatedly been used as a political weapon to promote fear, division, and exclusion.
From the discrimination against Irish Catholic immigrants depicted in Gangs of New York to John F. Kennedy's controversial 1960 presidential campaign, we explore how religious identity has repeatedly been questioned in a nation that promises freedom of worship.
We also examine a lesser-known chapter of Puerto Rican history: how Protestant missionary organizations coordinated their expansion across Puerto Rico following the Spanish-American War of 1898, and how European colonization affected Indigenous religious traditions throughout the Americas.
The episode raises important questions about today's controversies surrounding Islam, the separation of church and state, and the political exploitation of religious differences.
Why do we celebrate religious freedom when it protects our own beliefs but sometimes question that same freedom when others exercise it?
This episode is not about defending one religion over another. It is about understanding history, recognizing recurring patterns of discrimination, and defending the principle that freedom of conscience belongs to everyone.
Because the names change. The religions change. The generations change. But the politics of religious fear remain remarkably familiar.
Religious freedom that protects only the majority is not religious freedom. It is religious privilege.
Join Edwin Ortiz for this historical examination of religion, politics, prejudice, and America's continuing struggle to live up to its constitutional ideals.
About the Host
Edwin Ortiz is the host of Puerto Rico Open Your Eyes and President of The National Puerto Rico & Spain Initiative (TNPRSI), an organization dedicated to historical education, political awareness, and informed discussion about Puerto Rico's past, present, and future.
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#ReligiousFreedom #ReligiousDiscrimination #Muslims #CatholicHistory #JohnFKennedy #SeparationOfChurchAndState #PuertoRicoHistory #AmericanHistory #ReligiousTolerance #PuertoRicoOpenYourEyes #EdwinOrtiz
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