This old Free Republic post contains the text of Jindal's "How Catholicism is Different" article, which is now the focus of a Democratic Party attack ad against him. It won't likely be up long, as the magazine is aggressively seeking to expunge versions of the piece from the web to protect Jindal.
Aside from the fact that it's written like a legal brief, apparently to make it seem "authoritative", it really is a slap across the face of all non-Catholic Christians. Some choice quotes:
Just as C.S. Lewis removed any room for comfortable opposition to Jesus by identifying Him as either "Lord, liar, or lunatic," so the Catholic Church leaves little room for complacent opposition to her doctrines.
Summary: Catholics are right, everyone else is wrong.
It is nearly impossible to derive the orthodox understanding of the Trinity, and other teachings which were disputed in the early Christian community, from Scripture alone without recourse to Church teachings. Sincerely motivated Christians studying the same texts have disagreed on the fundamentals of the faith, thereby dividing not only Protestants from Catholics, but also particular Protestant denominations from each other. Post-Reformation history does not reflect the unity and harmony of the "one flock" instituted by Christ [...], but rather a scandalous series of divisions and new denominations, including some that can hardly be called Christian. Yet Christ would not have demanded unity without providing the necessary leadership to maintain it. The same Catholic Church which infallibly determined the canon of the Bible must be trusted to interpret her handiwork; the alternative is to trust individual Christians, burdened with, as Calvin termed it, their "utterly depraved" minds, to overcome their tendency to rationalize, their selfish desires, and other effects of original sin. The choice is between Catholicism's authoritative Magisterium and subjective interpretation which leads to anarchy and heresy.
Summary: Catholicism is infallible, all other religions are burdened with utterly depraved minds subject to subjective interpretations leading to anarchy and heresy.
Or even more concisely: Non-Catholics are anarchic heretics.
Christ founded the Church and vested her with unique authority. The apostles, the very men who wrote much of the New Testament, were the Church's first bishops, and they appointed successors. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church traces its lineage directly to the apostles, and, thus, the Church claims to be the one Jesus founded.
Summary: Jesus was a Catholic, not a protestant.
Scripture never mentions an "invisible church," a doctrine created by individuals attempting to justify their departure from Rome; rather, it speaks forcefully of an institution blessed with a divine mission to preach the Gospel and offer the graces necessary to accomplish that mission. The Church's foundation was not built on a plurality of prophets; rather the earliest Christians were unified on doctrinal issues in one body. The Catholic Church was the only church for some 1,000 years. Given Christ's promise to be with His Church always, so that "the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it" (Mt. 16:18), it is hard to believe that the true Faith disappeared from the world with the "fall of the Church" (dated by Protestants at various points in the first seven centuries), failing to reappear until the Reformation around the 16th century.
Summary: Anyone leaving the Catholic Church is a heretic.
One of the most consequential, and yet neglected, Reformation beliefs is the view that utterly depraved man is incapable of meaningful sanctification. This rejection of spiritual regeneration and subsequent separation of spiritual from physical realities has resulted in various widely held current beliefs, ranging from predestination to nominalism. Yet Luther was wrong to claim that our sins are as dung covered by snow, for he underestimated both God's justice and His power. Faith does more than cause God to ignore our sins, for His grace is enough to accomplish a true spiritual rebirth.
Summary: Luther was an idiot.
I trust I have provided enough evidence to indicate that the Catholic Church deserves a careful examination by non-Catholics. It is not intellectually honest to ignore an institution with such a long and distinguished history and with such an impressively global reach. I am not asking non-Catholics to investigate the claims of my neighborhood minister, but rather am presenting a 2,000-year-old tradition, encompassing giants like Aquinas and Newman, with almost a billion living members, including modern prophets like Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II.
Summary: My church is big and old and can kick your church's ass.
There's more, but the piece is pretty much unreadable. It looks impressive if you are easily impressed by cites and the such, but ultimately, it paints a picture of disdain for competing religious denominations.
As an amateur theologist, this might fly. But as a candidate for governor in Louisiana?
One last point:
"Most Americans believe we should respect one another's religion. But not Bobby Jindal," the ad says, according to a script from the Democratic Party. "He wrote articles that insulted thousands of Louisiana Protestants. He has referred to Protestant religions as scandalous, depraved, selfish and heretical." [...]
Jindal said the ad was outrageous, mischaracterizing his writings about religion. He called the ad "an attack on his Christian faith."
"They'll do anything to hold onto their power. This ad is absolutely false," he said.
The passages above definitely refer to Protestants as depraved, selfish, scandalous, and heretical. Stupid, too. Yet Jindal is -- gasp! -- lying about that!
I think Catholics have something to say about that sort of thing...
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