'Left Behind' series called 'overtly anti-Catholic'

Published: 2004-04-12

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The wildly popular "Left Behind" series of Christian apocalyptic novels denies a number of Catholic teachings and "is both subtly and overtly anti-Catholic," says an article in The Living Light, an official quarterly publication of the U.S. bishops' Department of Education. Half of the winter 2003 issue of the quarterly was devoted to feature articles on the "Left Behind" series, the fundamentalist "rapture doctrine" behind it, a Catholic understanding of the end times when Christ will come again, and the large gap religious educators see between what Catholics know and what they should know about church teaching in that area. The articles' authors warned that Catholics, especially young Catholics, could easily be drawn into such fundamentalist teachings if they have not received solid formation in Catholic teaching about the last things -- death, judgment, heaven and hell. The issue appeared, coincidentally, shortly before the 12th and final novel in the series, "Glorious Appearing," hit bookstores March 30 with an initial printing of 2 million copies.

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