Catholics vs Christians

1.) Catholics are Christians.

2.) Following the Galileo fiasco, the Catholic Church no longer tries to use the Bible as a scientific text book. Fundamentalist Protestants have yet to learn that same lesson, and, until they do, they will be seen as the obscurantists that they are.

3.) The mere fact that you classify Catholics as something other than Christians should give you another clue as to why fundies are seen as bigoted back woodsmen.

in general, the catholic church has changed some of their practices to accommodate the beliefs of society. there are exceptions to this, but in general the catholic church does not teach what the world would call offensive. protestants, who you referred to as general christianity, stick more closely to the Bible as inerrant, so since the teachings haven't changed to accommodate the world, people of the world get a little offended over it. also, usually when there is a radical who takes a verse out of context or misrepresents Christ, they were labeled as "christians" (being the general term) and not as "catholic" (being a more specific part of christianity). those radicals are then held up by non-christians as an example of christianity. we can all probably think of at least one church that's a pretty good example of this in America right now.

lesliedellow, i suggest you remember that protestants and catholics have different versions of the Bible, the catholic version having a few more books. also, the whole galileo fiasco was what happened when the catholic church decided to reach beyond it's boundaries and take more power than what was due to them. when someone contradicted them, they took it personally and said that to contradict them was to contradict God, when in fact that was incorrect. they set as doctrine what had no real basis, so they were wrong, but God was not. keep in mind what church it was that caused the fiasco in the first place.

one last thing ferreira, the Bible does explain this, stating that the world will hate us, because we are not of the world, but of Christ, and the world hated Christ first.

Why do you believe those who call themselves Catholics are more accepted than those who call themselves Christians? Where have you observed this? I have not observed this.

ferreira said:

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post a question for everyone that I have been having for awhile.

Why are Catholics more publicly accepted than Christians?

It seems as if now a days someone says in an interview or in passing that they are Catholic and no one bats an eye but if someone says they are a Christian they are more subject to attacks and ridicule.

Both relegions have the same basic beliefs so I am wondering why some people have an issue with one and not the other?

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Most of the time people are born into the Catholic faith, while with many other "Christian" faiths you have to make a commitment as an adult.

bling said:

Most of the time people are born into the Catholic faith, while with many other "Christian" faiths you have to make a commitment as an adult.

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Most people of any faith were born into that faith.

bling said:

Most of the time people are born into the Catholic faith, while with many other "Christian" faiths you have to make a commitment as an adult.

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Catholicism has that, it's called Confirmation, and it's regarded as one of the seven Sacraments.

We Lutherans also have it, but it's not regarded as a Sacrament, but as a churchly rite, retained for good order. Other Protestant bodies have also retained it in some capacity.

-CryptoLutheran

Catholics are Christians. Nobody can hijack the title when they came long afterwards and don't make up the majority. Also I don't really see how the public is more accepting. We are against abortion, contraception, gay marriage all the other forms of immorality. Some people may think more of Evangelicals when you say Christians and they tend to be more belligerent. But if they oppose immorality then I have no problem with them.

football5680 said:

Catholics are Christians. Nobody can hijack the title when they came long afterwards and don't make up the majority. Also I don't really see how the public is more accepting. We are against abortion, contraception, gay marriage all the other forms of immorality. Some people may think more of Evangelicals when you say Christians and they tend to be more belligerent. But if they oppose immorality then I have no problem with them.

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I suspect that it's a combination of:
Insults directed at me/my group are noticed more than insults directed at another group.
An assumption that insults directed against Christians are not intended to include Catholics.
And the reality that some positions held more by evangelicals than Catholics really are ridiculous, such as young earth creationism, rapture, ...

Mod Hat On​

This thread has been moved from the Exploring Christianity forum​

Mod Hat Off​

Is this a joke? Tongue in cheek? Starting from the title...wow, just wow.

ferreira said:

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post a question for everyone that I have been having for awhile.

Why are Catholics more publicly accepted than Christians?

It seems as if now a days someone says in an interview or in passing that they are Catholic and no one bats an eye but if someone says they are a Christian they are more subject to attacks and ridicule.

Both relegions have the same basic beliefs so I am wondering why some people have an issue with one and not the other?

Click to expand...

To start off with you begin with a false assumption that Catholics and Christians are two different things. I'm and Catholic and a Christian. All Catholics are Christians.

ghag17 said:

in general, the catholic church has changed some of their practices to accommodate the beliefs of society. there are exceptions to this, but in general the catholic church does not teach what the world would call offensive. protestants, who you referred to as general christianity, stick more closely to the Bible as inerrant, so since the teachings haven't changed to accommodate the world, people of the world get a little offended over it. also, usually when there is a radical who takes a verse out of context or misrepresents Christ, they were labeled as "christians" (being the general term) and not as "catholic" (being a more specific part of christianity). those radicals are then held up by non-christians as an example of christianity. we can all probably think of at least one church that's a pretty good example of this in America right now.

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I really don't know where to begin with this, except to say you really don't know much about the Catholic Church do you?

ghag17 said:

lesliedellow, i suggest you remember that protestants and catholics have different versions of the Bible, the catholic version having a few more books. also, the whole galileo fiasco was what happened when the catholic church decided to reach beyond it's boundaries and take more power than what was due to them. when someone contradicted them, they took it personally and said that to contradict them was to contradict God, when in fact that was incorrect. they set as doctrine what had no real basis, so they were wrong, but God was not. keep in mind what church it was that caused the fiasco in the first place.

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Don't know much about the Galileo incident either it seems.

ferreira said:

Hi everyone,

I wanted to post a question for everyone that I have been having for awhile.

Why are Catholics more publicly accepted than Christians?

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Did you mean Catholic Christians?
Catholic means universal as in the universal church.
Or did you mean Roman Catholic as in the denomination?

I'm pretty sure you didn't mean to slam RCCs?

It seems as if now a days someone says in an interview or in passing that they are Catholic and no one bats an eye but if someone says they are a Christian they are more subject to attacks and ridicule.

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I want to say that maybe it's due to the area you live in?
Or the interviewer you have experience with.

Perhaps you can fill in the gaps for us.
We're kind of confused by your op.