This strange opinion that Catholics are something else than Christians

[Red Gold]

Have you also come across this strange opinion that Catholics and Christians are two separate and different religions?

What do you answer then?

 

[HTacianas]

Have you also come across this strange opinion that Catholics and Christians are two separate and different religions?

What do you answer then?

It comes from anti-Catholic protestants. For them there exists their own narrow religious views and "everything else".

 

[Red Gold]

It comes from anti-Catholic protestants. For them there exists their own narrow religious views and "everything else".

So it seems to be.
Which is a pity.

For me the question: "Are you Christian or Catholic?" is sheer nonsense.
But to some strict Protestansts it seems to make sense.

 

[HTacianas]

So it seems to be.
Which is a pity.

For me the question: "Are you Christian or Catholic?" is sheer nonsense.
But to some strict Protestansts it seems to make sense.

I've been asked by Baptists if I am a Christian. My answer is "I certainly am". But they really don't know what I mean by it.

But on the flip side of that, sometimes Catholics will claim that they are Catholic to distinguish themselves from protestants. It comes from five hundred years of being at odds with each other. The language has become settled even if it isn't correct.

 

[Red Gold]

But on the flip side of that, sometimes Catholics will claim that they are Catholic to distinguish themselves from protestants.

Whatever that is, it is not illogical.
Only to say: "I am not Christian, but Catholic" is illogical.

 

[Red Gold]

What I cannot stand is when those Prostestants say things like;
"We were 10 people at the table: 4 Catholics, 4 Russian Orthodox, and 2 Christians."
Meaning: "We two were the Christians."

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Have you also come across this strange opinion that Catholics and Christians are two separate and different religions?

What do you answer then?

I tend to say that it's a post reformation bias because a lot of churches are protestant.

The main reason the misconception sticks is due to the cultural familiarity of modern traditions versus the more ancient ones. They appear different, so are treated as two separate things.

Another foundational cultural reason would be the following clip.

Just because they aren't like the others, why don't they belong? But it's taught really early on.

To me Christians are Christians, but the above is why I surmise it is an issue.

 

[Rhamiel]

Have you also come across this strange opinion that Catholics and Christians are two separate and different religions?

What do you answer then?

john 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he stood not in the truth; because truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.

 

[BrAndreyu]

Yes and I cannot stand that question. Even before I was going back to mass, I used to argue with people and definitely prove to them that Catholics are in fact Christians. This isn't helped by Catholics who say "I'm Catholic" when asked "Are you a Christian?" The answer to that question should never be "I'm Catholic", it should just be "yes".

Since people don't know what the word "Catholic" means, I've suggested that the church change its name to the Roman Christian Church. Too many people think that "Christian" and "Catholic" are mutually exclusive terms.

 

[Joined2krist]

Yes, I have heard this question. I often quote the Nicene creed to them in response

 

[Michie]

I just say yes I’m a Christian. Of the Catholic variety.

 

[Red Gold]

Too many people think that "Christian" and "Catholic" are mutually exclusive terms.

Such a thought I find completley absurd - and a grave insult for any Catholic.
At first I could not believe that anybody should think that way.
I had to learn that such people exist.
They should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Red Gold]

Could it be that this distinction between "Christian" and "Catholic" is a special US-American thing?
Here in Germany I had not heard of it - and could not believe my ears when I heard such nonsense for the first time.
Anybody who doubts that Catholics are Christians would count as very stupid and un-educated here - or as very fanatical.

 

[narnia59]

I just say yes I’m a Christian. Of the Catholic variety.

When asked if I'm a Christian I just say "yes I'm Catholic." Squarely puts the ball in their court if they want to engage with that. Your answer would do that as well.

 

[narnia59]

Yes and I cannot stand that question. Even before I was going back to mass, I used to argue with people and definitely prove to them that Catholics are in fact Christians. This isn't helped by Catholics who say "I'm Catholic" when asked "Are you a Christian?" The answer to that question should never be "I'm Catholic", it should just be "yes".

Since people don't know what the word "Catholic" means, I've suggested that the church change its name to the Roman Christian Church. Too many people think that "Christian" and "Catholic" are mutually exclusive terms.

The Church doesn't need to change the name she's used since the first century. People would just come up with something else to try to deflect from the truth.

 

[Red Gold]

The Church doesn't need to change the name she's used since the first century. People would just come up with something else to try to deflect from the truth.

That is right.
People with a minimum of education and intelligence will know, what the terms "Christian" and "Catholic" mean.

Only people with a lot of ill will mis-understand these terms on purpose.

 

[BrAndreyu]

The Church doesn't need to change the name she's used since the first century.

The church hasn't used that name from the first century, the earliest point at which the church called itself "universal" (small "c" catolica) was in the second century. The "Roman Catholic Church" as a distinct entity didn't exist until 1054 AD when the East-West Schism happened and they had to differentiate themselves from the Eastern Orthodox Churches, whose official name to this day is the "Orthodox Catholic Churches".

And the term "Roman Catholic Church" wasn't really used until the protestant reformation of the 16th century, to differentiate the churches that stayed in communion with the Holy See from those who didn't, the protestants.

The proper name "Roman Catholic Church" is a relatively new invention. Before the schism it was just "The church" and up until the protestant reformation, it was either "The Roman Church" or "The Greek/(country name) church"

 

[Gnarwhal]

Have you also come across this strange opinion that Catholics and Christians are two separate and different religions?

What do you answer then?

I know that when I was a little kid (around 7-8 years old) I was an evangelical at the time, and I kept telling my Catholic neighbor friend who was maybe 5-6 that he wasn't Christian. But I had no theological basis for that, I was just going purely off the name. My childhood logic was "if they don't use the name Christian then they're not Christian."

As I got older I never held an opinion one way or another. My town overall was very unreligious and Catholics only made up maybe 15% of the population, they just weren't on my radar and my church community never talked about them like others tend to.

But if I had to venture a guess, I think it stems from the protestant inclination to come up with their own subjective definitions for the faith. What it means to be Christian, what it means to follow Jesus, everything. So, many of these groups simply state that to be Christian you have to accept Jesus into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior and believe (and only believe) what the bible says. Don't believe anything else (the irony, given that once a week a man stands up in front of everyone and tells them what to believe). Since Catholics don't fall within those terms, we're not Christians in their eyes.

Not that it comes up much for me, but if and when someone does ask if I'm a Christian I tell them I am, like @HTacianas says, and if they ask where I go to Church I tell them whatever parish I'm registered at. I've yet to have someone push back on me though.

 

[Red Gold]

I know that when I was a little kid (around 7-8 years old) I was an evangelical at the time, and I kept telling my Catholic neighbor friend who was maybe 5-6 that he wasn't Christian. But I had no theological basis for that, I was just going purely off the name. My childhood logic was "if they don't use the name Christian then they're not Christian."

Question:
Did those Catholics really not use the term "Christian"?
I can't believe it.

Of course we Catholics are Christians and Catholics at the same time, and will also say so.
Just as I am a human being and a European and a German and a "Schwarzwälder" from the Black Forest all at the same time.

Is that so hard to understand for some Protestants that one can be Christian and Catholic at the same time?

 

[Gnarwhal]

Did those Catholics really not use the term "Christian"?

If I had said that to his parents they would've corrected me. He was just a child like me, so he didn't know how to refute my claim other than "Nah ah! I am too a Christian!"

To be fair, I don't think it's a ubiquitous belief with protestants either. I think it's mainly something you hear from evangelicals and baptists and "low church" types. But I think most mainline groups like Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists would all acknowledge that Catholics are Christians either because they have a proper understanding of history or because they're so liberal and big tent these days that nothing isn't Christian to them anymore.