Anti-Protestant Websites

[Roblox84]

Could somebody enlighten me on a particular subject that I have been thinking about. I have heard from numerous people that instead of going onto Catholic websites to learn about Protestantism, I should go to certain Protestant websites to learn about the faith. But when I go to these certain websites, all I get is what seems to be a stressing of the opposition of the Catholic faith. Is this my perspective or does anyone else see this? Even if you go to websites of Protestants such as Jack Chick, he mostly talks about how Catholics aren’t Christians. I haven’t yet stumbled upon any anti-protestant websites set up by Catholics to disprove the Protestant faith as Jack Chick is doing with Catholicism. Even when I google “anti-protestant websites” (exact wording) all that comes up in the titles of searches is “anti-catholic” websites. I know that Catholics don’t have to push their faith upon anyone and since they where established before protestantsism most Catholic websites are naturally, to protect the faith and not to attack any others. So why is it that a lot of Protestant denominations resort to condemning Catholics and say that it is the whore of Babylon when in fact it is the protestant denomination trying to force their beliefs on others by talking bad about another relgion? Could someone shed some light on this and why may this be? And why is it that the Catholic Church embraces other religions but when you go to many protestant churches you will hear bad things about the Catholic Church?

 

[BrianH]

Take the top twenty denominations and go to their websites. I think you would be hard pressed to find a lot of overt Anti-Catholicism or in some cases ANY mention of them. There might be some differences drawn on parts of the websites that relate to older polemic documents from early Reformers but by and large…I think you are blowing smoke… respectfully speaking.
Small minor websites are just that…go to the source…try it…see what happens.

 

[smitmi03]

I wouldn’t quite call people such as Jack Chick “protestants.” On the contrary, when I visit these sites, they can be just as critical against “heretical” Protestants as they are against Catholics. Their rabid anti-catholicsm, does more harm to the mainline Protestants, and I might class them into a category as anti-Protestant as well as anti-Catholic.

The closest I have come to giving up my faith has come after encounters with anti-Catholics. I know that the ELCA wants to reconcile some gaps, and the Lutheran World Federation signed a joint declaration to agree upon a joint declaration on justification. I think that most mainline churches would want to continue ecunmical discussions, rather than trade accusations back and forth.

The absence of anti-Protestant websites might also have to do with the anti-Catholic history of the country, which prevented the election of a Catholic until 1960. Sad to think that the repercussions Know Nothing Party (and its anti-Irish agenda) extended into the present. Don’t know if I answered your question, but I just wanted to add my two cents before going to bed.

-Mike

 

[Petergee]

Pretty simple really. The whole justification for the existence of protestantism is that the Catholic Church had lost its way and needed to be replaced. So a porotestant “church” NEEDS to prove that Catholicism is false in order to justify his own organisation’s existence and to recruit members to it. As Brian points out, most of the major, long-established protestant denominations are reasonably polite about this these days, and they say things like “Catholicism isn’t as wrong as it used to be in the 16th century”, but if you drill down and ask them why you should join their “church” and indeed why does their “church” exist, they will give you some version of “the Catholic Church lost its way and needed to be replaced” or a more imaginative version “WE are the real Church that Christ founded, but we had to remain totally hidden for 1500+ years because Catholics persecuted us.”

OTOH the Catholic Church has no particular need to prove that protestantisim is wrong. She merely states the positive truths which she received from Christ and His Apostles, and it follows that anyone teaching anything which contradicts with these truths is in the wrong.

 

[Lutheranteach]

Protestantism is a harder target. If you don’t agree there are other places to go. Catholicism is one big target. Also, keep in mind that the Anti-Catholicism has most of its roots in immigration rather than religion.

 

[Convert66]

In the words of the legendary Hank Williams Jr.

It’s a family tradition…

 

[Petergee]

Protestantism is a harder target. If you don’t agree there are other places to go. Catholicism is one big target. Also, keep in mind that the Anti-Catholicism has most of its roots in immigration rather than religion.

Anti-Catholic bigotry was deeply entrenched in the original protestant settlers of what would become the USA, and in generations of their European forebears, long before any significant immigration of Catholics to that country. It would be more correct to say that anti-immigrationism has most of its roots in anti-Catholicism.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

While the heat has largely gone out of the debate these days, with the mainstream Protestants anyway, as someone else pointed out, the Protestants owe their origin to disagreement with the Catholic Church. To continue to exist, they still need to “prove” their viewpoint is correct.

If there were no differences, they’d have no grounds to continue separately, other than personal ambition. I can think of a few Protestant hierarchy who wouldn’t get very far in a much larger church.

In the end, the final hurdle will be the authority of the Pope. The Reformation may have been originally fuelled by resentment over indulgences and widespread corruption, once Luther took refuge with his German protectors, the Papacy soon became the prime focus of the most extreme invective. The nobility had their own reasons. The church had gained colossal wealth in land bequeaths, and the nobility were also losing ground to the new mercantile class. Henry VIII didn’t seize the church lands in Britain and melt down the gold because it was a righteous thing to do . He melted it down because he wanted it.

Which indicates the devil soon took a hand in turning the event to his advantage. Whereas the original issue was corruption, he soon managed to get the church fatally divided over the See of Peter. And that is still the case. It was the first nail in his effort to put the church in a coffin, and it will be the last to be pulled out.