Are Catholicism and protestantism different religions?

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Catholics and protestants: Are Catholicism and protestantism different religions? (Please also indicate which you are.) For purposes of this discussion, please consider “Catholic” (as distinct from “catholic”) to mean ICWR (in communion with Rome).
 
Peter_J said:
Catholics and protestants: Are Catholicism and protestantism different religions? (Please also indicate which you are.) For purposes of this discussion, please consider “Catholic” (as distinct from “catholic”) to mean ICWR (in communion with Rome).
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Even though I wasn’t invited to participate…😛

For the most part Catholics and Protestants are a lot more similar than either side realizes or would readily admit.
 
I would say they follow the same branch of religion which is Christianity.

But with so many different forms of Protestant theology from sola scriptura to raptures

it is quite different from Catholicism. Especially since Catholicism is more organized as a religion. Whereas some Protestant denominations are organized, but some are very do what you want and divided.
 
Seraphim73 said:
Even though I wasn’t invited to participate…😛
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🙂 I know, thought about expanding it, but it would have complicated things.

Anyhow, I figure that the Eastern Orthodox consider (as do I) Orthodox, Catholics, and protestants to all be Christians. 👍
 
Peter_J said:
🙂 I know, thought about expanding it, but it would have complicated things.

Anyhow, I figure that the Eastern Orthodox consider (as do I) Orthodox, Catholics, and protestants to all be Christians. 👍
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Yes of course. 🙂
 
Seraphim73 said:
Even though I wasn’t invited to participate…😛

For the most part Catholics and Protestants are a lot more similar than either side realizes or would readily admit.
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Me either at least in how the Catholic Church describes me. The Catholic Church considers me a Catholic though I’m not in full communion with Her. So I guess for the purposes of the OP’s definitions I will cast my ballot under the label protestant even though the Catholic Church considers me a Catholic. 🤷 Anyway despite our differences being united in Christ as Lord and Savior is not the least but most important similarity of all. And since I believe many parts of the same body, despite some differences, I’m casting my vote that they are basically the same. It’s called Christianity.
 
Protestantism is naturally much more similar to Catholicism than any other faith tradition (excluding the E Orthodox groups) just from the fact that it sprang out of it. On several outlying issues, however, Catholicism finds itself loosely on the same base as the many natural religions throughout the world, and Protestantism on the outside. The concepts of sacred places/objects, and praying to great people and/or ancestors are found in ancient Judaism, Catholicism, Islam (as far as sacred places is concerned), and the natural religions of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Protestants and atheists/agnostics are the two major demographics outside of this fairly universal intuition.

As the distance between the 1500s and the present continues to expand, you do run into some more interesting questions. Theologically, are Jews or Mormons closer to Catholicism? The language in Mormonism is much more similar and it would give it the appearance of closeness, but the reality is far different.
 
From a Catholic perspective, a validly baptized protestant is a Christian in as much as a validly baptized Catholic is. This doesn’t resolve the many both real & grave differences between the protestant and Catholic vision.
 
Catholicism is a religion. Protestantism is a term used to describe non-Catholic non-Orthodox Christianity, and is treated as a religion, only because it consists of so many. (That might be synecdoche, I’m not sure)
 
Razanir said:
Catholicism is a religion. Protestantism is a term used to describe non-Catholic non-Orthodox Christianity, and is treated as a religion, only because it consists of so many. (That might be synecdoche, I’m not sure)
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Catholicism is a religion.

Protestantism describes non-Catholic non-Orthodox Christianity and is treated as a religion.

Now I’m going to take a leap of faith and assume as a Catholic you believe Catholics are Christians too.

Therefore in my book all can also be treated as part of the religion treated as Christianity too. 👍
 
Seraphim73 said:
Even though I wasn’t invited to participate…😛

For the most part Catholics and Protestants are a lot more similar than either side realizes or would readily admit.
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Do not be hurt for many forget the great Church of the East. (I put you in the Catholic camp as you have the valid priesthood ,(whom I respect as I would our priests).
My prayer is for the unity of our great traditions, but I see an enormous difference in those Christian traditions that retain a valid priesthood and those that have moved away from this truth.
However like you, I see a similar adoration of Christ our saviour, second person of the Trinity in the one God, in most Christian traditions, so I believe they are all one religion in the anthropological sense.
 
I am Orthodox as well, (my baptismal name is Seraphim too). I VOTED as Catholic no.
 
Could you say they are two different expressions of the same religion?

I voted yes because they are different.

But I don’t know if there is a right answer.

There are so many differences yet we agree Jesus was crucified, died and was resurrected and died for our transgressions.
 
I think you’re mixing the two terms religion and faith together here.
We are all Christians (Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Pentacostals etc) becouse Christianity is our religion, but as we share religion we don’t share the same faith.
Every direction under the Christian umbrella has differences that makes each one of them a unic faith.
Some are closer to another than others, for eksemple we are much closer to the Orthodox faith than we are to the Pentacostals, so we have more in common, but still we do believe in different things after all even though we share our faith in Christ.

Yours in Jesus and Mary
  • MarianCatholic
 
Could be closer to the Orthodox-EO They are much more similar than anyone would admit. imho.
 
Peter_J said:
Catholics and protestants: Are Catholicism and protestantism different religions?
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Protestantism is not a monolith, so the question really can’t be answered.

There is almost nothing in common between an Anglican, a Bible Baptist, and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.

.
 
How many points of contention are required for anything to be different? For example there is one God, or the Trinity, or the Creed, or the hypostatic union and the Nature of Christ thus the Incarnation of the Word of God, the Communion of Saint and the particular and final judgement. So we surpass Biblical context and rely on tradition also.

Some Protestants I know who I believe are convicted by the Holy Spirit, just don’t believe in the theological speculation by large. And even that varies as we see with mainline Protestants who think imho very similar to orthodoxy because it is.
 
No, they are branches of the same religion - Christianity. This somewhat bothers me, of course, since we’re supposed to be one Body of Christ.
 
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