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kristanl
Guest
One time I was at my Baptist friends house, and her family had a book called “The book of Cults”, and Catholicism was in it… Why do people believe we are cults when Catholics were the First Christian church??
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Paul3144
Guest
I don’t think Catholics are a cult. The only way to call the RCC a “cult” is to set your own definition of the word that doesn’t match the normal usage.
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kristanl
Guest
What are you told about Catholics at your church though? Her dad was constantly saying… “oh did you have fun at MASS, eating Jesus”… etc.
Has reading stuff on this site changed your opinion of Catholics at all?
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Roman_Catholic_1
Guest
I am not sure I would be offended at this. He has recognized that you actually ate the Body of Christ at Mass. Now whether it was fun
I’d say life changing. I guess that is fun.God bless
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Xochitl_Guzman
Guest
Odd that I came across this forum… About a week ago in PoliSci class we were talking about the first amendment and religion and my teacher was talking about how his religious teacher listed cults, then a couple rude students behind me asked if Catholics were listed…(sarcasm)…then realized later they kept on making rude comments about Catholics 
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Tuttle01
Guest
Well the last part is debatable, is the RCC a cult. Well many of the practices lead that way but no they are not
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Tony9712262
Guest
As a Catholic living in Protestant Purgatory, I just ignore them. I’ve experienced a lot of anti-Catholicism when I was in high school. Now that I am in college, my car has so many Catholic bumper stickers just to make them mad. LOL
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aborodki
Guest
Why didn’t you tell them off? If you made such a comment about Islam you would be kicked out of class. I am sorry, this is a little bit off topic but when I hear about such things it makes me real mad. The law is on your side with this.Odd that I came across this forum… About a week ago in PoliSci class we were talking about the first amendment and religion and my teacher was talking about how his religious teacher listed cults, then a couple rude students behind me asked if Catholics were listed…(sarcasm)…then realized later they kept on making rude comments about Catholics
And no, I don’t think Catholicism is a cult.
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Jean_1958
Guest
I remember reading that the Romans called the early Christian church the Cult of the Nazarene.
I have met non-Catholic Christians that believe Catholicism is a cult just like the JWs and Mormons. They truely believe that Catholics are not Christian. Some people are open to my explaining Catholicism to them while others are not.
Jean
I have met non-Catholic Christians that believe Catholicism is a cult just like the JWs and Mormons. They truely believe that Catholics are not Christian. Some people are open to my explaining Catholicism to them while others are not.
Jean
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AnAtheist
Guest
One man’s religion is another man’s cult.
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Paul3144
Guest
I’m not told much about Catholics at all at my church. I’ve only ever heard one member of my church make anti-Catholic comments, but he’s a “special snowflake,” so to speak. My church’s leadership has very good relations with the Catholics in my city.
I do have one question for you: Why is it that some Catholics on this board tend to assume that all Protestants (especially evangelicals) are anti-Catholic?
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cthulhubryan
Guest
I can remember as a kid after religious discussions went on around me thinking that there were only 3 types of Christian Churches, Baptist, Catholic and Methodist and all were considered equal.
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Tony9712262
Guest
Because, I live in the South, and I’ve experienced anti-Catholicism in high school. I have no doubt that these other Catholics on here have experienced it.
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JMJ_coder
Guest
It depends on your definition of “cult”. Remember that the name of veneration of the Saints is the “Cult (cultus) of Saint N.”.
Webster defines cult as:
1 : formal religious veneration : worship
2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator
5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : the object of such devotion c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion
Definition 5 is what I described above about the Saints. Definitions 1 and 2 are applicable to most religious groups, Christian or not. Definitions 3 and 4 are the predominant understanding of cult these days.
No, we Catholics don’t shave our heads or make suicide pacts or any other type ‘wacko cult’ stuff.
Webster defines cult as:
1 : formal religious veneration : worship
2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator
5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : the object of such devotion c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion
Definition 5 is what I described above about the Saints. Definitions 1 and 2 are applicable to most religious groups, Christian or not. Definitions 3 and 4 are the predominant understanding of cult these days.
No, we Catholics don’t shave our heads or make suicide pacts or any other type ‘wacko cult’ stuff.
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NoWings
Guest
My grandmother, bless her heart, is rather anti-Catholic because she’s obedient to what she hears in church (Church of God). She’s an 80 year old redheaded cotton picker. She also loves God very much.
I think her heart has softened a bit towards Catholics in the recent years, due to my (occasional) participation in dialogue. I try not to correct her too much out of respect.
She still despises JoHo’s and Mormons, though. LOL
I think her heart has softened a bit towards Catholics in the recent years, due to my (occasional) participation in dialogue. I try not to correct her too much out of respect.
She still despises JoHo’s and Mormons, though. LOL
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kristanl
Guest
Yea- the same is for me, I live in Georgia there are very many protestants around me… For example, in High School I would go to FCA at my school. It is supposed to be for ALL Christians, but when I tried out to be a leader of the small groups, they wouldnt let me because I was “Catholic”. I dont know I’ve just heard a lot of bad things that people say about the Church, and when I saw the book at her house it made me kinda wonder… maybe thats why a lot of people believe bad things… Because they hear it and read it?
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Paul3144
Guest
The FCA I was a member of back when I was in high school had a Catholic secretary.
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kristanl
Guest
I guess I could say you were lucky then!
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theistgal
Guest
LOL - I have come across several threads just in this particular forum asking if [fill in the name of just about any non-Catholic religion] is a cult!One man’s religion is another man’s cult.
The answer to the OP is, yes, some non-Catholics think Catholicism is a cult. Just like some Catholics think that Mormonism, 7th Day Adventism, Pentecostalism, and the SSPX
eek are cults.Which is sad because there are some genuine mind-controlling cults out there that ought to be dealt with, but they tend to get lost in the sea of finger-pointing.
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