Do Protestants really hate Catholics?

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I don’t know about Protestants but I know quite a lot of evangelicals don’t like Catholics or any Traditional Christians such as myself. I get a lot of hate from evangelical forums
 
That was somewhat my experience as well. The low anglican church I used to attend, there were people who criticised the high anglican churches, for not preaching the gospel, after attending the service once and finding it to be inappropriate.

I think there are many evangelicals who feel the traditions get in the way of them placing scripture as the sole authority.
 
I think there is a lot of misunderstanding and not enough care to look into it to properly understand the catholic faith. I was raise southern baptist and still haven’t quite converted to Catholicism. I want to learn first. To an ignorant outsider such as myself as I once was, what you described was what it truly looked like. Granted I don’t think my catholic high school friend explained it well either. I thought she told me you can pray to the saints and ask them for things. It took me happening upon something about Lent on my bible app to feel pulled to learn otherwise.
 
Religion comes from the Latin ligare, which means rope. When a person uses the word religion, especially when talking about Christianity, we are already talking about relationship.
We are talking about community. We are bound together with Christ as the head.
 
My brother was confirmed in the Anglican Church in North America today. The bishop stated that there is only one church and he went on to list several different denominations including the Catholic Church as being part of the one church.

I’ve heard Pentecostal preachers say much the same thing. That doesn’t mean we agree with everything Catholics teach or believe, but there isn’t as much animosity as there might have been in the past.

However, there are a few Protestants who do have a hatred of the Catholic Church, but these people seem prone to believing in conspiracy theories about shadowy things going on in the Catholic Church.
 
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No hard to find Anglicans who say something like that bishop might have said.
 
You don’t want to paint 30k denominations with one brush. But if you go to Bob Jones University they do quite a bit of Catholic hating. Vile things about the Pope, whoever the Pope is. " Satanic Cult" stuff like that. It is part of the institution.
 
I see this a lot with the evangelicals. It’s misguided because they haven’t done their research. It used to hurt me but now I just ignore and pray for their wisdom.
 
Same. They have been sorely misguided and lead from hate. When I went to a Divine Liturgy And certain Catholic masses I see a process focused on Jesus and love, not judgement and hate.
 
Speak for yourself. Please don’t give the rest of us non-Catholics a bad name.
 
It’s very sad how Christianity is so divided. I understand that differences in interpretation of the Bible gets in the way or disputes of Authority, but in all truth, we are the Christ Church and we need to work to come to a mutual understanding if not reunite. (reuniting is a bit lofty). It makes me think of the one verse:
¶“10I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree. Let there be no divisions among you, but rather be perfectly united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren” (1Corinthians 1:10-11).

If only it could be that easy to drop the division and get back together. ☹️

There will always be division between Protestant and Catholic doctrine, ideology, beliefs, etc. The Roman Catholic Church that was operating up and throughout Martin Luther’s time was a well oiled machine of corruption. The Holy Roman Empire in Italy was trying to have St. Peter’s renovated under Pope Leo X’s direction and The HRE in Germany was trying to fund a war against the Ottomans. Indulgences were the source of revenue, and since the Bible was in Latin and not in German, the doctrine of Indulgences could not be disputed. The bulk of people who went along with the Protestant reformation were mainly peasants and a few intellectuals were itching to see the church reform as well as see their country exit from the Holy Roman Rule. The Protestant/Catholic split was not only theological, it was also political. These are the seeds for a deep sense of division that would be passed on from generation to generation, further deepening the divide.
Needless to say, the Protestant movement sparked the counter reformation, making the Catholic Church better (a reality check, if you will). The Popes after the CR then extended hands to the Protestant groups to return to the papacy, but they refused.
Today, we are blessed to see the two large branches live side by side. But is there hate? Maybe. Hate has no place in God’s church, but it still happens unfortunately.

If we cannot by united under the same church banner with the same rites, hopefully we can be united with the purpose of bringing more souls to Jesus.
 
Non-division is a pipe dream. It’s a balancing scale of how much to concede and how much to retain. Actually, there’s been quite a lot of openness, you have eastern catholic church, you have the ordinariate. Maybe there will be more attempts at reunification, but for now, just be contented.

The main thing protestants disagree is on the authority of the scripture. It changes the dynamics of how one views their spiritual life. The big issue is how do they explain extra-biblical events, those are times where tradition matters.
 
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gohjedrek said:
The main thing protestants disagree is on the authority of the scripture. It changes the dynamics of how one views their spiritual life.
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That’s a great point. I’ve heard all sides of this argument. The Protestant tradition was founded with the idea of Sola Scriptura. Growing up in the Protestant Church I was shocked, but very intrigued by the way Catholic Theologian Scott Hahn put it. He said, “The Protestant rallying cry of Sola Scriptura is a self destructive ideology. It’s like saying 'every doctrine taught in the Bible is true…except for this one!” The argument of the bible being the sole rule of faith was what brought him to the church.

He has very good apologetics and I think it’s an interesting topic. 😃
 
“Hate” is certainly a strong sentiment, but keep in mind that Protestant self-identity is marked by what they are opposed to instead of what they believe in. The “Protest” in “Protestant” directly refers to the Catholic Church. Therefore, it has become an inherent part of Protestant teaching to identify what they differ on with Catholics instead of what we agree on. Some Protestant leaders do, in fact, instill an animus against Catholics based on perceived beliefs we have. For our part, the Catholic Church has historically been very BAD at catechizing our own people. The result is Catholics who can’t confront Protestant opposition and thus validate Protestant suspicions.

Bottom line? Read more Catholic Answers. And pray for those who are misled.
 
Most in my experience don’t hate Catholics. That said there is a small subset of often extreme evangelicals who think the RCC and it’s adherents are all manner of demonic and less charitable descriptors. They tend to share that view on many of their fellow Protestants too if it makes you feel any better.

But most Protestants run from the “brothers and sisters in Christ” view through to good but misguided people (ie they have an issue with the RCC but not Catholics).
 
Welcome to CAF, @DeaconBil! We look forward to your (name removed by moderator)ut and knowledge. 🙂
 
DeaconBil said:
The “Protest” in “Protestant” directly refers to the Catholic Church.
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The thing is, most of us non-Catholics don’t even know they’re considered “Protestants” by the Catholic Church. The majority of us see Catholics as another Christian Church down the street full of believers doing their best to get to heaven.
DeaconBil said:
Therefore, it has become an inherent part of Protestant teaching to identify what they differ on with Catholics instead of what we agree on.
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This is inherently not true. There my an outlying vocal minority of non-Catholics who my teach that or in that way, but this is not a trait of the Vast Majority of non-Catholic Christian churches and their teachings.
DeaconBil said:
Some Protestant leaders do, in fact, instill an animus against Catholics based on perceived beliefs we have.
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Sure, there probably are some but again…it’s a vocal minority. I’ve heard the same about non-Catholics from Catholic priests. Does that mean all teach that same way?
 
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