Use of “Catholic,” with a large or small letter, implies a claim to be part of the Catholic Church mentioned in the Creeds. Protestants, not just Anglicans, claim this. Protestants generally use a small “c” in an attempt to make it clear that their understanding of the Church is in fact quite different from yours. Anglo-Catholics, who claim to be part of the Catholic Church in a way that Protestants are not, typically use the large “C.” Myself I think everyone should use the large C, and then we would all be clear that we are talking about the same thing and disputing just who belongs to it.
You can’t impose your preferred usage on Protestants, or on those Anglicans who claim not to be Protestants, in a country where there is religious freedom. To say “you can’t use ‘Catholic’” is to say “you can’t make a theological claim with which I disagree.”
Edwin
Ok lets try this friend I didn’t write this but same conversation see if you can pull this out.
suppose, then, that you are going to say that you are a member of the Church of God, yes? After all, your Lutheran church is “of God”, right? And capitalization means nothing, right?
And you are a member of the United Church of God, yes? After all, your Lutheran church is “united as the church of God”, right? And capitalization means nothing, right?
And you are a member of Christ’s Sanctified Holy Church, yes?
After all, your Lutheran church is “Christ’s church, and is sanctified, and holy”, right? And capitalization means nothing, right?
And you are a member of the God Is Love Pentecostal Church, yes? After all, your Lutheran church does profess that “God is love”, right? And you recognize Pentecost, yes? And capitalization means nothing, right?
Of course being able to claim Catholic would require a history longer than 490 years.