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dronald
Guest
Nope.
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KP3243
Guest
Ummm ok. How is it then that there are 40,000 different Protestant denominations in just the US alone? Only 1 Catholic Church.
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House_Harkonnen
Guest
There aren’t 40000 Protestant denominations, that number has been debunked by honest Catholic apologists.
And there are many denominations that claim to be the Catholic Church.
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Peter_J
Guest
shaw: 
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andrewstx
Guest
But of course Catholics don’t claim to be the only Christians in existence. Those that do are sinning. Catholics call Protestants ‘separated brethren’. It is the triumphalism that some have that disturbs me. :sad_yes:
I am a cowboy in Texas, but I go to a regular church for cultural reasons. Listening to country western and wearing a hat in church just bothers me for some reason. I drive past a cowboy church on the way to my church in a much bigger town.
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KP3243
Guest
Like who, I know Protestant apologists have said this and the apologists on EWTN have given the 40,000 number.
The different types of Catholics are cultural not doctrinal differences.
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House_Harkonnen
Guest
Many honest catholic and Protestant apologists have pointed out the poor methodology of the 40,000 number.
It counts every minor division even ethnic as a wholly separate denomination. For example, my tiny confessional Lutheran denomination operates some small mission parishes in Mexico. That counts as an ethnic division and thus two separate denominations according to Barret. We also are also in fully union with 24 other confessional Lutheran bodies around the world, that constitutes 24 separate denominations for Barret, even though we are in total agreement. Plus the mission parishes in other countries accounting for more. Numbers are inflated and add up needlessly, plus every other denomination. You can we how the numbers get inflated quickly and offer no true assessment of the situation.
If the apologists on EWTN give the number, they are wrong. And I believe they know its wrong, but it looks really bad for Protestants so they continue.
As for denominations claiming to be the Catholic Church, there are many. The Roman Catholic Church, the Sedevacantists, the SSPX, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East etc. All claim to be the Catholic Church.
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KP3243
Guest
Well how many Protestant denominations in the US are there then?
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KP3243
Guest
SSPX, Sedevacantists ect have no canonical status in the Catholic Church and Bishops were excommunicated and they are all in schism.
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marywarfield
Guest
A recent PEW Research study divides global Christianity
as Catholic global pop in 2011 at 50.1 percent, Orthodox at 11.9 percent,
Protestant at 36.7 percent and “other” Christian at
1.3 percent.
Most Protestant studies point to a Protestant denomination
number at 32,000-33,000 different types.
According to Hartford in the U.S. the Catholic Church is
the single largest Christian group with Southern Baptist
right behind. The number of non denominational
Protestant churches is higher than the rest of the
Protestant type churches combined.
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House_Harkonnen
Guest
Depends on how you would define denomination.
For example, the WELS and ELS are in full union with one another, but constitute two separate denominations on paper. That would be silly to consider them fully divided per se.
Furthermore the WELS and ELS are doctrinally on the same page as the LCMS. There are a few differences of practice, and a slightly different doctrine of the ordained ministry, but hardly any doctrinal difference that I believe should constitute a major division. Yet that would amount to another 2 separate denominations.
You could count them all separately which would lead to another inflated number, even though I agree with the LCMS on all doctrine and I am WELS. Or you could count an overarching “Confessional Lutheranism” as a separate entity which would be more accurate IMO.
I believe it would be more accurate to count major movements in Protestant Christianity.
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House_Harkonnen
Guest
Yet the consider themselves to be the true Catholic Church, and the EOs, OOs, ACE, etc, many groups all deeming themselves the Catholic Church.
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House_Harkonnen
Guest
Can you name a few? I am familiar with the Gordon Conwell study which made the same error that I enumerated above.
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KP3243
Guest
There is a difference between the different rites in the Catholic Church which are cultural not doctrinal and are all in communion with the Bishop of Rome and then there are groups in schism which hopefully we will all become one again.
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KP3243
Guest
Isn’t Gordon Conwell Protestant?
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House_Harkonnen
Guest
Yes. They made the same error that I listed above. Even used Barret as a source for their research.
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KP3243
Guest
Ok so based on your calculations how many different types of Protestants are there then if you aren’t going to us these studies even though one comes from a Protestant seminary?
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GKC
Guest
The 20,000 - 30,000- 40,000 figures usually derive from either WORLD CHRISTIAN TRENDS, or its sister publication, WORLD CHRISTIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA, scholarly works edited by David Barrett which appear regularly. Here’s a quote from the editors about how the figures are derived:
"Thank you for your inquiry. I can assure you that the figure of 39,000 is in no way inflated. This number represents our most current, up-to-date data. As we are constantly updating this figure, it is not published in print form. The figure of 33,800 from the year 2000 was printed in our book World Christian Trends, (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2001). Part 12 of World Christian Trends (WCT), Table 12-1 gives figures of denominational totals for all 238 countries of the world. These figures are also represented graphically in WCT on page 917, Global Map 14. The definition for denominations used in WCT, and also in our publication World Christian Encyclopedia (Oxford, 2001) is as follows:
“Any agency consisting of a number of congregations or churches voluntarily aligning themselves with it. As a statistical unit in this survey, a ‘denomination’ always refers to one single country. Thus the Roman Catholic Church, although a single organization, is described here as consisting of 236 denominations in the world’s 238 countries.”
Note that the total of the RCC “denominations” has nothing to do with sui juris Churches, or anything other than the number of countries in which the RCC has a formal presence.
I occasionally post this info. It never makes any difference. There are a lot of protestant denominations. How many, I don’t know. But the usual numbers given in discussions like this reflect the idiosyncratic methodology of these publications.
GKC
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Isaiah45_9
Guest
I’ve heard a jingle that goes like:
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As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, a new denomination springs.
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KP3243
Guest
They can say that but they lack any authority and no one recognizes them as the Catholic Church. It’s a perk of having the Chair of Peter and Apostolic succession people know who is Catholic and what the Church believes. The groups you mention are just modern herseys or in schism they are no different than the Arians or Gnosticism or Marcionism like I said before, hopefully we will all be one again.
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