Julia and Timothy—I’m sorry if I’m coming across as a grouch. Thanks, both of you, for letting me say what I think without snapping back.
I often see Catholics feeling understandably upset by Protestants who mischaracterize Catholic beliefs and practices; I wish that being on the receiving end of those mischaracterizations would make Catholics more sensitive and aware to refrain from doing the same thing to Protestants. “What is hateful to yourself do not do to others.”
Also, Julia, I don’t mean this as picking on you.
I’m an Evangelical who sometimes clicks on a thread here expecting to read about the thread topic. Numerous times here, though, a Catholic poster has inserted an unnecessary and irrelevant comparison to what they perceive to be a common negative characteristic of Protestants, which they use as a foil; as if to say, “We Catholics (pause here to thump chest) are not like those (stupid) Protestants who (for example) always think in either/or terms while we (superiorly) think in both/and.” I think the reality is that all ways of thinking can be easily found among any group of people. And chest thumping, however subtle, is unattractive unless you actually look like Tarzan.
And yes, Protestants are of course a diverse bunch. A person can say just about anything and it will be true of some Protestants.
