Having been a Baptist for many decades, I will try to shed some light on this. First, let me say that Catholics have an emotional attachment to Mary that transcends rational Church doctrine. This probably explains why they think it so strange that Protestants pay very little attention to Mary. However, when you view Mary through Baptist eyes (a prominent character in the Christmas pagent), our perception of her becomes more understandable. For example:
- Baptists donāt believe in the immaculate conception.
- Baptists donāt believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary.
- Baptists donāt believe Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven.
- Baptists donāt believe in the communion of saints, so they donāt pray to Mary.
- Baptists say they donāt go outside the Bible for their doctrines and beliefs and it is undeniable that Mary only plays bit parts in the Bibleāalmost nothing outside the first two chapters of Luke.
- Baptists reject sacred tradition as an authoritative source of Christian beliefs, and without tradition, with the Bible alone, there just isnāt much to say about Mary.
As for Luke 1:48āāall generations will count me blessedāāfor some reason it isnāt read in Baptist churches, not even at Christmas. I donāt think there is a conscious effort to avoid reading it, but it just isnāt regarded as particularly important. If it were removed from a new edition of the Bible, few Baptists would realize it was gone.
With that system of beliefs, it is hardly surprising that Mary is rarely mentionedāoutside of two weeks in December. Certainly no Baptist I know holds any dislike or contempt for her. They just donāt regard her as all that important. So they hold her in approximately the same esteem that they hold other New Testament women, e.g., Lydia, Priscilla, Mary the mother of John Mark, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene.
So the Protestant culture, at least the Baptist culture, is not a dislike of Mary but rather an ignorance of her. Also, they see her as a figure of history, not as a saint who lives in the present and desires to bring us closer to her son Jesus.