My Faith came under attack last night

[DasErlibnis]

Hi guys. I am 21 years old, and have been Catholic my whole life. Just recently though I have begun delving into apologetics. Since I am just a beginner I would really appreciate some advice on defending our faith, especially regarding an issue I am coming across more and more with people in my age group.

 First of all I want to state my 2 questions, because my story from last night is rather lengthy (my apologies).
1. How can I better defend "Religion" vs. a misguided idea of Spirituality, and what are some good arguements I can make?
2. How do I defend and teach the teachings of the Catholic Church accurately without pushing someone away? And how do I make them take my word for it rather than the false ideas about Catholic teaching others have put in their heads?

Last Night:

I was at a New Years Eve Party and three of us were standing outside talking about faith and God. A friend of mine began talking about why "Religion" was bad and religous people and organizations were like the Pharisees. I understand where he got this notion, as he was raised in a radical Fundamentalist Southern Baptist church, that today he considers a cult. He still is a Christian now a days, jumping from church to church frequently over the years.

But the problem arose, when a girl we were talking to began to agree with him, saying that she was raised Catholic but had fallen away. She recently had a baby (outside of marriage), and she said she wanted to baptize the baby in the Catholic Church, but her grandmother had told her that the Church would not accept the child because he was concieved outside of marriage. This is where I jumped in and explained that I am a Catholic and that her grandmother gravely misinformed her. But I could barely finish what I was saying, when two more people jumped in, irate, one complaining that the Church would not recognize her second marriage and that the Church considers her children "bastards". I could barely get in a word, and then the New Years Count Down began and everyone scattered.

This kept me up last night. I felt that I had failed in defending the Holy Catholic Church, and I missed an opportunity to guide a fallen away Catholic back home. Rather she seemed to listen to my friend and his idea that “Religion” is bad and “Spirituality” and “your own personal path to God” is the way to go.

I appreciate any advice on how to better handle the situation and how to defend the Church from misconceptions growing in people of my generation.

God Bless.

Lemme quote from someone else who said it well, Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
"In the U.S. there aren’t but a few hundred people who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they [mistakenly] THINK the Church is.

I’ve been in your shoes literally hundreds of times. This tac is very common among unbelievers too, the tac of overwhelming you with objections. It seems like a lose/lose, because if you don’t answer them, them you seem inadequate, but if you do answer them all, them you seem like a know-it-all, and they’ll disrespect you for that too. Undoubtedly. This us even more especially true when defending the Church’s Truth regarding sodomy and why its still a sin.

Just be frank with them. And put the burden back on them. This will have the effect of redirecting their complaints into one that they have to defend, instead of the many that you have to defend.

But here arke some helps:

1. Know the Church is right. So speak with authority! They won’t like it, but that’s not a loss, they’re already attacking the Church and you anyway. So actually, you gain ground.
2. Admit what you don’t know without conceding that they’re right. It shows you’re humble, but still not wrong.
3. Use logic. They won’t. They’ll turn truism into lie. They’ll quote part if a source, and them spend the rest of their energy using a lie to bolster their claim. So call it out. Call bullschnazz when you see bullschnazz.
4. Here’s some logic for ya: Religion is from the Latin word Religio. It means, “a binding to”. So, technically speaking, even they are religious people too, because there is no man on Earth who has no “way of life”, no “mode of living”, no principles which they do not “bind” to. Not even the atheist.
5. The New Testament calls it “our religion”. Don’t let them say they meant it in some “other” way.
6. Claim the high ground! Tell them upfront that Religion is a good thing!! It is! It us a good thing!
7. Use their tac against them. For example, they will almost always use the fallacy of over-extension. They’ll take the example of one person and apply it to the whole Church. Fallacy. But you can turn it against them. Because if they apply it directly to YOU, then others will call them haters. So say, “are you saying that applies to me?” And they’ll say “no”. And you’ll reply, “well I’m Church to. I’m religious too. So you’re saying that I’m evil, I’m bad.” And then they’re discredited. They’ll have to defend their bytthead ways because their attack now isn’t just a fallacy if overextending the terms, but now it is also Ad Hominem. When people are wrong and they know they’re wrongs, they always try to discredit their argued Ad Hominem. So call them out on it and you’ll stop the attack right away.
8. Remember to still be compassionate, don’t let them speak unkindly of you and say that you are some oppressor. If they get too beligerent, then say to your friend the truth, say “look, there is no way I can sit here and argue with all these accusers, they won’t even let me have a word in without attacking my participles. But if you wanna talk, I’d love to listen. And I know a few things, so if you have questions, I can probably show you the answers you’re really looking for. But I don’t want to waste my night being an argued with these people.”

Hope that’ll get you started.