Non-Catholics: opposing the Catholic Faith?

[catharina]

Because so many CA members seem to be non-Catholics, and because some of them seem to be very anti-Catholic, I’d like to ask if some/all non-Catholics learn that attitude as a part of their “religious training” outside the Catholic Church?

 

[AgnosTheist]

Because so many CA members seem to be non-Catholics, and because some of them seem to be very anti-Catholic, I’d like to ask if some/all non-Catholics learn that attitude as a part of their “religious training” outside the Catholic Church?

This is quite normal. Ive been to other religious forums (islam, protestant, atheist, catholic) and its normal to see many members who join are there to challenge the religion/philosophy.

 

[qui_est_ce]

This is quite normal. Ive been to other religious forums (islam, protestant, atheist, catholic) and its normal to see many members who join are there to challenge the religion/philosophy.

Have you ever been banned by any of them?

 

[catharina]

This is quite normal. Ive been to other religious forums (islam, protestant, atheist, catholic) and its normal to see many members who join are there to challenge the religion/philosophy.

I’m not questioning the predictability/“normalcy” of the action. My question is this: do some religious groups recommend bashing the Catholic Church as a matter of practice?

 

[AgnosTheist]

Have you ever been banned by any of them?

Just one. On a muslim forum. For creating an alternick (which I made public that its an alternick) who posted some harmless jokes. I did not expect that it would be their excuse to ban me.

 

[AgnosTheist]

My question is this: do some religious groups recommend bashing the Catholic Church as a matter of practice?

Of course! In the philippines there are two christian televangelist cults who take pride in defaming, insulting & attacking other religions. They are often fun to watch in T.V. They even get away with publicly cursing other pastors & priests:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliseo_Soriano#Controversies
Soriano has been criticized for using profanities and words that are considered swear words in Tagalog when criticising other religions and their leaders. Soriano tries to justify this by claiming that even the apostles used profanities to describe the false prophets citing verses such as John 8:44, Acts 13:10, 2 Pet. 2:12 etc.

and their followers take to the example of the masters. i saw a couple here in CAF some months ago.

 

[MelanieAnne]

I’m not questioning the predictability/“normalcy” of the action. My question is this: do some religious groups recommend bashing the Catholic Church as a matter of practice?

I’m not sure that BASHING is recommended, but I know that some churches teach that various other religions are non-Christian, cults, etc., and their members are called to “lovingly” proselytize members of those faiths (Catholic, Mormon, Jehovah Witness, etc.) to “bring them to Jesus”. When it escalates bashing, that’s the choice of the person doing the bashing.

I know this because my brother’s church, which is a conservative Presbyterian faith, has classes on such topics as “contending with the cults” (that’s the class title) where they discuss strategies for witnessing to non-Christians ~ and Catholics, Mormons & Jehovah Witness are all described as such. In my experience, this sort of thing comes from a narrow, Calvinist approach to Christianity. This same church teaches that basically everyone that doesn’t believe as they do are going to hell.

So the motives are at least initially positive, but in practice I suppose some eventually get frustrated and resort to bashing.

 

[Adam14]

Because so many CA members seem to be non-Catholics, and because some of them seem to be very anti-Catholic, I’d like to ask if some/all non-Catholics learn that attitude as a part of their “religious training” outside the Catholic Church?

NO church I’ve ever been to taught this…(Baptist and Lutheran)

I DO remember “teachings” about leading non-Christian’s to Christ (but not by “bashing”), but never heard of the Catholic’s being included in that group. I think it’s obvious that Catholic’s are Christians, and I would leave a church who taught otherwise.

Maybe it happens is some places (don’t know, so I can’t really comment much), but I’ve never experienced it.

All denominations have people with the type of attitude you speak of…it’s unfortunate that so many Christians are divided like this…in my opinion.

 

[MelanieAnne]

I have heard Christians of the more fundamentalist/“Born Again” variety describe Catholics as non-Christian. I always figure that if they truly believe that, that they are not only ignorant about my religion, they are also so ignorant of their own that any conversation with them on the topic would be non-productive. I don’t know what specific version of Christianity teaches this, but I have heard people that describe themselves as “born again Christian” assert that Catholics are not Christian.

 

[mtnutt]

I don’t believe that other denominations teach “Bashing”. I have met people of other denominations that believe that the Catholic Church is a cult and that Catholics are not Christians. I firmly believe it is a result of ignorance about what the Catholic Church teaches, combined with incorrect teaching about the Church. I have heard people on christian radio who are extremely knowledgeable about their own denomination and the bible be completely wrong about the Catholic Church. I know that when I went through the RCIA process I learned that many things I personally believed about what the Catholic Church believes was incorrect, and my wife is a cradle Catholic. Similarly, I have found that many Catholics hold incorrect believes about some non-Catholic faiths. That is one of the things that I like about this forum, it promotes understanding on both sides, which can only lead ultimately to Unity of the Faith.

 

[cheddarsox]

when I was growing up in a very Catholic family in a very Catholic community, I was taught that Protestants hated the Catholic faith and said terrible things about us, and would do anything to get us away from the true church. I was taught they were jealous that they didn’t have real ordination, the Real Presence and couldn’t live up to our standards of morality, so they tried to bring us down to “their level”.

I was not allowed to play with Protestant children because of this.

When I first left Catholicism I attended a variety of Protestant churches. I was shocked that they never mentioned Catholicism or Catholics at all, because I had been led to believe it was all they talked about, cared about, thought about and their entire purpose for being was to oppose Catholicism. But truly Catholicism was never mentioned, let alone bashed, persecuted, or anything else. It was a complete non-issue.

Honestly, that made my “issues” with Catholicism greater, because it came off as if they were lying about Protestants, and I wondered what the agenda was.

I have since begun to practice a non-Christian faith, and while I admit there are a large percentage of angry former Christians out there with an axe to grind, they don’t target Catholicism specifically, indeed, it probably gets less angst against it than others from the pagan types. I have never seen nor heard any official teaching in any faith group I have been part of against Catholicism, nor anyone instructed to prosteletyze specifically to Catholics, nor to target them for “bashing”

That is the truth.

I know there are some very ugly anti-Catholic sites online, and I understand that it is hurtful to see your faith made fun of, lied about etc. I often experience the same thing done to my faith, but those attacks are for the most part personal, not institutionalized. And life has taught me that most of the time, people’s behavior is about them and what they are going through, not about me and anything I’ve done. So, rather than get paranoid, I make it my aim to be a fine example of honesty and truth, and not get too caught up in their issues.

Doing so only fuel their fire and calls more attention to themselves.

I never visited anti-Catholic sites, and I am surprised and puzzled about how often I see Catholics here post links to them. For what purpose? Let them burn themselves out, and you just go on being a beacon of true information about your faith.

Many non-Catholics come HERE, rather than to those sites because they want answers and information, not shock value. Keep this place an excellent source of solid Catholicism, even when the uglies show up on your doorstep, try hard not to stoop to their level, but rather invite them to a higher level of interaction.

 

[Hope070408]

Catholicism was never brought up in my church at all. Growing up, it wasn’t something I knew much about specifically. Now that I’m engaged to a Catholic and going to Mass with him, I’m learning that there are a great many similarities. Of course, there are some significant differences, mainly having to do with the fact that there are simply a great many more teachings in the Catholic church about various issues (sexuality, Mary, and the Real Presence, for example).

 

[dosdog]

Of course! In the philippines there are two christian televangelist cults who take pride in defaming, insulting & attacking other religions. They are often fun to watch in T.V. They even get away with publicly cursing other pastors & priests:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliseo_Soriano#Controversies
Soriano has been criticized for using profanities and words that are considered swear words in Tagalog when criticising other religions and their leaders. Soriano tries to justify this by claiming that even the apostles used profanities to describe the false prophets citing verses such as John 8:44, Acts 13:10, 2 Pet. 2:12 etc.

and their followers take to the example of the masters. i saw a couple here in CAF some months ago.

In China they kill you and harvest your organs
Falun Gong prisoners used in organ harvesting
humanrightshouse.org/dllvis5.asp?id=4647

 

[adstrinity]

For 7th & 8th Grade, I went to a Full Gospel School. Chapel was every Wednesday morning. Not in Chapel, but, in classes, we were taught against Catholocism (Apparitions of Mary are Satan, God did not choose Mary from the beginning of time but rather she was in the right place at the right time).

 

[catharina]

Thank you for the very interesting answers.
I appreciate the variety of your responses.

cheddarsox, I too grew up Catholic in a Catholic community in Choicago. I’m still Catholic, now in my 60s, so a bit of a senior citizen. I was educated through university graduation in all Catholic schools and I was never taught a single word about any ‘Protestants being against the Church.’ In fact, it wasn’t even hinted. I’m asking about the idea because of some of the rants and disrespect I’ve seen on THIS site. I guess I wondered if it’s some new and growing trend. Considering the answers so far, I must say that doesn’t seem to be the case.

 

[khutcheson]

I have heard Christians of the more fundamentalist/“Born Again” variety describe Catholics as non-Christian. I always figure that if they truly believe that, that they are not only ignorant about my religion, they are also so ignorant of their own that any conversation with them on the topic would be non-productive. I don’t know what specific version of Christianity teaches this, but I have heard people that describe themselves as “born again Christian” assert that Catholics are not Christian.

I’m a born again fundamentalist.

Growing up, I assumed that some Catholics were Christian, some weren’t (most of the kids I knew who were Catholic didn’t demonstrate anything that made me think Christ had had any effect on their lives–to be fair, that same comment could have very fairly been made about me)

I learned that Catholics were just as likely to be Christian in a real sense as Protestants when I attended a non-denominational Bible study with my Platoon Commander in the Marine Corps. He was an outstanding Marine, an outstanding Christian, and I have to believe an outstanding Catholic (because if he did something, he did it all the way).

My mother’s view of Catholicism changed dramatically when one of her friends invited her to a wedding mass at Notre Dame. She was amazed at how Christ centered the service was.

Try talking to us. You might find that our “ignorance” is based on lack of knowledge and that some of us are willing to learn.

 

[catharina]

I’m a born again fundamentalist.

Growing up, I assumed that some Catholics were Christian, some weren’t (most of the kids I knew who were Catholic didn’t demonstrate anything that made me think Christ had had any effect on their lives–to be fair, that same comment could have very fairly been made about me)

I learned that Catholics were just as likely to be Christian in a real sense as Protestants when I attended a non-denominational Bible study with my Platoon Commander in the Marine Corps. He was an outstanding Marine, an outstanding Christian, and I have to believe an outstanding Catholic (because if he did something, he did it all the way).

My mother’s view of Catholicism changed dramatically when one of her friends invited her to a wedding mass at Notre Dame. She was amazed at how Christ centered the service was.

Try talking to us. You might find that our “ignorance” is based on lack of knowledge and that some of us are willing to learn.

Simply lovely post. Thank you so much.

Although I grew up in a neighborhood that was “majority Catholic” there were also Jewish children and many Protestant children in the neighborhood.

Any bigotry was discouraged by all families.

 

[MelanieAnne]

I’m a born again fundamentalist.

Growing up, I assumed that some Catholics were Christian, some weren’t (most of the kids I knew who were Catholic didn’t demonstrate anything that made me think Christ had had any effect on their lives–to be fair, that same comment could have very fairly been made about me)

I learned that Catholics were just as likely to be Christian in a real sense as Protestants when I attended a non-denominational Bible study with my Platoon Commander in the Marine Corps. He was an outstanding Marine, an outstanding Christian, and I have to believe an outstanding Catholic (because if he did something, he did it all the way).

My mother’s view of Catholicism changed dramatically when one of her friends invited her to a wedding mass at Notre Dame. She was amazed at how Christ centered the service was.

Try talking to us. You might find that our “ignorance” is based on lack of knowledge and that some of us are willing to learn.

We would be happy to help! I assure you! And I am so grateful that you had a true and faithful Catholic example to go by in even posing your question!

Just as an example, those that believe that the Bible is “the inerrant Word of God”, in my experience, forget to mention how, and by whom that “Bible” was originally compiled. It was done by people that are presently known as the Catholic Church.

Most, if not all, Christian religions, whether they approve of the description or not, flow from the Catholic Faith. Sure, there have been some changes.

Beyond the time that the Bible was originally compiled, some protestant denominations deleted some parts of the Bible because of doctrinal differences. The first question anyone needs to ask is WHY delete scripture that has served us well for over 1000 years? Because that is what they did.

Our church (the Catholic Church) has existed since the time of Christ. Most other “protestant” faiths have existed from a time period over a thousand years later. We have stayed true to the practices Jesus gave us. Others have & have not, in varying degrees.

We’re VERY Christian. We regularly practice what Jesus commanded us to do. In fact we do that at every Mass. We also study and read the Bible, and we do so in a context beyond that of most protestants because we also read and study the scriptures that the protestants decided to delete.

 

[Eden]

I was never taught about Protestants when I was growing up in a Catholic family and going to a Catholic school. From what I know of my and other Catholics’ experiences, Cheddarsox’s story is uncommon. My first experiences with Protestants was in junior high when I was invited by Protestant friends to attend a Presbyterian youth group. I and two other Catholic friends were singled out for “evangelization” privately in a stairwell with a youth counselor. The first thing were were told was that the Pope was “the devil”. So, at least at that Presbyterian church, they had some very anti-Catholic beliefs.

 

[cheddarsox]

Thank you for the very interesting answers.
I appreciate the variety of your responses.

cheddarsox, I too grew up Catholic in a Catholic community in Choicago. I’m still Catholic, now in my 60s, so a bit of a senior citizen. I was educated through university graduation in all Catholic schools and I was never taught a single word about any ‘Protestants being against the Church.’ In fact, it wasn’t even hinted. I’m asking about the idea because of some of the rants and disrespect I’ve seen on THIS site. I guess I wondered if it’s some new and growing trend. Considering the answers so far, I must say that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Uh oh, BIG mistake. I am sorry, I see my post was misleading. I was not taught those things in Mass or in Catholic school. That is what the people around me taught, it was like the community custom. It is what my mom taught me and what the people in the pews seemed to believe. I do not know where it came from. There were lots of “interesting” colloquialisms that were taught as “Catholicism” where I was raised that are not, were not and never have been official church teachings, but I had no way of knowing that at the time. They were taught and practiced with the same fervor as the actual church beliefs and prayers and for a kid, there was really no way to know that some was from Rome and some was from Grandmom’s prejudice or superstition.

Perhaps it is the same with the flip side, Perhaps much of the anti-Catholic bashing is not “official”, taught from the pulpit, etc, but shows up around the dinner table, or from a youth pastor here or there than has the “fever”.