Never saw any problems with Lutherans here on CAF. Couple years ago there was a guy CLAIMING to be Lutheran, which I had doubts about when it came to his posts. He sounded more like a fundie who had been here before. Eric made him disappear.
I don’t agree with the last paragraph. Those Protestants who hang around long here are pretty knowledgeable and they know exactly who they are. If they agree or disagree with Catholics is not because they were browbeat to it but because of their confidence in their own understanding of the subject. One has to give them credit there.
I must say that I am most curious about the quantifier in your thread title: were you wanting there to be more anti-Catholics?
I would have said that. In fact I did earlier on a few years back. Why? because that is the truth of what we consider the truth. Long time Protestant posters here seem to accept this Catholic’s stand as much as we accept their stand in disagreeing on the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome.
I seem to have struck a nerve… I apologize if you are offended by what I said. Perhaps I am not making myself clear. I do not fault anyone on this site for posting what they think, especially those who try to witness to a faith not of their own making. All I was trying to say is that it is tiring to see so many people post the same thing, often without really reading the OP’s question. For example, someone asks about Protestant views on the Holy Supper. Instead of addressing the topic, some people like to promote their position without dealing with the topic at hand. So, instead of saying something about what Catholics believe compared to Protestants (or vice-versa), the discussion goes to valid ordination. A worthy topic, to be sure, but not the topic at hand. Make sense?
I here this a lot – that non-catholics are “taught to stay away from Catholics, or to dislike Catholics, yada yada”. Growing up, I went to just about every protestant denomination, and have NEVER been taught ANYTHING negative about the Catholic faith (the “harshest” thing is probably someone stating they don’t “get” a Mary statue) – where have all of you been hanging around that you meet protestants that have such disdain for the Catholic faith. growing up, we viewed it as just another Christian denomination. (Now that I am in RCIA, I feel it is the one true church, not “just” another denomination)
I understand, but I find that it serves as a useful litmus test.
Mileage varies: I have heard all kinds of anti-Catholic things from Baptists, Presbyterians, Open Brethren, Methodists, Anglicans, and Pentecostals of various kinds.
I can see that. No problem at all. It is frustrating to see people off topic especially when they use that to make a statement that attacks the other belief. It happen many times. The culprits are very often come from across the board and you are right. Not just in Catholics-Protestants threads but also in Islam-Christianity threads resulting in those threads being closed by the mods.
I think it just depends on where you’re at. Growing up in a predominantly Southern Baptist area, I never heard anything negative about Catholics. But, now as an adult and visiting protestant forums and emailing with fundamentalists who have contacted me, I’ve been called “papist”, “Roman pharisee”, “not a Christian”, “Roman papist in the whore, drunk on the blood of the saints”…it just depends on where you go and who you talk to.
I expected there to be more because i see the number of evangelical groups decending on Catholic parts of the world (e.g. South America and saving the souls ) and so I thought that there would be more in this forum.
I love it when I hear Christians claim parts of the world for their own churches. It makes no sense to me. How is South America any more intrinsically Catholic than North America or Iran? And why should anyone respect some supposed territory of the Catholic Church? Would the Catholic Church extend the same courtesy to another church claiming religious ownership of a given place?
You make a very good point here…upon reflection this seems to be a leftover from the time of the reformation when nations, by virtue of their monarch’s faith, were either Catholic or protestant. Thus, the nations that make up South and Central America, by virtue of having been largely Spanish, are “Catholic nations”, North America, largely influence by England, was largely protestant (French Canada being an exception).
I would love to see Catholics be much, much more active in evangelizing, teaching, and discipling the many people who are merely cultural Catholics within areas such as Central and South America. If Catholics did this better, evangelicals wouldn’t see the significant numbers of drug- dealing, Santa Muerta-praying, Santaria-practicing cultural Catholics and conclude that the good news of the gospel hasn’t been understood.
Since most parts of the US were settled by Protestants, if non-Catholics may not evangelize originally Catholic countries, then I suppose by the same rule Catholics should not be trying to evangelize in most parts of the US, except for trying to call their own straying family members to more faithfulness to Catholicism.
It is true that there are many cultural Catholics especially cradle Catholics. Protestants, especially the Evangelicals are very active in evangelizing. Ordinary Catholics tend to be inert and passive about their faith and the so-called Sunday Christians probably are more contented in leaving the evangelistic work to the priests and the religious, the ‘professional Catholics’.
