Number of Christian denominations tops 41,000

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DaveBj said:
washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/are-mormons-christian-its-complicated/2012/01/19/gIQAS6jpBQ_story.html

The article is on the debate over whether or not Mormonism is Christian, but that is not the topic of this thread. In the course of the article the writer cites The Atlas of Global Christianity to the effect that there are 41,000 Christian denominations. And the splits just keep on coming. . .
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Well you know that Protestant denominations multiply by dividing. :rolleyes:

Matthew
 
41,000 is a misleading number.

For the most part, there are about six-ten major movements within Protestantism. Most of the so-called divisions are theologically-identical organization with simply autonomous governance. Most of those difference are about as relevant as the difference between Latin Rite and Greek Rite.
 
FabiusMaximus said:
41,000 is a misleading number.

For the most part, there are about six-ten major movements within Protestantism. Most of the so-called divisions are theologically-identical organization with simply autonomous governance. Most of those difference are about as relevant as the difference between Latin Rite and Greek Rite.
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It also counts national units of larger churches as seperate denominations,
 
FabiusMaximus said:
41,000 is a misleading number.

For the most part, there are about six-ten major movements within Protestantism. Most of the so-called divisions are theologically-identical organization with simply autonomous governance. Most of those difference are about as relevant as the difference between Latin Rite and Greek Rite.
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I don’t agree with you, but I’m not going to argue about it. 41,000 is 40,999 too many, but even if it’s only six, that’s five too many.
 
To quote Highlander: “There can be only one”, not 41,000 and 1.

It continually amazes me how undecided the Holy Spirit is on what He wants. You’d think after 2k years God would get His act together.

At least the Catholic Church is on point, despite the attempts at dulling said point from within and without.
 
DaddyGirl said:
Yes. 👍

Why do you suppose some people on this site want so much to put down or be sarcastic about other religious groups? Why?
It is both uncharitable and unwise of them.
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Because they’re stumbling in the dark with the light of the Catholic Church guiding them, through Christ our Lord, even unknown to them. Because eventually someone’s gotta yell out, “the light switch is on the wall!”. Because those which continue to stumble around blind after being told how to see obviously don’t respond to loving hints and need a verbal punch.

Define Charity and how it is applicable from your perspective, and how us who won’t kowtow to the blind are being uncharitable. How, please, is telling people the truth uncharitable? Should I smile and wave while they speed towards the cliff because that’s somehow “loving”? Pffft.

Define Wisdom in the same.
 
DaveBj said:
I don’t agree with you, but I’m not going to argue about it. 41,000 is 40,999 too many, but even if it’s only six, that’s five too many.
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And the several hundred Catholic Churches that book also denotes. Is that too many? 😉
 
Nine_Two said:
And the several hundred Catholic Churches that book also denotes. Is that too many? 😉
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That’s exactly why these kinds of statistics are completely useless.

I really don’t think there is any way to ascertain how many Protestant denominations and/or non-Catholic Christian heresies (whether or not they define themselves as “Protestant”) there are.
 
Nine_Two said:
And the several hundred Catholic Churches that book also denotes. Is that too many? 😉
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Are they denoting recognized rites? If so, it’s a misnomer.

The fact remains that Protestantism has no recognized rites in communion with Rome, and not only that, they aren’t in communion with each other.

If the Catholic Churches listed are in fact in communion with Rome, then it doesn’t count. If they are not in communion with Rome, it bears examination as to how they fit.

The fact remains that 1 more than 1 is 2, and 2 ain’t the Church. The Church is 1. Anything outside of it, while claiming Christ in some regard, counts in the numbers.
 
Since many individual Protestant churches are congregational, one could with justification say that each was a denomination unto itself. As FabiusMaximus pointed out, for many it is a matter of church governance, not of difference in theology or ecclesiology. By the same criteria, there is not one Catholic Church, but many: Eastern Rite, Latin Rite, Maronite, Serbian, Polish, etc., and the same would be true of the Orthodox churches.

Now, as to the claim that there is only one True Church, let me remind you from the book of Acts, chapter 15, that one of the first conferences in Jerusalem established that there would be two denominations with different practices. One was to follow Jewish practice and the other not. It was a continuing struggle for Paul to keep the Judiazers from encroaching on his missions by demanding that all Christians subscribe to Jewish practice. On a further note, when Paul came upon groups of Christians who had practices at variance with his, even those with base ulterior motives, he called not for acceptance, but for rejoicing as long as the Gospel was preached (Phillipians 1:15-18). I hope you do not think me anti-Catholic for these statements, because this statement weighs just as heavily on those who claim that Catholic Church is not Christian. Since the Catholic Church as taught the Gospel for 2 millenia, there should be rejoicing, not condemnation from all other Christians.
 
jonbhorton said:
Are they denoting recognized rites? If so, it’s a misnomer.

The fact remains that Protestantism has no recognized rites in communion with Rome, and not only that, they aren’t in communion with each other.

If the Catholic Churches listed are in fact in communion with Rome, then it doesn’t count. If they are not in communion with Rome, it bears examination as to how they fit.

The fact remains that 1 more than 1 is 2, and 2 ain’t the Church. The Church is 1. Anything outside of it, while claiming Christ in some regard, counts in the numbers.
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The point is that it’s misleading to call out that there are “41,000 Christian deominations” when it could be argued that there are a plethora of “Catholic Churches” in the same vein. Additionally, we can also count groups that separated from the Catholic Church that call themselves Catholic: Old Catholic Church, the Anglo-Catholics, the Polish National Catholic Church - all groups that are out of communion with Rome but identify themselves with Roman Catholicism.
 
jonbhorton said:
Are they denoting recognized rites? If so, it’s a misnomer.

The fact remains that Protestantism has no recognized rites in communion with Rome, and not only that, they aren’t in communion with each other.

If the Catholic Churches listed are in fact in communion with Rome, then it doesn’t count. If they are not in communion with Rome, it bears examination as to how they fit.

The fact remains that 1 more than 1 is 2, and 2 ain’t the Church. The Church is 1. Anything outside of it, while claiming Christ in some regard, counts in the numbers.
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So what you’re saying is that the 36 Anglican Churches all in Communion are rightfully counted as 36, but Rome should only be counted as one, rather than as hundreds?

The answer to your question has already been answered in this thread. It counts national organizations seperately, in addition to major administrative blocks.

The figure is far from accurate. As was stated an honest approach would look at the major strains of Protestant thought.
 
jmcrae said:
That’s exactly why these kinds of statistics are completely useless.

I really don’t think there is any way to ascertain how many Protestant denominations and/or non-Catholic Christian heresies (whether or not they define themselves as “Protestant”) there are.
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I agree.
 
I wonder if each individual independent Protestant church calling it’self “non denominational” is counted as a seperate denomination?

In my small 9,000 town their are six “non denominational” churches alone.
 
DaddyGirl said:
Yes. 👍

Why do you suppose some people on this site want so much to put down or be sarcastic about other religious groups? Why?
It is both uncharitable and unwise of them.
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Unfortunately, some are sarcastic. It is against forum rules to mock other religions and I have recieved and infraction here for that.

The point being made however, is that without a central authority, any deviation in belief becomes its own denomination. One could argue that every non-Catholic is his or her own denomination. Sadly, some within the Catholic Church have set themselves up as such.

I think this could lead us down a road where we argue semantics of the words denomination vs. movement.

-Tim-
 
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