protestant or Protestant?

[roveau]

What do people think about capitalizing the word ‘Protestant’? Many Catholics refuse to do it on these forums even though spelling Catholic with a capital in the same sentence as as Protestant without a capital.

I often wonder how Protestants feel about this when reading such a post.

 

[Tietjen]

What do people think about capitalizing the word ‘Protestant’? Many Catholics refuse to do it on these forums even though spelling Catholic with a capital in the same sentence as as Protestant without a capital.

I often wonder how Protestants feel about this when reading such a post.

“P”

 

[Will_B]

At the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, they were known as
protestants… Some how the first “T” in the word started to sound like a “D”… Don’t know which side changed the pronunciation.

Anyway, it is a proper noun and is to be capitalized.

 

[cargau]

I always thought that the term Protestant refered to a classification of believers, not a specific tradition. In this sense the term could be viewed as an adjective and capitalization of the word would not be necessary. For example, in the sentence, “Mary is wearing a pretty dress”, I would not capitalize “pretty”. Yet, I would certainly capitalize Lutheran, Baptist or Methodist.

Still, we are one in Christ through Baptism. Christ prayed that we would be one. It would seem uncharitable not to capitalize Protestant if anyone might be offended.

 

[Lutheranteach]

I tend to capitalize it. I also tend to capitalize Catholic when talking about the specific church. I write it as catholic when talking about the church as a universal including those outside what is commonly known as the Roman Catholic Church. So, at least to me one can be part of the Holy catholic church without being part of the Catholic church. I capitalize Protestant because I consider those churches valid and to not do so would indicate they are somehow lesser than the Catholic church which I simply refuse to do — to the chagrin of some. At the same time I won’t write about the Catholic church using a “c” as that would indicate it’s lesser somehow. Something I also refuse to do. And yet I think the "c"atholic church is bigger and more important than both yet use a “c” for it. Confused yet?

 

[FidesSpesCarita]

I do not capitalize protestant since it is not actually a church. I do capitalize Lutheran, Episcopalian, Anglican, Baptist, JW, etc. since they are the individual churches. It is similar to the way I wont capitalize “truck” when I refer to my (BA) Chevy Silverado Duramax, but I do capitalize the brand, style, and engine type.

I have no real basis for this, but I feel like generalities do not need capitalization but specifics do. Just as Lutheranteach does not capitalize catholic when used to refer to Christianity in general. It is not an attempt to degrade the churches within the protestant umbrella, I just sometimes forget my capitals when discussing other churches…

 

[gamewell45]

What do people think about capitalizing the word ‘Protestant’? Many Catholics refuse to do it on these forums even though spelling Catholic with a capital in the same sentence as as Protestant without a capital.

I often wonder how Protestants feel about this when reading such a post.

Honestly, it makes no difference to me. There are bigger issues in the world then worrying about spelling, capitalization, etc.

 

[Publisher]

It is a personal “ethic” of mine as guided by Friends belief and disipline to not seek to offend another’s religious beliefs if at all possible. If not capitalizing the “p” in Protestant or “c” in Catholic IS MEANT TO SOME HOW PUT SOMEONE IN THEIR PLACE AND SHOW MY DISPLEASURE…then I don’t do it…or at least I do my best to not be the one who “offends”.

 

[Ignatias20]

I am a traditional Roman Catholic.

During the time that Martin Luther lived his followers were said to be protesting against the Catholic church. They were “protesters”. That is the origin of the word Protestant.But one uses the lowercase for the “p” otherwise.

But if one is writing about a particular version of Christianity and it is not Catholic then you use the uppercase for the first Letter, as in Protestant.

 

[AmateurPianist]

In all honesty…I had an eighth grade teacher who drilled all of these grammar and capitalization rules into us. So if I were back in the eighth grade, I could have told you the proper rule for upper and lower case for the word "(P,p)rotestant.

Unfortunately, I have forgotten all of that stuff (my apologies to Miss Caliando). So I can’t be much help here.

Do they even teach the rules for grammar in schools any more?

I guess I am not smarter than an eighth grader.

 

[JonNC]

What do people think about capitalizing the word ‘Protestant’? Many Catholics refuse to do it on these forums even though spelling Catholic with a capital in the same sentence as as Protestant without a capital.

I often wonder how Protestants feel about this when reading such a post.

By habit, I capitalize it. But your thread got me to thinking; it makes better sense to use lower case, as it is not a proper name, in the sense that Catholic or Lutheran or Methodist is. It is more a general category, not a specific group.

Jon

 

[JonNC]

In all honesty…I had an eighth grade teacher who drilled all of these grammar and capitalization rules into us. So if I were back in the eighth grade, I could have told you the proper rule for upper and lower case for the word "(P,p)rotestant.

Unfortunately, I have forgotten all of that stuff (my apologies to Miss Caliando). So I can’t be much help here.

Do they even teach the rules for grammar in schools any more?
I guess I am not smarter than an eighth grader.

I do, but behind a closed door, so as not to upset the progressive whole language types who would be if they knew I was doing it.

Jon

 

[AmateurPianist]

By habit, I capitalize it. But your thread got me to thinking; it makes better sense to use lower case, as it is not a proper name, in the sense that Catholic or Lutheran or Methodist is. It is more a general category, not a specific group.

Jon

Just to be contrary…are Methodist and Lutheran proper names?

I know that United Methodist is and organization, as well as Lutheran Missouri synod.

But aren’t Methodist and Lutheran without any adjectives a grouping of organizations? Much like (P,p)rotestant but only on a lower level.

I sort of forgot how this works, obviously.

 

[Bluegoat]

I suppose theoretically, one could have a group that protests or witnesses against something else, like polyester leisure suits, and they could be called protestants. So I tend to think when speaking of those groups which emerged during the Reformation, one would say Protestant. Also, I think that is the conventional usage.

We also tend to capitalize Christian.

But it wouldn’t offend me if someone didn’t, unless they seemed to be doing it specifically to be offensive.

 

[JonNC]

Just to be contrary…are Methodist and Lutheran proper names?

I know that United Methodist is and organization, as well as Lutheran Missouri synod.

But aren’t Methodist and Lutheran without any adjectives a grouping of organizations? Much like (P,p)rotestant but only on a lower level.

I sort of forgot how this works, obviously.

I think of it like this: Comparing

country to protestant
Spaniard to Lutheran
Spain to Lutheran Church

Or, something like that. :juggle:

Jon

 

[roveau]

So I suppose it is both out of custom and courtesy that we spell Protestant with a capital. It makes grammatical sense too in that it does describe a brand (though diverse) of Christian as does the word Catholic.

 

[JonNC]

So I suppose it is both out of custom and courtesy that we spell Protestant with a capital. It makes grammatical sense too in that it does describe a brand (though diverse) of Christian as does the word Catholic.

I think my point was, Rove, that it is not so much a brand, as a convenient grouping of different brands.

Jon

 

[Izdaari]

What do people think about capitalizing the word ‘Protestant’? Many Catholics refuse to do it on these forums even though spelling Catholic with a capital in the same sentence as as Protestant without a capital.

I often wonder how Protestants feel about this when reading such a post.

I don’t particularly care. I don’t think of myself as a Protestant anyway, though I suppose I am one by default, since I’m a Christian who is neither Catholic nor Orthodox. (Though I do consider myself both catholic and orthodox, in the non-capitalized sense. )

 

[Matthew_Holford]

Because there’s been discussion of the correct grammatical use of Protestant or protestant I thought I’d check out the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). It says it should be capitalised both as a noun and adjective to refer to any western Christian Churches not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. It says when used of an individual person or church we use lower case.

My understanding of that means we would talk in general of the Protestant churches or we would say the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterian are Protestant churches. But we would say that John Smith is a protestant or that Ebenezer Baptist Church on Main Street is a protestant church.

That’s my understanding but I’m no grammatician.

On the other hand I think the lower case form is often used in a perjorative way. I would always use an uppercase P out of Christian charity for our separated Christian brethren and general respect for our fellow human beings. Likewise I would always use a capital letter for other faiths, e.g. Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, etc.

To add one final thought. I live in England and quite a few of my friends are Anglicans - Church of England. Some don’t consider themselves as Protestant, others do. It depends on which Church of England tradition they come from. Anglo Catholics do not think the Anglican Church is a protestant church (hopefully I’ve followed the OED here). At the other end of the spectrum Evangelicals in the Church of England consider themselves to be Protestants.

 

[benidict]

What do people think about capitalizing the word ‘Protestant’? Many Catholics refuse to do it on these forums even though spelling Catholic with a capital in the same sentence as as Protestant without a capital.

I often wonder how Protestants feel about this when reading such a post.

hello roveau. for myself, i do write Catholic with a C. and protestant with a p. the reason being, is because Catholic stands for One Church united under Christ, and the magesterium. when refering to protestants it could be any one of thousands of denominations. but if i state a particular one. say the Baptist, or the Seventh Day Adventist, by specific name. i will generally capitalize it out of respect. this goes for the Jews, Muslims and Mormons also. Peace