Protestant posters, why ...?

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Peter_J

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Not trying to offend any of you protestants, but I’d like to take a moment to describe what I think is one of your worst posting habits: You (well, not every single one of you, of course, but by-and-large) seem to seize upon all the really awful posts made by Catholics and say “Aha! A Catholic said blank!”

Okay, maybe that last paragraph was a little biased … I don’t doubt that Catholic posters on protestant forums likewise seize upon the really awful posts made by protestants and say “Aha! A protestant said blank!” But regardless, I don’t get why protestants or Catholics do that. Wouldn’t it be better to ignore the garbage and focus on the good posts?
 
Peter_J said:
Not trying to offend any of you protestants, but I’d like to take a moment to describe what I think is one of your worst posting habits: You (well, not every single one of you, of course, but by-and-large) seem to seize upon all the really awful posts made by Catholics and say “Aha! A Catholic said blank!”

Okay, maybe that last paragraph was a little biased … I don’t doubt that Catholic posters on protestant forums likewise seize upon the really awful posts made by protestants and say “Aha! A protestant said blank!” But regardless, I don’t get why protestants or Catholics do that. Wouldn’t it be better to ignore the garbage and focus on the good posts?
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Or even worse, “An Anglican said blank”.

And they do, of course.

GKC
 
Peter_J said:
Not trying to offend any of you protestants, but I’d like to take a moment to describe what I think is one of your worst posting habits: You (well, not every single one of you, of course, but by-and-large) seem to seize upon all the really awful posts made by Catholics and say “Aha! A Catholic said blank!”
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And Catholic posters don’t do the same? :rolleyes:
 
Hi cheese_sdc.
cheese_sdc said:
And Catholic posters don’t do the same? :rolleyes:
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Your post is unclear to me. I did make the following concession immediately after what you quoted:
Peter_J said:
Okay, maybe that last paragraph was a little biased … I don’t doubt that Catholic posters on protestant forums likewise seize upon the really awful posts made by protestants and say “Aha! A protestant said blank!” But regardless, I don’t get why protestants or Catholics do that. Wouldn’t it be better to ignore the garbage and focus on the good posts?
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Or, do you mean that Catholics do that *on this forum *too?
 
cheese_sdc said:
Yep.
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You may be right. (To be honest, most of the discussions I get into here are between/among Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, and Anglicans. Seldom non-catholic protestants. As a matter of fact, I considered naming the thread “Orthodox, Lutherans, and Anglicans posters, why … ?” but that didn’t seem as good a name. But I digress.) However it may be, my experience is that conversation here is often absurdly difficult, because it is continually getting derailed by a sub-discussion about some garbage posted by some Catholic or other (possibly with good intentions, of course – we can’t ultimately judge). Hence how (unduly strong? :o) opinion that protestant posters should work on their garbage-ignoring skills. 🙂
 
Peter_J said:
Not trying to offend any of you protestants, but I’d like to take a moment to describe what I think is one of your worst posting habits: You (well, not every single one of you, of course, but by-and-large) seem to seize upon all the really awful posts made by Catholics and say "Aha! A Catholic said blank!"
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P.S. Perhaps I should have said,
seize upon all the really awful posts made by Catholics and say “Aha! A Catholic said blank!” as though one Catholic saying/doing something somehow proves something about Catholics in general.
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What?!?!

I can’t mentally combine the Holy Mother Mary-obsessed Cat Lady, the SSPX Tribal-Catholic who thinks Francis is a Freemason plot*, the recent Baptist turned Catholic who feels the need to hate the faith of his father, and the mumbling guy with the 1930’s prayers cards who’s calculates he’s got 12,21,112,010 years off Purgatory into one GIANT CATHOLIC STRAW MAN?

Fooey!

*As a Freemason, we have been trying to use Francis - but he keeps donating the bribes we send him to the poor. 😦
 
If I may, I think it may be because Catholics make much (and quite rightly) of the unity aspect. Protestants can more easily say about something a fellow Protestant has said ‘Well they don’t speak for me, they’re a completely different kind of believer!’. Whereas a faithful Catholic makes a point of talking about the unity of the Catholic communion, and this is more difficult (though not insurmountable, of course)
 
benjohnson said:
What?!?!

I can’t mentally combine the Holy Mother Mary-obsessed Cat Lady, the SSPX Tribal-Catholic who thinks Francis is a Freemason plot*, the recent Baptist turned Catholic who feels the need to hate the faith of his father, and the mumbling guy with the 1930’s prayers cards who’s calculates he’s got 12,21,112,010 years off Purgatory into one GIANT CATHOLIC STRAW MAN?

Fooey!

*As a Freemason, we have been trying to use Francis - but he keeps donating the bribes we send him to the poor. 😦
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We have 30,000+ strawmen. And one strawwoman (HerChurch)
 
Eruvande said:
If I may, I think it may be because Catholics make much (and quite rightly) of the unity aspect. Protestants can more easily say about something a fellow Protestant has said ‘Well they don’t speak for me, they’re a completely different kind of believer!’. Whereas a faithful Catholic makes a point of talking about the unity of the Catholic communion, and this is more difficult (though not insurmountable, of course)
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I think you’re right.

To put it in personal terms, there was (I guess) a time when I lumped all protestants together as some kind of super-denomination. But once I started actually learning about protestants (even without actually dialoguing with them) one of the first things I realized is that the word “protestant” is (at most) an umbrella term encompassing many different groups.

In terms of the forum, if I see a protestant post an attack on Catholicism, I only draw conclusions about that particular protestant, not about protestants generally – and note that, depending how bad and how baseless the attack is, I’ll be inclined to ignore that poster in the future.
 
😃
benjohnson said:
What?!?!

I can’t mentally combine the Holy Mother Mary-obsessed Cat Lady, the SSPX Tribal-Catholic who thinks Francis is a Freemason plot*, the recent Baptist turned Catholic who feels the need to hate the faith of his father, and the mumbling guy with the 1930’s prayers cards who’s calculates he’s got 12,21,112,010 years off Purgatory into one GIANT CATHOLIC STRAW MAN?

Fooey!
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I know its feels unfair son, but this hurts me more than it hurts you.
 
Peter_J said:
Not trying to offend any of you protestants, but I’d like to take a moment to describe what I think is one of your worst posting habits: You (well, not every single one of you, of course, but by-and-large) seem to seize upon all the really awful posts made by Catholics and say “Aha! A Catholic said blank!”

Okay, maybe that last paragraph was a little biased … I don’t doubt that Catholic posters on protestant forums likewise seize upon the really awful posts made by protestants and say “Aha! A protestant said blank!” But regardless, I don’t get why protestants or Catholics do that. Wouldn’t it be better to ignore the garbage and focus on the good posts?
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Peter,

There are some Catholic posters who, unintentionally or otherwise, misrepresent the doctrine of other poster’s denomination as well as the Catholic Church. There are Protestants who do the same thing. Thankfully this does not happen that often, per my own experience.
 
cheese_sdc said:
And Catholic posters don’t do the same? :rolleyes:
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Something else occurs to me (this might also speak to EC’s post): the recent thread about Pastor Fisk seems like a good example of your point. So perhaps my original statement was a little one-sided after all. 😊
 
Peter_J said:
Something else occurs to me (this might also speak to EC’s post): the recent thread about Pastor Fisk seems like a good example of your point. So perhaps my original statement was a little one-sided after all. 😊
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I don’t know Peter, this…
Not trying to offend any of you protestants, but I’d like to take a moment to describe what I think is one of your worst posting habits: You (well, not every single one of you, of course, but by-and-large) seem to seize upon all the really awful posts made by Catholics and say “Aha! A Catholic said blank!”
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Okay, maybe that last paragraph was a little biased … I don’t doubt that Catholic posters on protestant forums likewise seize upon the really awful posts made by protestants and say “Aha! A protestant said blank!” But regardless, I don’t get why protestants or Catholics do that. Wouldn’t it be better to ignore the garbage and focus on the good posts?
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…seemed even-handed enough.

Looking at the question, however, I’m sure I’ve done that, much to my embarrassment. It happens, I think, when we debate instead of dialogue. In debate, we look for a winner and a loser. In dialogue we look for convergence.

Jon
 
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