What attracts Catholics to anti-Catholic forums?

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jaimeleglise said:
Meltzerboy is not a Catholic but he is certainly not anti-Catholic. He makes a great addition to our forum family. He respects our beliefs, he shares his when asked. He certainly knows a lot more about the Catholic Faith than your average Catholic. We are blessed to have him here.
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I wholeheartedly agree.
 
Seekerjn316 said:
I’ve been a lurker for quite awhile, just “signed up’ last week. Not all non-Catholic” posters have a beef, some of us want to understand Catholic belief and enjoy discussions with others.

I’ve ID’d a few here who are like a shark around blood…they go for the throat and will “correct”, none to charitable nor are they tactful. In reading the Forum rules i,m puzzled as to why they still have accounts? I often ignore the threads they participate in…

And the opposite is also true, these posters aRe a pleasure to read, so pleasurable I can recite a verse " you almost persuade me to be_______" the info they share is informative and pleasurable in its delivery,
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I agree there are non-Catholics who come to CAF for information and discussion. Most often they are respectful and thoughtful with their questions and responses. It’s those who participate with a less than charitable spirit that are more difficult to take.
 
Peter_J said:
I think that’s a great idea in principle, (and a good “compromise”, if that isn’t a dirty word, for anyone who’s on-the-fence between joining a forum and not joining); but unfortunately internet discussion forums are often treated as all-or-nothing propositions: that is to say, it is often assumed that you either read a thread in its entirety or not at all.
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I have no idea how others read any topic being discussed. If a topic interests me, I may read every single post or I may read only a few. I don’t have a set formula for how I read threads.
If a topic really peaks my interests I’m eager to hear what ‘everyone’ has to say and can typically find something of value or to ponder irregardless of the religion or non-religion of the poster.

One particular thread I was enjoying reading had a poster who began making statements that made it abundantly clear no ones else’s opinion mattered and they did so repeatedly. That’s one time that I decided to skip over that posters remarks and continue to read the others.
As I stated in a previous post, the majority, thankfully, of all the posts I read tend to have something of value I can take away from them. And I’m happy about that!
 
7_Sorrows said:
I don’t even know any anti-Catholic sites or how to find them. I hope they are not very hateful.
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I don’t know anything about anti-Catholic sites but I have seen much Catholic bashing on Breitbart News articles that had anything at all to do with the Pope. And even some other articles there that had nothing to do with religion at all. In fact, I was amazed at just how many posters criticized anything Catholic. And very few, if any at all, responses from Catholics, though I can understand why.
And yes, many were extremely full of hate. Pure raw hate.
 
Seekerjn316 said:
I’ve been a lurker for quite awhile, just “signed up’ last week. Not all non-Catholic” posters have a beef, some of us want to understand Catholic belief and enjoy discussions with others.

I’ve ID’d a few here who are like a shark around blood…they go for the throat and will “correct”, none to charitable nor are they tactful. In reading the Forum rules i,m puzzled as to why they still have accounts? I often ignore the threads they participate in…

And the opposite is also true, these posters aRe a pleasure to read, so pleasurable I can recite a verse " you almost persuade me to be_______" the info they share is informative and pleasurable in its delivery,
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I was what a lurker myself, for a very long time, and even after I signed up, it was a very, very long time before I ever made my first comment. Welcome!!! The more the merrier!

I apologize if you or anyone else misunderstood what I wrote. I certainly never meant to imply any non-Catholic had a beef at all and am a little surprised someone could think that from my post. I will try to be more clear in the future.

The only thing I meant to say was that I don’t understand why anyone would ‘claim’ to be Catholic or Christian IF they are not. And how that might make a good topic.

The only reason I even brought up the question of why someone would do that is because in all the years I’ve been reading CA, I’d never seen or noticed anything like that until recently.

Ive never seen any Christians on here ‘attack’ anyone as you stated. If you’ve seen that could it possibly be one of the very people that ‘claim’ to be Christian or Catholic Christian or maybe a trolling poster ? I do not know.

My experience has been that the ‘majority’ of the posters on here have an abundance of patience, kindness, and compassion for ALL the others on here. And I’m thankful for the wealth of knowledge I can read here on any day.

I pray what I said has not been misunderstood by anyone else.

And IF I ever did have a ‘beef’ with someone (which I doubt would happen), I have no problem clearly stating that I do or taking it up with them directly.
PEACE.
 
I have never been to an anti-Catholic internet forum, but I consider myself as having anti-Catholic beliefs. I participate in this forum to see if there are any reasonable answers to several difficult questions. So far I have encountered some interesting viewpoints. I used to be Catholic and would revert if I could find satisfactory solutions to several difficult problems. Unexpectedly, as I have learned more over time, I have been confirmed in my unbelief. Still though, I retain a faint hope that someone will be able to give me a reason to believe since it would make my family situation easier. I keep thinking that maybe I just fundamentally misunderstand Catholicism and thus reject it. Once I am sufficiently certain that Catholicism is not the truth about God and the universe, I will no longer participate here. Until then I will continue to give others a chance to teach me.
 
Peter_J said:
The title pretty much speaks for itself, but please note that I’m not asking what *repels *Catholics from anti-Catholic forums.

Oh, and Protestants are welcome to answer too. (Just to be nice. :))
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Seed planting. With the hope and expectation that truth will ultimately win the day. Plus it can be fun as well as challenging at times as it stretches you-often to defend your position. And exhausting occasionally.
 
Horton said:
I don’t know the answer to your question but I do have another question - Why does a non-Catholic (or anti-Catholic) participate in Catholic forums? I understand there may be non-Catholics seeking answers regarding Catholicism or are answering a nudge from the Holy Spirit but the ones I question are the ones who come to Catholic forums and attempt to tell us what we believe.

I mean, really, I’m Catholic and will always be, so I don’t go to other faith’s forums to tell them what they believe.
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For me, it was my interest to learn basic Catholic beliefs from actual Catholics that brought me to CAF after I happened on by chance to a new Catholic radio station in my area on the way home from work one day in my state of Oklahoma, which only has a small Catholic population.

I am an analyst in my profession so I like to analyze things from different perspectives to get a better overall picture of things.

I wanted to hear how Catholics defend their beliefs and how Catholics view the faiths of non-Catholic Christians like me.

For example, If I truly wanted to find out what kind of a neighbor I was, I wouldn’t ask myself how good of a neighbor I am because I’d probably say I was a great neighbor. 🙂 If I really wanted to know the answer to that, I’d ask my neighbors and hope they were honest with me.

In that way, I can become a better neighbor through the experience, or at least that’s the way I see it. They might say I’m a good neighbor overall, but that they wish I’d pick up the dog poop a little more often because the smell sometimes wafts into their yard when they have company over for a cookout – not that that’s ever happened before ;). That would be a constructive criticism that I could learn from and become a better neighbor because of it, if I viewed it with an open mind and not through a thin skin.

A faith example was that one time I read on CAF where a Catholic indicated he knew some Protestants who believed in “Cheap Grace”, which I understood to be someone living an undisciplined lifestyle of sin that relied on constantly asking God’s forgiveness for the same sins over and over. I took that to heart and realized I was one of those Christians. I have since asked God to help me with that blind spot in my faith, and He has.
 
The interesting conflict in a place such as this vs. a website that is outright anti-Catholic is that -

If God is real, and if the CC is His Church as the one that Jesus started -

For the information to have to come through a fool like me, is David vs. Goliath all over again, only this time, if I’m David, I’m throwing grains of sand.

The only way for success is hope similar to the message from the Gospel yesterday…

If people look at me, the messenger, they will only see a fool, which is true and real.

But if they see that God might use a fool like me to deliver something, then obviously -

With God, All things are possible.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I don’t even know any anti-Catholic sites or how to find them. I hope they are not very hateful.
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Neither do I. People actually have forums that are specifically anti…whatever?

I really try to focus on discussion that is not based on hate. More enlightening and edifying. I want to feel I’ve learned something and grown as a person as the result of my participation.

I’m not Catholic or Christian, but I come here because there is a lot of interesting and intelligent discussion. And I can easily steer clear of the other sort when it comes up.

The ignore function is a help as well!
 
Peter_J said:
The title pretty much speaks for itself, but please note that I’m not asking what *repels *Catholics from anti-Catholic forums.

Oh, and Protestants are welcome to answer too. (Just to be nice. :))
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To hear what crazy ways they claim we practice our faith.
 
Could I turn this around
Why do so many new atheists join this forum and start trolling from day one
I mean how many bright eyed sophomoric Ricahrd dawkins acolytes need to join up and start posting really deep questions which none of us have ever contemplated like why is their suffering in the world and why can two men who love each other not get married etc as if we have never ever discussed these topics
 
Durnford said:
Could I turn this around
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You may. However, I think I need to clarify what the original question was. I didn’t say “Why do so many new Catholics join such-and-such forum and start trolling from day one?” The question was “What attracts Catholics to anti-Catholic forums?”, so I believe a turn-around of that question would be something like “What attracts Methodists [for example] to anti-Methodist forums?”
 
TimothyH said:
1 Peter 3:15 says that we are to give a reason for our hope when we are called to account for it.

Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15)

We are all called to evangelize but 1 Peter 3:15 is about having a response when asked why we have hope in the afterlife. It isn’t about going out to make converts.

-Tim-
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How often this verse is quoted and how little people pay attention to the hope that is required…
 
Jerusha said:
Either a masochistic desire to see oneself as a victim, or a naive belief that the person can talk them out of their foolish beliefs. Or simply trollery, which is against Catholic teachings, and scripture-- 2 Timothy 2:23. It puts us in a bad light.

That said, I participate in forums where people often express anti-Catholic sentiment. However, I just ignore those posters. No use to try to change them, let God do that.
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Or it could just be a desire to stand up for your beliefs.
 
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