I've noticed that a lot of Catholics are clueless about Protestantism... why is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Protestants know about Catholicism because it's part of our history. Catholics don't need to learn about Protestant beliefs in order to learn about their own. Whereas Catholic beliefs are a critical part of explaining the Protestant movement and why Protestants believe as they do.

I also think it's the nature of the religions. Catholics have go-betweens. They don't need to know the ins and outs of their religion, because they have an actual personal authority they can go to. Protestants have a personal relationship with god, no go betweens. Sure, you can talk to your pastor, and he or she can give you guidance, but there's no absolution or anything. It's between you and god.

Ok, Catholic school from K to law school and I have no idea why you think I don't have a personal relationship with God. What the heck are you talking about? What's a go-between?

A priest.

A priest will be the first to tell you he is human.

The priest is the human between you whom you need to be forgiven of your sins by god. Catholics can talk (pray) to God directly, but only a priest can forgive their sins.

Nope. Sorry, not entirely accurate. "Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers." Confession to a priest is a great way to go, preferred even, but it is by no means the only way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Protestants know about Catholicism because it's part of our history. Catholics don't need to learn about Protestant beliefs in order to learn about their own. Whereas Catholic beliefs are a critical part of explaining the Protestant movement and why Protestants believe as they do.

I also think it's the nature of the religions. Catholics have go-betweens. They don't need to know the ins and outs of their religion, because they have an actual personal authority they can go to. Protestants have a personal relationship with god, no go betweens. Sure, you can talk to your pastor, and he or she can give you guidance, but there's no absolution or anything. It's between you and god.

Ok, Catholic school from K to law school and I have no idea why you think I don't have a personal relationship with God. What the heck are you talking about? What's a go-between?

A priest.

A priest will be the first to tell you he is human.

The priest is the human between you whom you need to be forgiven of your sins by god. Catholics can talk (pray) to God directly, but only a priest can forgive their sins.

Nope. Sorry, not entirely accurate. "Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers." Confession to a priest is a great way to go, preferred even, but it is by no means the only way.

Priests are needed to administer sacraments - baptism, communion, marriage, confession, etc.

[Anonymous]

Don't the Lutherans not believe Mary was a virgin or something and I think the Episcopalians have some issue with saints as well as the Pope. Not sure what Presbyterians or Methodists or Baptists believe differently from Catholics. Aside from transubstantiation that is. I know no other faith believes that.

I'm always surprised by people who jump between faiths. Do you just decide that you don't believe something anymore and pick a new religion that aligns with that? People just seem more cavelier than that - "Oh I was raised Methodist but now I go to my wife's Lutheran church." Well aren't they fundamentally different in enough ways that you can't interchange them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ex-Catholic here. In my Catholic elementary school (in the 1970s), we were told that others were going to Hell. So I guess we weren't too interested in learning about their beliefs. (which is a problem, I agree.).

Even other Christians (Protestants)?!?

Yes. NP here, I am a Presbyterian who attended Catholic K-12 in the 80s-90s. I was routinely asked who I believed in (because only Catholics believe in Jesus) and wasn't it sad I'd be in hell. My liberal Catholic high school was very into Eastern religious practices and covered those religions pretty well in class, but spent almost no time on protestant Christianity. We learned more about it in history class (Luther) than in world religion class. I also felt my classmates' knowledge of the Bible and Catholic doctrine was pretty sketchy though. Maybe I paid more attention because I was the outsider.

[Anonymous]

Does the varsity team watch the JV game? Nope.

Do the Brits learn Australian history? Nope.

Similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm always surprised by people who jump between faiths. Do you just decide that you don't believe something anymore and pick a new religion that aligns with that? People just seem more cavelier than that - "Oh I was raised Methodist but now I go to my wife's Lutheran church." Well aren't they fundamentally different in enough ways that you can't interchange them?

I don't know about that. For example, I know many active Catholics very well and not a single one professes to believe in transubstantiation or agrees with the church's teachings on homosexuality, the role of women in the church, sex before marriage or birth control. It's not surprising that they'd jump ship to another church with slightly less objectionable positions on these issues.

Are there educated adults who still believe these things are true and correct? I think educated Catholics put up with these teachings of the church for the comfort of familiarity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't the Lutherans not believe Mary was a virgin or something and I think the Episcopalians have some issue with saints as well as the Pope. Not sure what Presbyterians or Methodists or Baptists believe differently from Catholics. Aside from transubstantiation that is. I know no other faith believes that.

I'm always surprised by people who jump between faiths. Do you just decide that you don't believe something anymore and pick a new religion that aligns with that? People just seem more cavelier than that - "Oh I was raised Methodist but now I go to my wife's Lutheran church." Well aren't they fundamentally different in enough ways that you can't interchange them?

Do you think every person sitting in every pew across the US believes every tenet of the religion they were born into or have chosen?

[Anonymous]

Catholic DH here, married to a Protestant DW. There is mutual ignorance.

What I know of Protestant religions I learned not from the Church (which frankly never mentioned any other church or religion, whether Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc.), but from History class, plus a course I listened to on CD called "The History of Christianity in the Reformation Era" by the Great Courses. Link if you're interested: http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/religion/history-of-christianity-in-the-reformation-era.html

But DW's knowledge of the Catholic Church was based on what she learned at her fundamentalist (non-mainstream) church growing up, which was that the RC church was "bad". They taught that the Roman Catholic church was devil-inspired, that the Pope was the anti-Christ, that the veneration of saints and of Mary were a violation of the Commandment against false idols, and that The Jews--even worse than the Catholics--had betrayed Jesus (not just the Sanhedrin, but The Jews writ large).

[Anonymous]

Protestant here, and I find Catholics ignorant of the life of Jesus. The sermons in our church focus a great deal on Jesus and the life and politics of the Jews. Often they don't even understand how Palm Sunday and Passover are related. Catholics services are all pomp and circumstance with little religious meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Protestant here, and I find Catholics ignorant of the life of Jesus. The sermons in our church focus a great deal on Jesus and the life and politics of the Jews. Often they don't even understand how Palm Sunday and Passover are related. Catholics services are all pomp and circumstance with little religious meat.

I'm Catholic and my husband is Evangelical Christian. We have this debate all the time. He expects his church's Sunday service to be practically a Bible study and to feed him information. He brings his Bible and his notebook and takes notes the whole time (when they're not singing, which seems never-ending). He doesn't understand that a Catholic Mass is first and foremost about worshiping God, and the primary focus is not his own religious education. Yes, the priest might use his homily to explain something, but it's 20 mins, not an hour and it's not the whole reason we're there. Mass is not about us, it's about Him.

Just a different way of worshiping.

[Anonymous]

I'm married to a Catholic. They think they are better than us, so they don't bother learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm married to a Catholic. They think they are better than us, so they don't bother learning.

As I tell me Protestant DH, Catholics don't need to read the New Testament because we wrote it. And like Ben Hur, King Kong and Ghostbusters, the original is generally much better than the re-make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Protestant here, and I find Catholics ignorant of the life of Jesus. The sermons in our church focus a great deal on Jesus and the life and politics of the Jews. Often they don't even understand how Palm Sunday and Passover are related. Catholics services are all pomp and circumstance with little religious meat.

I'm Catholic and my husband is Evangelical Christian. We have this debate all the time. He expects his church's Sunday service to be practically a Bible study and to feed him information. He brings his Bible and his notebook and takes notes the whole time (when they're not singing, which seems never-ending). He doesn't understand that a Catholic Mass is first and foremost about worshiping God, and the primary focus is not his own religious education. Yes, the priest might use his homily to explain something, but it's 20 mins, not an hour and it's not the whole reason we're there. Mass is not about us, it's about Him.

Just a different way of worshiping.

Except for most Catholics don't learn, they just go to Mass, go through the script, and go home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Protestant here, and I find Catholics ignorant of the life of Jesus. The sermons in our church focus a great deal on Jesus and the life and politics of the Jews. Often they don't even understand how Palm Sunday and Passover are related. Catholics services are all pomp and circumstance with little religious meat.

I'm Catholic and my husband is Evangelical Christian. We have this debate all the time. He expects his church's Sunday service to be practically a Bible study and to feed him information. He brings his Bible and his notebook and takes notes the whole time (when they're not singing, which seems never-ending). He doesn't understand that a Catholic Mass is first and foremost about worshiping God, and the primary focus is not his own religious education. Yes, the priest might use his homily to explain something, but it's 20 mins, not an hour and it's not the whole reason we're there. Mass is not about us, it's about Him.

Just a different way of worshiping.

Except for most Catholics don't learn, they just go to Mass, go through the script, and go home.

Unless you are inside their heads, you are not in a position to know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Protestants know about Catholicism because it's part of our history. Catholics don't need to learn about Protestant beliefs in order to learn about their own. Whereas Catholic beliefs are a critical part of explaining the Protestant movement and why Protestants believe as they do.

I also think it's the nature of the religions. Catholics have go-betweens. They don't need to know the ins and outs of their religion, because they have an actual personal authority they can go to. Protestants have a personal relationship with god, no go betweens. Sure, you can talk to your pastor, and he or she can give you guidance, but there's no absolution or anything. It's between you and god.

Ok, Catholic school from K to law school and I have no idea why you think I don't have a personal relationship with God. What the heck are you talking about? What's a go-between?

A priest.

And Protestant churches have ministers and pastors. Same thing.

No, they aren't. Catholic priests can forgive sins. Protestant pastors can't. That's between the person and god.