Persecution of Catholics?

Question

Why do fellow christians persecute catholics? I know some leaders in the church have been corrupt, but the protestants can't honestly say they are perfect, because we're all sinners.
I've heard people say we worship idols, and makeup false, and un-Godly traditions. I've heard things worse than that about Catholics. But the truth is, we only worship one God like every other christian, and our traditions come fom Jesus Christ himsef. Jesus ws baptised like we are, he told us to repent for our sins, and he even told Peter to lead his church, so he became pope, and so on, but some people today have a really hard time with popes. I just want Protestants, and catholics to get along here. So why do you persecute catholics, when we are both joined by Christ?

God, Bless, and no offense to protestants.

If you're gonna say that we have traditions that don't fit in with the bible, than please explain, I don't want people saying that witout evidence.

Answer 1

Hey red head,

I'm a Catholic and I don't like all the persecution we get either. As Christ himself said "judge not, lest ye be judged yourself". Yes some priests committed unforgivable sins, but name one religion who hasn't had sinners? I am Italian and being Catholic is a huge part of who I am and my family history, anyway, I just wanted you to know there are people like yourself out here.

Yours in christ
Steve.

Answer 2

I know what you're talking about, but I don't think most mainstream protestant denominations are really still active in being anti-catholic - there have been many ecumenical councils in the past few years and most mainstream protestant churches have stood up with catholicism and stated that there really are very few fundamental differences. There IS a lot more suspician when you get into the more off-beat/radical protestant sects - Mormons are taught that Catholicism is essentially evil - I would also say that Jehovah's Wittnesses, Christian Science, Seventh Day Adventists, Souther Baptists also are among the most anti-Catholic denominations. Interestingly, Catholics and mainstream Protestants don't even consider mormons truly Christian and I'm NOT SURE, but the same might be true for JW's.

But your Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians/Anglicans all essentially get along with Catholicism. I would say ESPECIALLY Lutherans and Episcopalians - they are much more similarly "high church".

But I am Catholic, engaged to an ex-mormon - so I definitely feel your pain. It's very frustrating sometimes. It's kinda like people won't accept that Catholics are persecuted because we are generally considered "persecutors" - even though that kind of thing hasn't happend since the inquisition - well before American Protestants started burning people alive during the Salem Witch Trials and other atrocities THEY'VE committed throughout the years.

Answer 3

I thought awhile about what to say to you. I think the best thing to do is to say that there are fundamental differences between Catholics' and other Christians' worldviews.

One's basic religious assumptions act as a lens onto the world; like the proverbial rose-colored glasses, they color everything one sees, and the Protestant and Catholic lenses are no different. From what I've seen, the differences between these worldviews boil down to differences in the following:

our various perceptions of the Incarnation

sheer scope, i.e., the Catholic sense of time, space, and supernatural, preternatural, and natural orders

our respective views of our co-operation with God and our interconnectedness

the common Protestant “either/or” phenomenon -vs- the Catholic "both/and" way of dealing with various concepts

Your always going to have persecutions, sweetheart. It's the way to distinguish us 'the wheat from the chaff" so to speak. Many Protestants (and I used to be a Fundie) hate the Catholic church because what they PERCEIVE, if they KNEW truly what we believe, they'd be Catholic too, or...they're simply obstinate. And many are. They get their education from Jack Chick or some other anti Catholic bigot, you can't change that.

This persecution is limited within the scope of Y!A R&S, and be thankful you don't live in China, or in Mexico during the 1920-1939 era, where millions of Catholics were murdered, or in the Soviet Union and all its satellites; a total of 20 million murdered because of their faith. This is "supposed" to be a 'question/answer' forum. It seems that it is not, more like a message board.

Hold this 'persecutions' as a badge of honor. Learn more about your faith, become more stronger within it. These people? The Protestants that are villianous and hateful? They don't care about you, your faith, they don't lose sleep over it, so don't you either.

Answer 4

First of all, I'd like to say that I have a problem with your use of the term "persecution". For more on what "persecution" really is, see Loyola. Or better yet, see "Voice of the Martyrs".
Now, I know that Catholics don't really pray to idols, but they do pray to saints. According to my Bible, every one who follows Jesus is a "saint", but the Catholic church seems to think they can "elevate" a person to that exalted degree, thereby, somehow, making him "better" than other Christians, when the Bible says we are all equal in the sight of God.
I think Mary would be quite disappointed to find people praying to her. She seems to have been a very humble and loving lady, or God would not have chosen her to be the mother of Christ.
I'd like to know when Jesus gave Peter the job of "pope"? Evidently, Peter didn't know anything about it, since he, like Paul, seemed to think that James ought to be the person to teach the church's decision about circumcision to the gentiles. If anything, Peter "blew" his commission to the gentiles, at least in Paul's estimation, by his behavior.
Somehow, I just can't see Peter wearing those robes, or that totally ridiculous hat, or even owning any expensive jewelry, let alone letting anyone kneel before him and kiss his ring. There is no evidence that Peter even ever was in Rome, let alone ever ruled the church from there.
The reason there was a Protestant movement in the first place was, at least in part, because of the way Mother Church kept knowledge to herself, not even allowing people to own Bibles, for goodness sake.
Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that I hate all things Catholic, or that I want to see Catholics put on the rack, or burned with hot irons, or any of the other things Catholics did during the inquisition.
It just means that I don't agree with you. The Roman Catholic church didn't come into being until AFTER Constantine.

Answer 5

What Jesus said to Peter (meaning stone) is "Upon this rock I will build my Kingdom." I don't recall anywhere where Peter was selected by Christ to lead His church. I can't speak for all Christians, of course, nor would I try, but my problem is that Catholics put SO MUCH EMPHASIS on Mary, and pray to saints, and confess to a human being as sinful as ourselves, when God said to come to HIM. And where in scripture do you get that Mary should be exhaulted? I don't understand. And there is an awful lot of ritual involved in Catholicism, and it appears to be closely related to idolatry. As for worshipping the same God, God (and infact any diety) is defined by the characteristics attributed to it, so if you change the things that God represents, you change the god you're worshipping. The Bible says there is one mediator between God and man, the Man Jesus Christ. So these are things that I don't understand about Catholics, but I don't persecute you for believing these things, I seek to understand so that I can strenghten myself to be better able to answer questions such as this.

Answer 6

Many (not all) protestants are uneducated in the teachings of the Catholic faith (Preacher for example). They only know what they have been told by other non Catholics. Perhaps if they took time to learn about the Church teachings, they would understand that we do worship the same God, and that many of the things they have learned about Catholics are not true. No offense intended, just my observation.

God bless,
Stanbo

Answer 7

No offense taken. I'm a Lutheran, and Luther died a Catholic. Our denomintion would pain him if he could see it today. The current RC Pope Benedict is actually exactly what Christ's church most needs: an educated man who holds firm to the teachings of Christ. Maybe under his leadership we can do more than "reconcile" or "tolerate" and actually worship and commune together, as Christ commanded. And - blessings on your Holy Week!

Answer 8

Catholics have experienced from the very beginning a lot of persecutions, crucifixions, atrocities and humiliations.When they were able to overcame that and became a great influence to the nations, they became the oppressors especialy in the time they can hold an inquisition. The persecutions they are experiencing in this period is incomprable to all the atrocities and abuses their predecessors have done to their conquered countries. It is now really being proven that what goes around comes around. They also did a lot of bad things to the point of demonizing the first protestant like Martin Luther. Jesus is the one who said "What you sow, so shall you reap." and I guess its harvest time for them.

Answer 9

It really doesnt do any good to insult anothers religion, so I appreciate your thought there. But I can only speak for myself from personal life experience and personal obsevation. My parents were not Catholic, however my Dad's family was, and one or two times a year he would attend a catholic church, because I think he thought it was the "right" thing to do, and on hid Dads side , they were supposedly "strict" Catholics, who just happened to be alcoholics too. Talk about dysfunction, on the one hand they are very "religious" but on the other you can drink and cuss and heck, beat your wife if you feel like it! As long as you go and "confess" your sin to some MAN dressed in a robe and the whole thing is forgiven until next time.That never made sense to me, as did alot of the other practices and rituals, and repetition that, in my opinion, was taught in the Catholic religion. These two scriptures confirmed my disbelief when I learned them in the Bretheren church a long time ago. Mathew 23:9, says: "Do NOT call anyone your Father on earth, for one is your Father, the Heavenly One." Jesus was speaking to the crowds and his disciples while he was referring to the scribes and pharisees, (religious leaders of his day), also in Mathew when Jesus is speaking about how we should pray he says this at 6:5-8," Also when you pray, you must not be as the hypocrites, because they like to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the broad ways to be visible to men. Truly, I say to you,. They are having their reward in full. You, however, when you pray, go into your private room, and after shutting your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, then your Father who looks on in secret will repay you. But when praying, do not say the same things over and over again, just as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words. So, do not make yourselves like them, for God your Father knows what things you are needing before ever you ask him". These are just two examples of how I believe the Catholic teaching is in direct conflict with Jesus' instruction. I hope this helps you to understand a little better why some may not agree with your beliefs. As you can see, I've done my best to answer you honestly and without malice. I'll be anxious to see how many thumbs down I get from Catholics. Thank you for your question though.

Answer 10

The Catholic bashers you speak of tend to have in their minds only the weakest caricature of the Catholic Faith. In many cases this is becuase they have never been told any diferent.

The need to find fault with the Catholic faith is primary because if the Church is not in error, there is no reason to be Protestant.

This need always leads to Protestants making startling statements like the one above about Mary being dead.

Of what use is faith in Christ if we don't believe in the resurrection of the dead? Who would follow someone who lets His own mother rot in the grave?