why are so many christians against catholicism?

Question

had it not been for constantine and the roman catholics, christianity would not be as big as it is today.

gothic, please see the other responses...

jmabrock, catholicism was not only responsible for the witchhunts you speak of among christians, but also free thinkers. the majority of people left over were catholic christians. this part of history is what is referred to as the dark ages.

Answer 1

I'm Christian...
-- I have nothing against catholics
-- I have never seen any anti-catholic behavior from fellow Christians.

Cheers ^_^

Answer 2

"Protestant" means to protest; specifically protest the Catholic Church. This was during the 1400-1600's when reformation was needed (which reading history it was seriously needed) --- ah, but reformation was delivered to the Catholic Church at the same time Henry the Eight split so he could divorce. So protesting is still going on, but I don't think anyone really remembers why, or even really cares in this new technological age.

Since the USA is primarily Protestant, we have a larger population protesting events that happened over. The break down is as follows: Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10% (2002 est.)

What I find most interesting is how the Protestants just keep splitting and splitting and splitting. Still Christianity appears the same across all Christian denominations. We all love Christ.

Answer 3

First of all, christians are not against the catholics, because catholics and christians have similarities in their theology.

I am christian, but let's look back in time over our history of our theologies:

Christianity was not generally populated by the Catholics; Catholicism is like alot of other "Denominations" A Government Belief System. Religion and Denominations are not the same, and shouldn't be linked as the same category. Denominations are a branch offs from the original concepts of a certain religion governed in people's own theories.

If you know your Bible and you look back to study:

A true Christian and Christianity in itself, is one who follows "The Christ" and believes and acts on His teachings. Which we supposedly agree on. that's where we believe the same way. but it is a governed belief we have. Look back and see Why Christ Jesus was here in the first place, it really wasn't for those who already had faith in Him, it was for the "LOST". Remember in the scriptures? "TO THE JEW FIRST, THEN THE GREEK?

One Last Food For Thought:

If Christianity Would Not Be As Big As It Is Today because of Catholicism, then tell me then why it was the roman catholics that persecuted the christians thinking that they were possessed by spirits and demons, or calling them witches or blasphemers during the TIMES OF THE INQUISITIONS, AND why is it that the ROMANS persecuted the "Real Christ"

So Honestly, Your Question And Philosophy,
Does Not Really Make Sense To Me, And It Seems Like It Is Trying To Start A Holy War.

Answer 4

It all boils down to disagreement on certain ritualistic aspects of the faith. However, contrary to what a lot of Protestants believe, Catholics are still Christian. I don’t know where the idea that Catholics are not Christian came from…the definition of a Christian is a follower of Christ. Most Protestants disagree with Catholicism for the following reasons…

1. They put a lot of emphasis on the Virgin Mary. They pray to her and ask for her guidance, when the Bible makes it clear the only person you can pray to is God the Father through Jesus Christ.
2. They pray and bow down to statues of the saints, Mary, Jesus, etc…which most Christians believe is idolatry. Of course, most Catholics will say they are not pray to the statue, but through it.
3. They pray to the saints, which once again violates the God and Jesus only rule.
4. They use rosary beads…which is considered Paganistic in the Bible.
5. They believe in purgatory…well some do.
6. They also believe that once you are baptized, regardless of how you live out your life, you will go to heaven.

There is more, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head. As you can see most of these things all have to do with ritual…and are really pretty small issues. Can’t we all just get along?

Answer 5

Actually the 'Roman Catholic" church was not called that until 1054 when the split occurred between the Eastern and Western church. Before that they were all one church as were just called Christians. Many Evangelical Fundamentalist are down on the RC church, and by extension I guess all 'Catholic' churches, because they do not know anything about the origin of their religion. They are part of the groups that rebelled against the Roman Church and still have that mentality today.

Answer 6

Cathoicism is far too unforgiving, any deviation from the teaching of the church is to face eternity in purgatory, yet, any sin is permitted if the sinner confesses the sin to a priest and asks for forgiveness. Prayer is directed to the mother of Jesus and the Pope is concidered to be infallable even though he is a mere mortal who has been elected to his post by other mortals. The history of the church is laden with examples of injustice and cruelty and rarely, if ever will the church admit to making an error. So called miracles are revealed only to poor, uneducated children.

Answer 7

By and large, anti-Catholicism comes from misunderstandings of what we do and/or believe.

Such as the things friend Lehra (above) has commented on.

Some people think 'papal infallibility' means we believe the pope is never wrong. But that's NOT what we believe.

Some people think we worship Mary and the saints. But we don't.

The list goes on. Most things are minor. Some are the result of lies told to foster hate. Such as the things said by friend Star (above). These things we absolutely MUST counter with love. Always with love.

Answer 8

hey someone doesnt pay attention. Christians are the same way to everyone, im atheist, and they hate me for it? (not all of them but some)
there are good Christians though, i know some, dont judge them all.
but you know, i do find more atheist and christains spamming this place with hate messages. i havent seen any hate messages from catholics, Muslims, angoist( not sure if i spelled that right, couldnt find it in the spell checker XD)
but anyways, this ALMOST could be a hate message towards christains, and i already know some will take it as one, cause thers one person in every place, that has hate in their eyes.

Answer 9

They did a lot of bad bad things in the name of God and under the umbrella of their religion.

They also have been making up their own traditions and rules, not so Biblical.

But they are saved if they believe in Christ and accept Him as their Lord and Savior.

Answer 10

Constantine found that with the Roman Empire being so vast, expansive, and diverse – not everyone would agree to forsake their religious beliefs and instead embrace Christianity. So, Constantine allowed, and even promoted, the “Christianization” of pagan beliefs. Completely pagan and utterly unbiblical beliefs were given new “Christian” identities. Some clear examples of this are as follows:

(1) The Cult of Isis, an Egyptian mother-goddess religion, was absorbed into Christianity by replacing Isis with Mary. Many of the titles that were used for Isis, such as “Queen of Heaven,” “Mother of God,” and “theotokos” (God-bearer) were attached to Mary. Mary was given an exalted role in the Christian faith, far beyond what the Bible ascribes to her, in order to attract Isis worshippers to a faith they would not otherwise embrace. Many temples to Isis were, in fact, converted into temples dedicated to Mary. The first clear hints of Catholic Mariology occur in the writings of Origen, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, which happened to be the focal point of Isis worship.

(2) Mithraism was a religion in the Roman Empire in the 1st through 5th centuries A.D. It was very popular among the Romans, especially among Roman soldiers, and was possibly the religion of several Roman emperors. While Mithraism was never given “official” status in the Roman empire, it was the de-facto official religion until Constantine and succeeding Roman emperors replaced Mithraism with Christianity. One of the key features of Mithraism was a sacrificial meal, which involved eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a bull. Mithras, the god of Mithraism, was “present” in the flesh and blood of the bull, and when consumed, granted salvation to those who partook of the sacrificial meal (theophagy, the eating of one’s god). Mithraism also had seven “sacraments,” making the similarities between Mithraism and Roman Catholicism too many to ignore. Constantine and his successors found an easy substitute for the sacrificial meal of Mithraism in concept of the Lord’s Supper / Christian Communion. Sadly, some early Christians had already begun to attach mysticism to the Lord’s Supper, rejecting the Biblical concept of a simple and worshipful remembrance of Christ’s death and shed blood. The Romanization of the Lord’s Supper made the transition to a sacrificial consumption of Jesus Christ, now known as the Catholic Mass / Eucharist, complete.

(3) Most Roman emperors (and citizens) were henotheists. A henotheist is one who believes in the existence of many gods, but focuses primary on one particular god, or considers one particular god supreme over the other gods. For example, the Roman god Jupiter was supreme over the Roman pantheon of gods. Roman sailors were often worshippers of Neptune, the god of the oceans. When the Catholic Church absorbed Roman paganism, it simply replaced the pantheon of gods with the saints. Just as the Roman pantheon of gods had a god of love, a god of peace, a god of war, a god of strength, a god of wisdom, etc., so the Catholic Church has a saint who is “in charge” over each of these, and many other categories. Just as many Roman cities had a god specific to the city, so the Catholic Church provided “patron saints” for the cities.

(4) The supremacy of the Roman bishop (the papacy) was created with the support of the Roman emperors. With the city of Rome being the center of government for the Roman empire, and with the Roman emperors living in Rome, the city of Rome rose to prominence in all facets of life. Constantine, and his successors, gave their support to the bishop of Rome as the supreme ruler of the church. Of course it is best for the unity of the Roman empire that the government and state religion be centered in the same location. While most other bishops (and Christians) resisted the idea of the Roman bishop being supreme, the Roman bishop eventually rose to supremacy, due to the power and influence of the Roman emperors. When the Roman empire collapsed, the popes took on the title that had previously belonged to the Roman emperors – Pontificus Maximus.