Catholics and Christians?

Question

I am a Hindu and don't really know much about other religions. My question is is there any difference between Catholics and Christians? Or is it the same with two different names?

If there is some difference what is it? And what does Protestant mean?

Answer 1

They are different but both follow Jesus

Answer 2

Well, first of all Catholic and Protestant are both Christian. Christian just means the belief of Jesus as the son of god.

Catholicism was started by the apostle Peter, so technically is a much more direct decendent of Christianity than protestantism which is named that because in the medieval years there was a split from poor christians and rich christians over what the Catholic church was doing. Those protestants further splintered into present day denominations such as baptists, methodists, mormons, jehovah's witnesses, assemblies of god, quakers, shakers, christian scientists, etc. The list goes on.

Answer 3

Catholics are Christians, but not all Christians are Catholic. For the first 1000 years of Christianity, there was only one denomination of Christians. However, in about 1000 AD, the Bishop of Constantinople (now known as Istanbul) did not want to maintain allegiance to the Bishop of Rome, who was seen as the spiritual leader of Christendom. This was known as the "Great Schism." Those Christians who followed the Bishop of Constantinople, and the decendants, are now known as Orthodox Christians. In 1500, there began a reform movement, that further fractured the Western Church, and thus started the "Protestant Reformation." Today, there are thousands of Christian denominations. The Roman Catholic Church remains the largest Christian denomination. There are fundamental theological differences between all Christians, but all believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Answer 4

Catholics are one form of Christian.

What does your being Hindu have to do with not knowing about Christianity? Do you live in India? St. Thomas Christians are very abundant in Kerala and have been for centuries. Also, I would imagine there a many Anglican Christians in India as remnants of colonialism.

Answer 5

Despite what others have said in reply to your question, there are major differences between the two... which came to a head during the reformation (research the protestant reformation if you want to learn all about it otherwise the cliff notes are below)...

Catholic means "universal". The protestant reformation in Europe during the 16th century, led by Martin Luther, resulted in the "split" in the church. Our current denomination that you think of that are not Catholic can trace their beliefs back to the protestant reformation. Being protestant myself here are some of the things that led to the split during the reformation:

The sale of Indulgences by the church - An indulgence theologically is the pardinning of guilt from sin through confession. The church was basically selling forgiveness.

The Roman Catholic's Hierarchical system - The pope as ultimate authority. The church viewed the pope as having power and authority equal to the scriptures in the Bible. Protestants believe in the Bible as the ultimate authority. Catholics believe the there are 2 authorities, the Bible and the Church (the organization housed in vatican city).

Purgatory - The belief that there is need for further purification after death before ascending to heaven. Protestants do not believe in this.

The Virgin Mary - Here is a big difference. Protestants believe that Mary was born as any other person and chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus. Catholics believe that Mary, like Christ was immaculate conceived (not born of male and female, but that God created her in the womb similar to how he made Christ). Catholics pray TO the virgin Mary, protestants pray only to Jesus and God.

Works Vs. Grace - Protestants believe that it is by grace alone through faith that we are saved. Catholics believe it's a combination of grace and good works.

Forgiveness - Catholics believe confession to a priest is necessary and that forgiveness is actually conveyed to you through a priest. Protestants believe that forgiveness is conveyed by God alone and that the involvement of man is not necessary (we still support the confession of sin to each other, we just don't share the view on the role it plays in forgiveness).

There are several more differences but these are the major ones. They are pretty substantial, however Catholics and protestants alike believe in Jesus as the son of God sent as the savior for all mankind and that he is the only way to God.

Answer 6

Christians are followers of Jesus Christ, which obviously includes Catholics. There are three main branches of Christianity - Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. The Catholic Church was the first Christian Church. It was the Only Christian Church for more than 1,000 years after Christ. And it was the only Christian Church Christ ever intended to exist. He said so.

Answer 7

Catholic is the first Christian church that ever existed and still holds to all the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Protestant means someone who is against the Catholic Church but still believes in Jesus, although their beliefs differ somewhat from what He actually taught.

Hope this helps!

Answer 8

Christianity is one religion with different religious denominations, Catholicism is one of the denominations, other denominations include Protestant, Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, some denominations have sub-denominations such as Lutheranism and Mormonism which fall under the Protestant category.

Answer 9

there are some fundamental differences in what most Christians believe as opposed to what Catholics believe. In the U.S. anyway, any religion that recognizes Jesus as being more than a man is considered Christian. Unfortunately, there is a wide variety of beliefs regarding who exactly Jesus was and what his role is.
When it comes down to it, though most Christian churches today will argue it to the death or cringe at the thought, they are more rooted in Catholicism than in the original church of Acts- they have strayed from some of the core beliefs of Catholicism that are obviously unbiblical such as praying to the saints (to the dead) and the exaltation of Mary, but they have held fast to the pagan oriented traditions and feasts the Catholic church holds so dear and their teaching that grace erased the law (yet every church upholds their own law that is nothing like the laws God instituted) make them very similar.
There are a very few churches that are begining to understand the origins of their faith and are digging for the truth , rejecting the pagan feasts and symbols and embracing the true roots of their faith. If they are anything like me, though Christian is supposed to mean follower of Christ, I hesitate to call myself Christian because of the understanding that most people have of Christianity and how far it has come from the original Christians who were truly following Jesus.

Answer 10

It's a matter of brand recognition. Just as there are several brands of laundry detergent, there are several brands of Christianity. Catholicism is the "Original", or at least the first organized Christian religion. The rest are "New and Improved", for what that's worth!

Answer 11

Christian is a category.
Catholic and Protestant are just subcategories of the same thing.

A nun told me to think of it like...
Christianity is meat.
Bologna and ham are different kinds of meat... but still meat.
Silly, but it worked for me.