What are the different beliefs between catholics and protestants?

Question

and in what ways do they differ from Christians? (Church of England? Is that what it's called?)

Answer 1

There are a lot of differences and you are going to get some pretty vehement and judgemental answers.

But the biggest difference, as I see it is this, Jesus told Peter "you are my rock, and upon this rock I will build my church" "and not even the fires of hell will prevail"
Peter went to Rome and started Jesus's church, he was matryred for it, the Roman stone column he was martyred at still stands in St Peter's Square.
We truly believe Peter was our first Pope in an unbroken line to the current Pope. That is not to say Popes have been perfect, they are human and all humans sin, that is a fact of our humanity.
Protestants do not recognize the Pope as our vicar of Christ on earth.
Also, during the last supper, Jesus said "this is my body" "this is my blood, do this in memory of me"
We do this, and we truly believe that our communion is truly the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ because he said it was.
We do not understand it totally, we do not have to, if you believe in Jesus and His teachings you believe what He said.
Protestants believe this is only symbolic and not real.

One common misconception is that we worship Mary, this is of course wrong, we honor and revere her just as Jesus did. How could we not? When we pray to Mary we ask her to pray for us, it is no difference than calling up your own Mother and saying Mom, I am having a difficult time, please pray for me.

The thing people of all Christian faiths tend to overlook is that we agree on much much more than we disagree. Yes, there are some very significant differences but we all agree that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour, and salvation is through Him.

Answer 2

At the Reformation, every Protestant Reformer described the Roman 'church' as antichrist. They were right. The trouble was, they were often not much better themselves. Those included Lutherans and Anglicans, and Calvinist groups that have since disappeared. Later on, evangelicalism arose. The word evangelical is the euphemism (polite word) for Christian among 'churchy' people.

Christians, or evangelicals, who form one, invisible church, may be members of a Protestant denomination, or they may be outside, in independent churches or house groups. They can be Lutherans (sometimes), Anglicans, Methodists, Brethren, sometimes Baptists, but they cannot be Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, or any of the cults that claim to be Christian like Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, because of what those groups believe. They believe that people can be saved by what they do, their works.

True Christianity is the belief that mankind can only be saved by faith in the completed work of Christ on the cross to pay for sins, and there is nothing that we can do to earn God's approval. We come to him as we are, helpless sinners, and he forgives and accepts completely. Protestantism states this belief, though not all Protestants are Christians, not by a long, long way.

Many people, such as Roman Catholics and Mormons, don't like that belief, it offends their pride. That's why it's called ' the offence of the cross'. But some Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, who don't realise what true Christianity is, become Christians.
.

Answer 3

I'll assume you want the differences between Roman Catholics and Protestants. All are Christian in name, at least. Catholics hold that faith and good works are required for entry into Heaven; many protestants say that an individual is saved by faith alone. Catholics have as their foundation for doctrine (teachings) Scripture and Tradition- the collected teachings and customs originating from the Apostles; many protestants hold that Scripture alone is the sole rule and authority. Then there are sacraments which most strains of Protestants do not recognise.

Answer 4

I am neither a catholic or a protestant--I am a Christian. The bible dictates what I do. Catholics believe that the Pope and the church get to have the final say in all matters. Many protestants feel that the church can have the final say. The bible teaches that God has the final say and we can only learn what is to be done by reading the word. Never put faith in man. Put your faith in God. If all would submit to the bible being the only way we can learn what God wants us to do then there would not be divisions and denominations.

Answer 5

A Christian is anyone who believes in God.
All Catholics are Christian, but not all Christians are Catholic.
All Protestants are Christian, but not all Christians are Protestant.
Basically, a Catholic is anyone who belongs to the Roman Catholic Church governed by the Pope.
The term "Protestant" is an umbrella term that describes any Christian who isn't Catholic and doesn't not recognize the Pope. There are many Protestant denominations that vary in customs and traditions.
Generally, Protestants tend to be more fundamentalist in their interpretation of the Bible; while Catholics believe that much of it is allegorical and not to be taken literally. Also, Protestants do not have priests like Catholics do. Their churches are run by ministers who are allowed to marry and have children. Most Protestant denominations allow women as well as men to serve as ministers.

Answer 6

There are many differences in practice but on the main points we all agree. Jesus is the Savior, he died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead, he will come again in glory.

The differences are mostly in practice and application. Catholics practice the faith and traditions of the early Christians...the first Christians. They weren't called Catholic then...but the structure was the same, the Mass was the same and the oral, sacred traditions were the same.

Most other religions are Protestant because the "protest" the faith of the Catholic church. This started with Martin Luther in the late 1500s. He claimed that the Bible alone should be the source of God's teaching. He dropped tradition and authority. Of course...this has caused great chaos.

Imagine if each individual was issued a book of local, state and federal laws. Imagine we were all able to interpret these laws for ourselves. Imagine that authority and history (an understanding of how these laws were applied in the past) played no part in that interpretation. We'd have chaos as well.

Here is a good apologetics site to get you started:

http://www.davidmacd.com/catholic/index2.htm

Answer 7

You probably need to study the history of this aspect of religion because it is a complex series of reactions. For example, most people, when you say "Christians" think you mean all people in a faith related to Jesus, but there are a group of Protestants who call themselves Christians and label their churches that way who have a narrow set of beliefs.
The Catholic Church is the one that came out of the founding fathers after the death of Christ and developed a large and wide spread organization, largely by converting Romans and the Roman Empire. Eventually, the Church was strongly tied to ruling monarchs and supported their belief that Kings ruled by devine right as Christ and God ruled in the heavens. This led to abuses which resulted in reaction against the Centralized church and services in Latin as Nationalism made countries and their language important. In the East, Orthodox Christianity split off, holding what they think of as the old values. In the west, various Protestant (protesting the Church) groups formed, interacted and broke off, such as Luther in Germany. England was a bit odd in that King Henry VIII wanted a divorce to marry again and get a male heir and when he didn't get it, took the church away from the Catholic Pope and made himself head and collected most of the land the Church owned. Within in England, people who objected to the Anglican church wanted a purer religion (Puritan) and a native language bible. After Henry executed a bunch of people, eventually, his 3rd successor James, authorized an English bible produced by Anglicans and Puritans and others.
In the roughly 400 years since then dozens of Protestant churches have formed and split off from each other and merged, all of whom consider themselves Christian with some kind of exception to what all the others. The Anglican church (Episcopal in the USA) has the Queen as nominal head and the Archbishop of Canterbury as religious leader and is structured more like the Catholic church - at an opposite extreme, the Congregational churches vote to select their own ministers and Quakers get by with no ministers at all - everyone can speak.

Answer 8

They both commit every kind of sin imaginable, but the Catholics have made a deal with their Priests to get their sins forgiven by mouthing, and repeating a few memorized prayers.
The Protestants just pretend they never happened, and then go about their holy business with a guilty smile on their faces..

Answer 9

It is difficult to define the Church of England as Protestant ..in the same way as the Lutheran church say....as rather than setting up a competing church to Rome...there was a split with Rome, but the church did not inherently change its nature

you will find the term catholic(k) in the book of common prayer, but not protestant.....it was not until a significant period later under the puritans that the church in england could be said to be more aligned with the continental protestant movement......the c of e has always been conformist and national & catholic...similar to the church of france say, but out of communion with rome for political rather than liturgical or doctrinal reasons.

however reforms during the late 20th C and more recently have set severe obstacles in the path of re-union with Rome...I along with many other Anglicans feel disenfranchised by the church of England's decision to ordain women against the teaching of the church; the church's synod can only ever be seen to have provincial authority in such matters......The alienation of their laity and priesthood is of justifiable concern to all christians. many anglicans both priests & laity feel un-churched by the unilateral arrogance of the house of bishops

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IS CATHOLIC..it has sacrements, orders & liturgy

Answer 10

"What separates us as believers in Christ is much less than what unites us." (Pope John XXIII)

Almost all important doctrine is completely agreed upon between Catholic Christians and other Christians.

Here is the joint declaration of justification by Catholics (1999), Lutherans (1999), and Methodists (2006):

By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to good works.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html

There are many minor doctrine issues and some major cultural traditional differences which, I believe, do not matter that much.

A Catholic worships and follows Christ in the tradition of Catholicism which, among other things, recognizes that Christ made Peter the leader of His new Church and Pope Benedict XVI is Peter's direct successor.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/index.htm

With love in Christ.