The Misconception About Catholicism

[jrob11]

First thing to settle is that Catholicism is NOT a religion. It is a DENOMINATION of Christianity. This means that it is simply a way to worship Christ. It does not mean they are seperate from Orthodox or Evangelical Christians in the Christ part. It simply means they worship in a different way from them.

Second, there is difference between being catholic and being Catholic (note the second is capitalized). The deffinition of catholic (adj.) according to Webster is the relating to, or forming of a universal Church. (Church = all Christians). Catholic is a member of a Catholic church; esp. Roman Catholic. So when some says they are catholic, it does NOT necessarily mean they are Roman Catholic. Another branch of the catholic church is the Anglican (Episcopal in the USA) Church, more commonly called the Church of England.

So all I am saying is that Catholicism isn't a religion but a branch of religion and that not every catholic is Roman Catholic, so ask them to clarify if they simply say "I'm Catholic."

P.S. Im Episcopalian. It just frustrates me when I say I'm catholic and everyone assumes I'm Roman.

[scuba steve]

is Catholocism not just the simple classing of catholics in christianity with protestant being the other type christian?

[Sage]

Great. Another semantics thread. Just what Ramblings of the Wise needed. 'Catholic' or 'catholic', it's still a corrupt cesspool of pedophilia and hate to me, and the sooner the entire institution of the catholic (or 'Catholic' if you want to be so anal about it) church is dismantled, the better. If any other organization on the face of the Earth tried doing a single thing the Church does today, they'd get a good anal fisting from the strong arm of the law.

[jrob11]

A Protestant is any member of a church that broke away from the Roman Catholic church during the Reformation (Lutheran, Anglican (though also catholic), Calvinist...). And there are other types of Christians besides Catholics and Protestants. There are Orthodox and Coptics, both of which are branches of Christianity. Also Messianic Judaism is a branch of both Christianity and Judaism. It is not right to classify all Christians as either Catholic or Protestant.

lol...wow,Deschain...I don't even know how respond to that one.

[INFERNO]

Second, there is difference between being catholic and being Catholic (note the second is capitalized). The deffinition of catholic (adj.) according to Webster is the relating to, or forming of a universal Church. (Church = all Christians). Catholic is a member of a Catholic church; esp. Roman Catholic. So when some says they are catholic, it does NOT necessarily mean they are Roman Catholic. Another branch of the catholic church is the Anglican (Episcopal in the USA) Church, more commonly called the Church of England.


What frustrates me is when someone makes an argument and their evidence actually opposes them but they twist it or exclude a key piece to make it support them. I looked up on Webster for catholic (lower-case) and I found the same definition as the one you gave, however, it also then said "often capitalized". So, we have the definition of the lower-case term saying that it uses the definition you gave and is then usually capitalized. Your definition you gave of when it is capitalized is the same so I have no issue with that. But with lower-case catholic, you seem to have excluded the only part of your argument that has any relevance: why? It is clear that your source opposes you (compare the two links shown below) so I'm interested in why you have the stance you have on the lower-case term, "catholic".

Link for lower-case "catholic" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catholic)
Link for upper-case "Catholic" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catholic)

[jrob11]

i was merely trying to show that there is a distinction between the adjective form of catholic and the noun form, or the abbreviation of Roman Catholic. I see and understand how you are confused. I should have worded that better. I just want people to realize that catholic does not mean solely the Roman Catholic church. As an Anglican, I don't want to be associated with the negative stereotypes that come with the Roman Catholic church (I get enough of that already). I would also like it to not happen to others how would make the mistake of saying "I'm catholic" when they mean something besides Roman. That was my goal.

[dontknow2010]

Great. Another semantics thread. Just what Ramblings of the Wise needed. 'Catholic' or 'catholic', it's still a corrupt cesspool of pedophilia and hate to me, and the sooner the entire institution of the catholic (or 'Catholic' if you want to be so anal about it) church is dismantled, the better. If any other organization on the face of the Earth tried doing a single thing the Church does today, they'd get a good anal fisting from the strong arm of the law.

sad but true :(

[Disco Jones]

If you want to be recognized as Anglican then just say you're Anglican, you can't really blame people for assuming you are Catholic when you call yourself "catholic", especially in speaking. It's like calling yourself Chinese then getting annoyed when people don't realize you're from Taiwan.

[INFERNO]

i was merely trying to show that there is a distinction between the adjective form of catholic and the noun form, or the abbreviation of Roman Catholic. I see and understand how you are confused. I should have worded that better. I just want people to realize that catholic does not mean solely the Roman Catholic church. As an Anglican, I don't want to be associated with the negative stereotypes that come with the Roman Catholic church (I get enough of that already). I would also like it to not happen to others how would make the mistake of saying "I'm catholic" when they mean something besides Roman. That was my goal.

Then it seems to be taking a big loop around for something very simple. If you don't want people to assume, then just explicitly tell them you're an Anglican Catholic and Anglicans are not the same as Roman Catholic.

[jrob11]

I guess I should have said that. But, again Anglicans are not the only other catholics besides Romans either. Sorry for being so confusing.

[INFERNO]

I guess I should have said that. But, again Anglicans are not the only other catholics besides Romans either. Sorry for being so confusing.

That's true but if you want to tell others you are a specific type out of a handful of types, it doesn't really matter how many other types there are. As long as you make it clear what type you are, that's the information you want to get across, at least that's what I've gathered you want to get across as opposed to the amount of types of Catholicism (i.e. other than "a lot").

If there are 10 types and you say you're Anglican or if there are 100,000 types and you say you're Anglican, the same thing is conveyed to the listener: you're Anglican.

[Dorsum Oppel]

Well my friends, allow me to say.
Who. F****ing. Cares.

People seem to be infinitely concerned with their title. You both love Jesus, and I honestly doubt he cares whether you capitalize catholic or not. Does this really matter, even a little bit?

So, who really f****ing cares?
Not. Jesus.

[Sage]

You both love Jesus,
One of them also loves little boys.

[scuba steve]

One of them also loves little boys.

ha.

but for the narrow minded why not just end this argument right now!

one likes pretty things and shiny decorations (Catholic church)
and the other just likes a plain room and dress to preach in (Protestant church)

done and done, or at least as far as my R.E teacher taught me... dumb bitch

[Shadoukun]

I felt bad not leaving clarification. In common lexicons 'catholic' regardless of capitalisation means "Roman Catholic'. Second you suffer from a basic logical fallacy. "Catholicism is not a religion. It's just a denomination of Christianity" Well Christianity is a religion, so.... Let's tackle this with some conditional logic!

If Catholicism is a denomination of Christianity and Christianity is a religion then...wait for it...Catholicism is a religion.


So not only do you misuse the modern English language but you fail basic logic. You are on the ball, really.

[Sage]

one likes pretty things and shiny decorations

And little boys.

[Dorsum Oppel]

And little boys.

Its one of the 11 commandments you know.

[BuryYourFlame]

Please stay on topic, just a reminder.

[Jean Poutine]

i'm not Canadian, I'M FUCKING QUÉBÉCOIS YOU DUMB ASS BITCH

same thing different words

btw i'm catholic and i don't fancy the pedophilia jokes. fyi, the rate of child abuse among priests is not higher than in the general population.

loads of priests cheat their vows, but they do it with women.

[Sage]

fyi, the rate of child abuse among priests is not higher than in the general population.

But it is known about, covered up, and if any other organization aside from the Church tried to get away with it, they would fail desperately.

[INFERNO]

i'm not Canadian, I'M FUCKING QUÉBÉCOIS YOU DUMB ASS BITCH

same thing different words

btw i'm catholic and i don't fancy the pedophilia jokes. fyi, the rate of child abuse among priests is not higher than in the general population.

loads of priests cheat their vows, but they do it with women.

Not to be offensive but studies have shown clerics (i.e. priests, etc...) tend to be mostly homosexual pedophiles, not heterosexual. For one paper that compares priests to non-priests, see Langevin, Curnoe & Bain (2000) entitled A Study of Clerics Who Commit Sexual Offenses: Are They Different From Other Sex Offenders? Others though such as Loftus & Camargo (1993) studied over 1,000 and found the same results. You may not care for the jokes of pedophilia, but there is a substantial population of priests that commit pedophilia, so much so that there's a specific class designated just for them.
Although their sample size wasn't terribly large (i.e. 24 clerics, 24 controls), these findings are replicated in other studies. Also, they tended to be more violent.
Whether they commit more than others, well that's not quite known as catching them takes much longer than it does for other pedophiles on average (explained a bit in the article I cited).