So how does one determine Protestantism over Catholicism or vice-versa?

Hucksters were much more respectable 1700 years ago!

 

still, at least the cat might have been NEAR the mat, if not actually on it.

 

Mr. C....what if I said "Catholicism is an apostasy"?....would it be safe to assume I am calling Catholics "apostates"?

 

For most Christians there is no thought or choice involved. Your parents are Protestant or Catholic (or Orthodox) and you get indoctrinated from birth that your parents' sect is the correct one and possibly fed some (likely false) information about how heretical, wrong, and bound for hell the other sects are. If you are a Protestant, that last bit may even apply to other Protestant groups.

 

Like being born in Green Bay...you WILL be a Packers fan.

 

That would be an appeal to generalization.

 

No. Apostasy is leaving a faith for an entirely different religion or no religion. If you were always a Catholic, then that wouldn't apply. It's kind of the same thing with heresy and heretics.

 

Incorp, are you a different religion from your parents?

 

My point was on the WORD. The term and its label for a person who falls under that term.

IOW, if I say "Catholicism is based on misogyny"...am I not calling Catholics "misogynists"? If I say "Protestantism is racist"....am I not calling Protestants "racists" (BTW, no...I am saying neither...I am using examples)

So, if you say "Protestantism is heresy"...are you not calling Protestants "heretics"?

 

I would definitely have to say 'YES'! When I was growing up, Mom was not a church goer (still not a church goer) and Dad ... well, lets just say Dad was a womanizer which led to their divorce.. To me, during those impressionable years, church represented nothing more than an opportunity for an extended association with my school peers. Outside of that social environment religion meant little. I did not start getting interested in Church until my late teens and early to mid 20's. So, it cannot be said that because my Mom and Dad were this or that, that I followed in their footsteps.

 

You'd hate me. I'm a non conformist and will not be a fan.

Plus I think all sports should be banned. They send a bad message to our kids.

Remember, children are more important than adults. And more valuable too.

Because they can grow up to become productive members of the community.

 

So how is it you Mom "was not a church goer (still not a church goer)"....and you ended up going to Church as a kid???

They sent you and stayed home???

 

And generally, it is true.

 

I see you are having difficulty escaping that logical fallacy.

 

Nope! We told her we wanted to go (we would be me and my older brother). She did not object (for whatever her reasons were).

 

It's the meaning of the word that really matters, not the word and saying "Catholicism is based on misogyny" does not impart the same meaning as "Catholics are mysogonistic."

 

And she never took you before?

- - - Updated - - -

If I say Catholicism is "based on misogyny"....and adherents to Catholicism (aka Catholics) believe in it and support it....they are "not misogynists"?!?!?!?

 

Nope! She had no need to take us... we lived only a half block from that little church. If the weather was too nasty, we simply did not go.... again by our own volition.

 

So how did you choose WHICH church to go to....just "nearest"?

 

This is based off the assumption that all Catholics "believe in it and support it." Not everyone believes everything their religion professes. Often times, opponents of the Catholic Church will call it evil, but often are referring to the Church hierarchy and not it's adherents. Besides mysogyny is often an emotionally loaded term that could just be someone's opinion. Words like heresy, apostasy, have to do with leaving one group to another. I've already given you a definition of heresy as defined by the Catholic Church, with a link describing it in great detail. If you are having trouble grasping that very basic definition, then I'm not sure what else I can do for you.

 

It gets rather hard to discuss Catholics and Catholicism, isn't it....if you are saying there aren't really that many Catholics who believe in Catholicism?!?!?!?

 

When did I say "there aren't many Catholics who believe who believe in Catholicism?"

 

"easiest" is one way to describe it.... also is the matter that most of my school friends attended the same church. Any further questions that you would like me to answerr about my past which, on this forum, is approaching the gathering of personal information, and which can neither be proven or disproven?

 

It seems that there are a number of people on this forum which have a problem with definitions.

 

I'm thinking that Gorn's point was that your parents weren't Hindu, or Muslim, or Satanists. Even if non-practising themselves, they were the product of Christianity, and you were exposed to same during childhood via school (back when religion was compulsory) and church.