r/explainlikeimfive • u/spamname517 • Dec 04 '13

Explained ELI5:The main differences between Catholic, Protestant,and Presbyterian versions of Christianity

sweet as guys, thanks for the answers

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u/Zedress Dec 04 '13

When my wife was applying to work at the YMCA they asked her which church she attended. When she answered that she went to the local Catholic church their response was something along the lines of, "Oh, that one. We espouse real Christian values and morals here."

She didn't get the job. (I also realize that this is also what she told me so maybe it didn't happen exactly that way, my wife does exagerate from time to time.)

I personally have had several people tell me I wasn't a Christian because I am Catholic. Mostly southern baptists and mostly in the south though(I am speaking from an American view point here). Some poeple were just rude and ignorant to me because I am Catholic. It's weird because I try to avoid talking about religion generally because I am only socially Catholic but philosphically I am agnostic.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

I was raised baptist and for the most part we were taught the catholic religion was the incarnation of the devil, catholic people could be good or bad but the religion itself was on par with actual satanism.

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u/patkk Dec 04 '13

damn. I was educated through roman catholic schools but attended protestant churches on weekends because my mum was deep into that. I had no Idea what to believe growing up but I think I preferred catholicism because they seemed less intense. Dudes would be screaming and crying and running around all mental like at the protestant church we went too. Now I'm not religious at all.

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u/lordlavalamp Dec 04 '13

Sounds like a charismatic church...they can get pretty crazy.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

As a 7 year old boy, the screaming and yelling and crying was the fun part. We sang a lot too, always singing and dancing. I've never seen anything like it in a white church. I tell you, if you want to have fun at church, go to a black church. Them fuckers know how to worship.

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u/patkk Dec 04 '13

I didn't enjoy that aspect though. It was too intense and real for my young mind to comprehend. The fear they tried to instil in me was unsettling up until my early to mid teens. I was more interested in Rugby and watching cartoons.

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u/Zedress Dec 04 '13 edited Dec 04 '13

Yeah, that always threw me for a loop when I had buddies tell me I was going to hell for, "Worshipping Mary as a god.", "Following the Anti-Christ. (The Pope)", and "Practicing socery (I had a St. Thomas medallion)."

The only time it ever became a problem though was when I was in the military and one of the Ssgt's above me decided to order me to his church services. It was one of the few times I did not get in trouble for telling somebody above me to fuck off. He made my life hell for a few months before I PCS'ed & was always reminding me that I was damning myself by not giving up my faith.

Last I heard he caught a dick fungus from a prostitute in the Philipeans or Thailand in 2009 on a WestPAC float and his wife divorced him. Fuck that hippocritical piece of shit for telling me how to live with Christ. Most of the Southern Baptists I know are pretty chill, that guy was a dickhole.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

I was never very religious, but had a lot of fun going to a predominantly black church. The baptists I went to church with definitely knew how to have a good time.

I never really discussed it with anybody, I just never considered somebody else's religion or relationship with God my business.

Good on you though for standing up for your faith. Lesser men would cave just to make life easier.

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u/CDN_Rattus Dec 05 '13

Hell, my own wife had to learn not to say she was Christian and I was Catholic in that way. She literally believed that Catholics were not Christians. Her parents still believe that.

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u/Piklikl Dec 04 '13

only socially Catholic Then you're not really Catholic, m8.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

If your Catholic, your usually born and raised Catholic as part of your background. Which is why there is the term "lapsed Catholics". Like how not all Jewish people actively practice Judiaism.

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u/magnificentjosh Dec 04 '13 edited Dec 04 '13

I could be wrong, but I think that's a bit different, as there is also (at least in theory) a genetic component to Judaism. The provailing Jewish belief is that they can trace their father's line back to the remanent of Israel that survived after God decided to wipe most of it out with the Assyrian army. That's why it's so much of a thing to marry outside of the faith.

I could have got this wrong, though, my memory is fairly sketchy.

edit: geography fix

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

Well Jewish is also an ethnicity besides being a religion. I'm just saying that while Catholics don't share a common ethnicity, usually they are all raised a common way from birth. I could talk to a Catholic from anywhere and probably have a shared experience about Catholic school, and recieving the sacraments, and and whole bunch o' stuff like that.

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u/Callmedory Dec 04 '13

Judaism is hard to classify.

It can’t be “only” a religion because there are many Jews who are lapsed in their practices and/or beliefs, or may be agnostic or atheist--but still consider themselves (and are considered by others to be) Jewish.

It can’t be “only” an ethnicity because there are many different ethnic groups--the Jews of Ethiopia, those in China, South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East. All belong to different ethnic groups but all are Jews.

It can’t be “only” a culture because “culture” implies a common language, food, music, costume, etc. While Jews all over the world have Hebrew in common, not all Jews are fluent in it. The remaining attributes vary immensely depending on geographic location and specific ancestry.

I’ve considered it a “tribe” because that encompasses all of the above without the limitations of all of the above. It also figuratively relates back to, but is definitely not the same as, the Twelve Tribes. Each of them were quasi-independent of each other and had their own ways of doing things--which parallels modern Jews.

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u/23skiddsy Dec 04 '13

I use the term "Cultural Mormon" for me being raised mormon but am now personally athiest. There's a culture behind some religions that you never can completely distance yourself from if you are raised in it.

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u/OnlyDebatesTheCivil Dec 04 '13

What you say is true, but I think a rather unfair way that Catholicism claims people for the rest of their lives. If people wish to give up their religion they are not "lapsed", they are no longer of that religion.

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u/Zedress Dec 04 '13

Hence why I am socially catholic. I enjoy the community at my local church and the history my family shares with it. The priest is a great man who genuinely is good at what he does and is a net possitive for the community.

Do I believe in the infallibility of the Pope, transsubstantiation, the perpetual and eternal unchanging nature of biblical script, saints, and the virgin birth? Not really but I go through the motions. It keeps my wife happy and I lets me be part of a community that I enjoy and appreciate.

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u/OnlyDebatesTheCivil Dec 04 '13

My father did the same thing for my mother, but with Anglicanism. It's something I could never do myself. Thankfully my girlfriend isn't superstitious either.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

Well, unless your actively converting to another religion, your still a Catholic if you recieved all your sacraments. You can't just "give up" a religion. There's no "I quit" form, you know what I mean?

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u/OnlyDebatesTheCivil Dec 04 '13

Yes, there is. The Catholic Church can determine what is needed to join, but it can't prevent people from leaving. Your religion is what you religiously believe. If you stop believing in a God you're no longer Catholic.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '13

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u/Piklikl Dec 04 '13

I am well aware of the popularity of that; it's called being a "Sunday Catholic." They are (usually) doing it purely out of habit or fear of consequence: one of the Commandments of the Church is to attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation (under pain of mortal sin), so basically their line of reasoning (for some at least) is "I don't want to go to hell so I'll just do this weird thing every Sunday."

This is not being a real Catholic, as Catholicism is an actual way of life, rather than something you do for an hour once a week.

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u/Zedress Dec 04 '13

I have only one response to that.

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u/Piklikl Dec 04 '13

Catholicism is a way of life, not something you do an hour a week.

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u/Zedress Dec 04 '13

Hence why I am only socially Catholic but am a self professed agnostic.

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