[Sca-cooks] Catholic/Christian, was: The Fallwell/Robertson statements

[Ted Eisenstein]

>> Catholics consider themselves to be Christians.  Some Protestant sects
>> consider them to be Christian, too.  But, some Protestant sects consider
>> Catholic worship of Saints and the elevation of the Pope to a status
>
>Catholics consider it 'veneration' not worship.
<snip>
>However, the extreme veneration of Mary and the doctrine that one can pray
>to the Saints to ask them to pray for people is a major sticking point for
>Protestants. Perhaps that is what you were thinking of?
Yeah, but. . . What one group believes is veneration, another group considers
worship of. And while Catholics may consider themselves to be praying through
the saints to the Lord, so to speak, some Protestants see that as praying to
the saints, ie., elevating the saints to idols, i.e., idolatry.
Whether or not this is what is _actually_ happening, is not the question. What
is the question is how people have differing perceptions - and it's those perceptions
of the truth, not the truth, that has led to violence over the years.

>Actually: no, the works of the theologians are not considered Holy Writ by
>Catholics. However, there are several books included in the Catholic Bible
>that are not in the Protestant Bible (stop by your public library and ask
>for a New Jerusalem or other Catholic bible to see a list.)
>
>Both Catholics and Protestants consider the Old Testament to be Holy Writ
>as far as I know.
. . . and the Jews use a subset: the Five Books of Moses are the Scriptures.
Everything else is commentary. <grin>

>but under Pope
>John Paul II the church went out of its way to declare that Judaism is
>STIL a valid religion, i.e., Judaism is the correct religion for Jews and
>Catholics can expect to see them in heaven.

And _that_ is a very, very modern concession by the Catholic hierarchy.

Alban