"But Catholics aren't real Christians!"

[ProjectOmicron88]

I hate this argument. I really, really cannot stand it.

I'm in a debate with someone on DeviantART, about how faith relates to morality. He posits that following Christian doctrines always leads to good moral fiber. Not true, says I, and slap him with the Inquisition. But wait, says him, the Inquisition was a Catholic movement, and therefore doesn't count. What the ******** time I checked, Catholicism was a Christian sect. Believing Jesus died on the cross for your sins? Check. Belief in a virgin birth? Check. Bibles? Check. I've seen this argument before, and never got around to asking. Could someone tell me how people make this distinction, when in reality such a distinction shouldn't exist?  

[Levis Pennae]

That argument is complete bupkist(?). The entire Christian faith in the western world is based off of catholicism. Protestant is just a rebellion against the catholics. That was my input/rant.  

[Theophrastus]

Levis Pennae

That argument is complete bupkist(?). The entire Christian faith in the western world is based off of catholicism. Protestant is just a rebellion against the catholics. That was my input/rant.

Bumkus?

Bumpkis?

Bumpkus?

Spell check and the interwebs aren't any help, here. At least not at a casual glance.  

[Tenth Speed Writer]

The inquisition wasn't a catholic thing, it was a stupid people thing. Just evidence of human nature.

"They're not like us! KILL THEM! ..and justify it with our god so the plebs won't whine about it!"  

[ProjectOmicron88]

Tenth Speed Writer

The inquisition wasn't a catholic thing, it was a stupid people thing. Just evidence of human nature.

"They're not like us! KILL THEM! ..and justify it with our god so the plebs won't whine about it!"

No, the Inquisition was a Roman Catholic movement to weed out heretics and blasphemers, mainly in response to a rise in Protestantism.  

[Theophrastus]

Here we go...

...anyone wanna collect bets?  

[lyodpdl]

I hate that. It's like you want to take them aside and calmly explain that, just like all grasshoppers are insects but all insects are not grasshoppers, so it is with Catholics and Christians.

Though I would lay the blame of the inquisition on the fear of an unstable land with two monarchs trying to bring together a shaky country more than Catholicism.  

[ProjectOmicron88]

lyodpdl

I hate that. It's like you want to take them aside and calmly explain that, just like all grasshoppers are insects but all insects are not grasshoppers, so it is with Catholics and Christians.

Though I would lay the blame of the inquisition on the fear of an unstable land with two monarchs trying to bring together a shaky country more than Catholicism.

Okay, fine, fine, let's put the Inquisition aside. Didn't expect it to be the main point of discussion.

My original question: Why do they differentiate between sects like that?  

[reverie0312]

You can always slap them with the slaughtering of the Anabaptists in Munster, Westphalia, which was carried out by both Catholics and Protestants. Or you can bring up the Peasant's War, in which many Lutherans committed atrocities. Or you could mention the Salem witch trials, in which English-American puritans burned innocent people at the stake.

If you want some examples that are from a time period closer in history, you could bring up that all denominations of Christianity that were popular in the American South supported slavery and racism (many still do). The KKK is a Christian hate group. Almost all Christian churches also contributed to the suppression of women (and the Bible has a whole stack of anti-feminist verses). In fact, many present-day churches forbid women from holding church office or being church leaders. The greatest modern cruelties of nearly all denominations of Christianity (excluding only the very most tolerant branches like Unitarian Universalism) is religious fanatics violent persecutation and abuse of LGBTs (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Trans people) and anyone who is involved in abortion. Radical Christians bomb clinics, kill doctors, beat and lynch LGBTs, and plenty of other things.

That doesn't include all the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants, either. Hell, they're still fighting in Northern Ireland, although they've mostly been behaving since 9/11.

Don't worry about their mediocre defenses of dividing the sects, and focus on how much the Protestants are assholes and wrong, too. You don't need the Inquisition to prove that Christianity hurts people.  

[reverie0312]

ProjectOmicron88

lyodpdl

I hate that. It's like you want to take them aside and calmly explain that, just like all grasshoppers are insects but all insects are not grasshoppers, so it is with Catholics and Christians.

Though I would lay the blame of the inquisition on the fear of an unstable land with two monarchs trying to bring together a shaky country more than Catholicism.

Okay, fine, fine, let's put the Inquisition aside. Didn't expect it to be the main point of discussion.

My original question: Why do they differentiate between sects like that?

The differentiation between Catholics and Protestants makes some sense, because Protestantism is at its heart a reaction to the corruption, idiocy, and cruelty of the Catholic church (although that last bit is shakey, because none of the Protestant reformers really advocated against religious warfare).

The differentiation between various Protestant sects is usually silly and nearly always ridiculous.  

[Levis Pennae]

ProjectOmicron88

lyodpdl

I hate that. It's like you want to take them aside and calmly explain that, just like all grasshoppers are insects but all insects are not grasshoppers, so it is with Catholics and Christians.

Though I would lay the blame of the inquisition on the fear of an unstable land with two monarchs trying to bring together a shaky country more than Catholicism.

Okay, fine, fine, let's put the Inquisition aside. Didn't expect it to be the main point of discussion.

My original question: Why do they differentiate between sects like that?

Basicaly the protastants believe that the individual person can contact 'God', and you don't need to go to church every week to go to heaven, you just have to believe and pray. The catholics believe that you have to go through the proper channels and ceremonies to speak to 'God', and that you have to be relgious in going to mass.  

[ProjectOmicron88]

Okay, now it's something more than just this. It seems as though this person is excluding people who do bad things from the realm of Christianity as a whole, regardless of the faith they profess. In other words, he seems to be using the fallacious "No True Scotsman" argument.

He's also using the argument from ignorance, saying that I'm too closed-minded to understand what he's saying.

In a nutshell: "If you do something bad you're not a follower of Jesus! True faith DOES cause morality!"
"Well the people who do these things may beg to differ. The stronger their faith is, the more likely some people could be to--"
"La la la la la, I'm not listening, you're too close-minded!"
"See, now you're just--"
"LALALALALALALA"

I know mocking the guy is probably not the most mature thing to do, but I needed to let off some steam...this sort of s**t really irritates me.  

[PickleBoy]

I have a friend whose Mormon and she gets this all the time. "Mormons aren't christian." She gets really upset about it too. And I suppose I can understand. My cousin, who is a "Born Again Christan" (how can you be born again when you've only been born into the religion once?) and she says that catholics and mormons aren't christian. I don't really get it...  

[Fuzzy Kittens]

Don't argue with idiots. They'll bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.  

[Levis Pennae]

Even when I am on their level I still manage to beat their faith senseless, go figure