if i had a penny for every time someone asked me this question, i could possibly quit school and buy myself an island to be king of alr.

was asked a few weeks back and just the day before, someone else asked me again,
" so whats the difference between catholics and christians huh? catholics are not christians right?"

sighh.........

thats as insulting as saying that im not my mother's son man
eh i ask you, "ya brother and you dont share the same mother right?"
how does that feel?

please do take some time to read on,

okay, basically there are three major religions rooting from the belief in the same God. Judaism, Islam and Christianity. the fundamental difference of Christianity is the belief in Christ as the way to salvation.
within Christianity there are three major Christian communions in order of size, the roman catholic church, the united protestant church and the orthodox christians.

historically,
after the death of Christ, Christians, as all believers of Christ were generally known, were cruelly persecuted. in the fourth century, Christianity was eventually legalized by constantine, and further made as the official religion of the roman empire, thus the name roman catholic (meaning universal) church. the roman church with its influence soon grew in size. at the same time there were other Christian churches all throughout eastern europe, not under roman influence, set up by the other apostles besides peter, who of course set up the church of rome, thus making him the first pope.

around the 11th century, the eastern european churches, known collectively as the orthodox church divided from the roman catholics in the great schism due to administrative and doctrinal issues, of which the leadership of the pope was questioned. understandably la.. why would eastern european churches not under roman rule wanna listen to a roman pope? some eastern churches have since reunited with the Catholic Church.

in the 16th century, due to the bureaucracy of the papacy, the roman catholic church was extremely corrupted, accepting money and favours for indulgences, which are sorta like wild cards to claim forgiveness. then came about martin luther (not the same martin luther as the civil rights one la, that one is martin luther king). martin luther began a movement called the protestant reformation, thus the name protestants, originally to change the church, not to break away from it. unfortunately due to political influences in europe, (remember that the churches in europe those days were strong political instituitions too, given divine authority to crown kings), things got out of hand and thus leading to a holy war. protestant leaders then began setting up churches of their own in protestant dominated principalities.

today there are several major protestant denominations, including lutherans by martin luther, presbyterians by john knox in scotland, methodists by john wesley in america and baptists by roger williams in america, among many others.
one interesting protestant denomination set up were the anglicans. catholics will tell ya that it came about cos the king of england wanted to divorce his wife for another woman who could bear him a son but the pope wouldnt let him, well which in a way isnt entirely untrue. he replaced papal supremacy, making the king of england the head of the anglican church. in actual fact, anglicans practise similar liturgy as catholics.

doctrine wise,
there are of course differences between catholics and protestants. all those bullshit about catholics worhiping mary is laughable, we don't. the misunderstanding probably came about from the act of saying the rosary, which is considered an indulgence.
okay, here it gets a little sticky. the concept of indulgence is the primary cause of conflict between catholics and protestants, all other differences either root from this or in my opinion are trivial. ya always hear how protestants abhor how catholics believe they can earn their way into heaven? well it isnt entirely untrue that catholics believe that. in a sense, catholics believe that they can do certain things to make up for what they have done wrong, gaining forgiveness from the church ergo God himself. protestants vehemently disagree with this and believe forgiveness can only be attained by the acceptance of Christ. indulgences include acts such as crossing themselves, saying the rosary, confession of sins to a priest, abstaining from meat on fridays and fasting as well as the concept of purgatory etc. in the novel davinci code, that was exactly what silas was doing when he flogged himself and wore that spike thingy. that was why he kept muttering "forgive me, i am sinful."

i think only 2 out of 10 catholics knew about this, which brings me back to my point exactly. sorry for going one big round but im sure all this was informative. okay basically what im saying is that does all this shit matter? really, does it? i know choosing a religion is not like choosing a soccer team to support. but at the end of the day ya must ask yourself, do i worship God because i wanna practise the religion or because i love God and i believe in Him? there is a very big difference mind you. for me, i say the rosary not because i believe in indulgences, i dont, even as a catholic i don't. i practise all that i do because i wanna give thanks to Him, not because i wanna earn His goodwill, i dont have to, He gives it freely. so disagree with me if ya want to, but i believe each individual defines his own beliefs, be it catholic or protestant. it doesnt matter which denomination you are from or what ya practise, so long as you have accepted Him and are true to Him. if flogging yourself for the Lord is your way of worship, flog all ya want i say!

for what its worth, hope this helps the the ignorant, misinformed or adamant
i sacrificed a good hour writing this post
maybe next time ppl will think twice when they say catholics will go to hell
fuck you all understand!

if ya couldnt get enough of reading long theological crap, here's more:
on the reformation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation#Roots_and_precursors:_14th_century_and_15th_century
on indulgences
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_29091999_en.html
on differences between protestant and catholic doctrines
http://www.lepg.org/religion.htm