Now that I’m a new Catholic, I’m curious as to why there is so much hatred toward the Catholic Church among both Muslims and Protestants. Thank you.
Wow, Thank you for this answer.
I would like to preface my response with, not all members of either group hates the Catholic Church, but what many perceive the Catholic Church to be. Bishop Fulton Sheen said this.
For Muslims, I would say that some hold onto the beef of the past. The Catholic Church had to defend herself against militant Islam in the 11th to the 17th centuries. I am not about generational beefs. I think they are stupid and do not do anyone any good. Rather, I am about acknowledging what had happened in the past and saying that this was no about us here today. I do not hold Muslims today accountable for their part in those wars.
For Protestants, there are so many different denominations that it is difficult to lump them all together. Some Evangelical Pastors will bash Catholic Christians from the pulpit. You would never hear a Catholic Priest bash Evangelical Christians during the Sacred Liturgy. When we do mention our separated brothers & sisters at Mass, it is to Pray for them.
There may be some Protestants who harbor ill-will towards Catholic Christians for wars of the past like some Muslims do, but usually when Protestants bring up the Crusades it is more to with judging our moral character than it is about being wronged.
Most Protestants adhere to a reformed theology and they will often try to contrast what they believe to what they think we believe, based on misconceptions and blatant falsehoods. A perfect example of this is the five Solas. Some Protestants will say, “we believe in Scripture alone and therefore Catholic Christians do not believe in the Bible” (which is laughable to us, because we know how the Bible came to be and what it is to our understanding of Who God is). “We believe in faith alone, and therefore, Catholic Christians do not believe you need to have faith” (also fake news). “We believe in grace alone, and therefore Catholic Christians do not believe in grace” (anyone who believes this about Catholics doesn’t understand the Sacramental life). “We believe in Christ alone, and therefore Catholic Christians do not believe Christ is their salvation” (again, have they not been to a Catholic Mass and if they have, were they not paying attention?) “We believe that God deserves glory and honor alone, and therefore Catholic Christians do not believe in giving God glory and honor” (also laughable.)
Another reason that some Protestants (more so the non-Denominational types, as I was) do not like defined moral truths. They like to live more in the grey area between sin and holiness. They often do not like traditional things like vows, commandments, and rules, of which Jesus did not come to abolish, but to fulfill and to elevate. “You have heard it said that…, but I have come to say…” Jesus did not lower the bar, but raised the bar, so high in fact that no one can do it alone without His grace! For He is the way, the truth, and the life. Anything we do that is of merit, is because of Him working in us and through us. Thanks be to God!
I think that most who hate Catholics, are simply ignorant and it is easy to mock that which we do not understand. Just look at Jesus’ own life. He was spat upon and ridiculed as He carried His Cross to Calvary. And remember what Jesus tells us, that if anyone hates us, remember that the world hated Him first (John 15:18).
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