Why do people have such a bad opinion of the Catholic Church?

Question

Why do people have such a bad opinion of the Catholic Church?

Answer 1

It is accurate knowledge of the Catholic Church which shows it deserves a bad image - but they aren't the only ~Christian~ church to be in that sinking boat.



The Torah-observant Messiah gave us a lifestyle to follow. Not many do. Most 'religious' people follow a denomination & their dogma which for the most part are based on (pagan) traditions of man, particularly of the heretic Emperor Constantine. The Pope rubber-stamped Constantine's secular decrees, claiming the authority & power to change God's Law. The Reformation was a failure - the protestants still follow the Cult of Constantine & the Popes. To wit: ~Sunday Sabbath~, Christmas, & Easter are the biggest abominations against God.

Answer 2

Bernard Law and his ilk. That, honestly, was not the beginning. Peoples problem with the Catholic church goes back farther than that. The Inquisition, the ruling power, the practices hatred are just a few. of the things. At the end of WWII it was the catholic church that helped some of the Nazis' escape to South America with passports issued by the vatican consolate (there is proof of that, go look it up) scandle after scandle has rocked the church with the latest being the handling of the sexual abuse. But that went far back too. In the 1990 there was a man called Father Porter. He had been accused of molesting alot of kids. Rather than deal with it in a manner deemed acceptable the church went after the MEDIA and accused them of blowing it out of propotrion (in all actuality the meadia hadn't even gotten past the tip of the iceberg with it.) Then rather than do the right thing by the victims and admit there had been a problem they fought it tooth and nail. Why make victims suffer more? But that is what they did. This is just the latests of their problems but right now it is the one that people most remember. While the catholic church is one of the biggest, if not the biggest its' self, in the world they are rapidly loosing membership because of issues it refuses to bend on among other things. The scandels are not helping it. When you have an orginization that big there is bound to be problems, like any, and it has no more than any other but because it is a religious orginization it is expected to be held to a higher standard, yet it isn't acting that way.

Answer 3

Catholicism is spiritual adultery... and you need to leave it... and be pure for Jesus... being a member ONLY of the true 'the Way' of Acts 24:14



Catholicism (I refer to the core of the Catholic Church) is not 'the Way' of the New Covenant. They (core leaders) deceive about that. Catholicism does not even resemble the original Church in anyway.



Its not a "bad opinion." Catholicism is storing up wrath against itself. It is not of the New Testament... it does follow the New Covenant.



The Spirit of Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor... he does not give misconceptions... if he did... it would be clear that he was not the Spirit of Jesus.



The Spirit of Jesus is against Catholicism... he wants you to be pure... and not be in spiritual adultery.



Test yourselves... to see if you are truly in the faith...

Answer 4

I'm catholice too. My buddies who were catholic don't like it because they feel let down. That they should be getting more from God simply because they're catholic and have followed him. I often see that they don't really go back and check the teaching of the church.



I mean they got educated when they were kids. When I was a kid, I was told that if I belived hard enough, I could be President of the USA, and I firmly bleived that I would be. Now, I'd be happier married with kids. Life and its perception changes. So, I feel really sorry that those who feel let down don't go back and relearn.

Answer 5

i was raise catholic. There is alot of paganism in the catholic church, praying to saints, the virgin Mary, they idolize Mary, which would hurt her if see could see it. any person, has as much authority in the spiritual realm as the priest but they don't teach you that. It is a control church, full of misconceptions. read the bible, find out what it says about things, you'll see the truth in the words that I have written

Answer 6

duh ---- ask the little boys

Answer 7

ffagirl,



I don't think it has anything to do with misconceptions. The media may have brought problems within the church to light, but any blame lies directly within the church hierarchy. If lack of knowledge applies anywhere, it would be with those responsible for first casting a bad light on the church.



I don't need to tell you that the debacle that rocked the Catholic Church two years ago when bishops and padres were accused and found guilty of "inappropriate behavior", "sexual battery" and other charges successfully brought on these people. The talk then was the failure of "cardinal law," and other means of screening out those who would do things like this. The Catholic Church is SO huge, it's bureaucracy massive, and the pontiff respected and followed by millions...any talk of inpropriety is going to attract massive attention.



I know that the Catholic Charities help a lot of folks around the world...it's a shame that more light isn't cast on the good things the church does, but, you know as well as I do that good news does not get good press...it's not fair, but that's the way it is.



ADDED 2/3/06 @ 1309 EST:



ffagirl, I just read in the paper where the federal court in Washington awarded $47 Million to some 27(?) participant in a class-action lawsuit against that particular parrish. The Bishop(?) commented that "Catholics everywhere should accept the verdict and damages awarded." It was also written that the monetary damages will be collected from "parrishes all over the world." I am dismayed that the Roman Catholic Church in Rome had nothing to say in this matter and that the central church has nothing to do with settling the damages...instead, the bill goes to all the hard working Catholics the world over. Does this seem right?

Answer 8

Some do, some don't. If you read history, you will find that when it was at its greatest power, it was very harsh against those who did not believe as it did. See the Spanish Inquisition. Some are afraid that this will happen again. If you will read what the church itself says, it can be very candid in saying that it believes that the Catholic Church should deal firmly with those who it considers to be heretics, those who will not submit to being governed by its dictates.

Answer 9

It's all the bad publicity regarding child molestation...that and a lot of misconceptions, lack of knowledge, etc. I was raised Catholic but I disagree with many of the Catholic teachings. They are above the "Laws of Man" since only God can judge you.

Answer 10

Lack of knowledge has to take it, I think. Most of what anti-Catholics know about our faith comes from anti-Catholic apologetics and tracts of the Jack Chick kind, and not any first-hand knowledge. The most ardent detractors are often people who have never seen the catechism, don't know what the CC teaches, and people who've never set foot in a Catholic parish. That's where all the weird stuff about "worshipping statues" and what not comes from.



Of course, some people have a bad opinion of the Catholic church because they are Catholics who were badly served by the church itself. There have been too many bishops too quick to protect their priests and their diocese, and did not care enough about their flock to protect them. I'm thinking of the abuse crisis.



Where that matter is concerned, I think it will be to us, the laity, to take matters into our hands and make the church listen to us.

Answer 11

Well, there are a number of reasons...the church covering up for paedophile priests, the church's opposition to birth control in places like India where it would VERY appropriate, the church's approach to no sex before marriage, the idea of papal infallibility is quite offensive to many, the undoubted wealth of the Catholic church seems to be at odds with the (superb) work of many missionaries living in the poorest part of the world, the failure of the Catholic church(at times) to take a tough stand on human rights in South American countries... these are a few points that are widely held, rightly or wrongly...

Answer 12

you're evaluating apples and oranges. you may no longer degree the previous with a yardstick from the present. particular, there have been some abuses contained in the Church -- *clergymen* advertising indulgences -- yet those have been corrected. @ Rocky -- Boy, do you choose a background lesson. the 1st connection with Christ's church as "catholic" substitute into by potential of St. Ignatios (c 35 - 107), Bishop of Antioch. The Emperor Constantine died in *337*, and there *substitute into NO* Roman Catholic Christian church until eventually now the great Schism between East and West in 1054. until eventually now that, the only, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church created by potential of Christ had 5 patriarchies -- or seats of authority - in Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, which potential there have been 5 Patriarchs. The Patriarch of Rome grew to alter into the Catholic Christian Pope after the Schism. you do no longer ought to take my observe for it. Google the 'background of Christianity' so which you will no longer make a fool of your self contained sooner or later. And who have been those different "Christians" you confer with? the place is there documentation that they existed everywhere yet on your strategies? . . . . Oh, this is genuine; you have no longer have been given any documentation.

Answer 13

I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST CATHOLIC PERSONS, IT'S THE PAST UNCHRISTIAN ACTIONS OF THE CHURCH, & THEIR TEACHINGS.



The Roman Church, though, considered itself supreme over every empire and kingdom. War became its instrument of power. Pope Innocent III promised the wealth of all of Languedoc to any army that could subdue the princes and crush out all dissent in France’s southern domains. What followed was one of the bloodiest periods of torture and murder in French history. It became known as the Albigensian Crusade (1209-29).



SOME nine hundred years ago, in 1096, the First Crusade was about to begin. If you had lived in Western Europe then, you might have witnessed large movements of men, wagons, horses, and ships. They were headed for Jerusalem, the holy city, which had been under the control of Muslims since the seventh century C.E.



That was the first of the Crusades. Many historians list eight major ones. These expeditions scarred the history of East-West relations. They were accompanied by massacres and cruelty committed in the name of God and Christ. The last major Crusade began 174 years later, in 1270.



The word “crusade” comes from the Latin word crux, which means “cross.” Members of the many expeditions sewed the symbol of the cross on their clothing.



A crusade was mounted against the “heretics,” and the Catholic crusaders massacred 20,000 men, women, and children in Béziers, France. After much bloodshed, peace came in 1229, with the Albigenses defeated. The Council of Narbonne “forbade the possession of any part of the Bible by laymen.” The root of the problem for the Catholic Church was evidently the existence of the Bible in the language of the people.



The Bible states regarding practicers of homosexuality: “Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals . . . will inherit the kingdom of God.”—1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Revised Standard Version, Catholic edition.

Answer 14

it's the impurities. we are like a sheeps untendered by the shepherd. it's in the malpractice of sacred teachings of Jesus Christ. it's the commercialistic approach to religion. the pretensions... but no matter how bad others think of catholicism, this is the religion of my birth. and i'll die a catholic.

Answer 15

Passage Matthew 7:17:

17Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit [[a]worthy of admiration], but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit. Amplified Bible (AMP)

OR

17 Likewise every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces worthless fruit; 18 a good tree cannot bear worthless fruit, neither can a rotten tree produce fine fruit. 19 Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Really, then, by their fruits YOU will recognize those [men].