Roman Catholics vs. Conservative Protestants

COMPARING THE BELIEFS OF
ROMAN CATHOLICS AND
CONSERVATIVE PROTESTANTS

Overview:

This essay compares Roman Catholicism with the conservative wing of Protestantism.

In the 16th century, during the Protestant Reformation, many faith groups split away from the Roman Catholic Church. This destroyed the relative unity of Christendom in western Europe. The Protestant movement further fragmented during the following centuries. At the present time, there are over a thousand Christian denominations in North America alone, in addition to many thousands of independent, unaffiliated congregations. Although there are many mainline and liberal Protestant faith groups, most are conservative in nature.

The beliefs of both the Roman Catholic church and conservative Protestant denominations are in a state of gradual change. Examples are:

	The acceptance of the theory of evolution by the Catholic church, and the continuing rejection by most conservative Protestants.
	The acceptance of homosexual sexual orientation -- but not same-sex behavior -- as morally neutral by the Catholic Church, but not by many conservative Protestants.
	The rejection of the death penalty by the Catholic church, and the continuing acceptance by most conservative Protestants.

The gap between the two groups is increasing over time. Future reunification of the Christian religion appears impossible.

Both Catholics and conservative Protestants generally agree on some major theological matters, like the existence of angels, Mary's virgin conception; Jesus' sinless life, incarnation, crucifixion, bodily resurrection, and his imminent return of Jesus to Earth in the second coming; Heaven, Hell; the Trinity, and the deity of Jesus. They agree that his execution brought about atonement -- the potential to bridge the gulf between humanity and God caused by sin. However they disagree on how this was achieved. They partly agree about the significance of baptism, but disagree about the timing when it is normally performed. They do not agree on which books are included in the official canon of the Bible.

Perhaps the main difference between conservative Protestantism and Roman Catholicism is expressed by the "five Solas". "Sola" means "alone" in Latin. The first three Sola statements of the early Protestant movement stressed that:

	"Sola Scriptura:" The Bible is the sole authority for Christian beliefs and practices. The Catholic Church stresses a balance between Biblical support and the tradition of the Church itself.
	"Sola Gratia:" One is saved through grace alone, given to the believer by God directly. The Catholic Church stresses the importance of church sacraments as a channel for God's grace.
	"Sola Fide:" Salvation is by the individual's faith alone in trusting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Again, the Catholic Church stresses the importance of church sacraments.

There also exists a great gulf between the two groups on other matters of belief and church practice -- particularly with regard to the rapture, authority within the church, church organization, freedom of the individual, freedom of each congregation, etc.

About abortion access, homosexuality & other social policies:

The divisions are deep and long-standing. This has led to prejudice and discrimination. Hostility is particularly high in some countries in South America, where Protestants -- particularly Pentecostals -- have been taking "market share" away from the Catholic Church. Bloodshed has resulted in some areas.

In spite of these conflicts, these two wings of Christianity have been able to take joint programs in some areas. Catholics and Protestants have cooperated in North America to: restrict abortion access, oppose to equal rights and protections for gays and lesbians including same-sex marriage, oppose physician assisted suicide, and other "hot" moral and religious topics. They differ slightly in their approaches to what they regard as the two most serious social evils: homosexuality and abortion access

Homosexual behavior: Both groups consider homosexual behavior to be hated by God and a major sin. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that, in most cases, a homosexual orientation is not chosen; it is rarely changeable in adulthood, and is not, in itself, sinful. The church regards all homosexual behavior to be intrinsically sinful, regardless of the degree of love and commitment within the relationship. They consider a homosexual orientation to be a disordered state. Homosexual support groups in the Church promote celibacy. Most conservative Protestants downplay the concept of sexual orientation and emphasize same-sex behavior -- i.e. what people do is more important than what they feel. Most believe that homosexual behavior is indirectly caused by poor parenting and/or sexual abuse during childhood. They view such behavior as chosen, abnormal, unnatural, and changeable. Their homosexual support groups emphasize changing behavior with the goal of opposite-sex marriage.

Abortion access: Both groups believe that human life, in the form of a spermatozoon and ovum, becomes a human person with a soul at the time of conception. Ending the life of that human person is murder, at all stages of development from conception to birth and beyond. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that ending the life of a pre-embryo, embryo or fetus cannot be allowed, except in very rare cases where a life-saving operation on the woman results in the unintended death of the embryo or fetus. Individual Roman Catholics often take a position that is more liberal than the official stance of the Church. Conservative Protestants differ in their stance on abortion access. Some would permit it in cases where the pregnancy was initiated through rape or incest. At the other extreme, some believe that abortion is never warranted, even to save the life of the woman.

On matters which are not related to human sexuality, the Roman Catholic Church tends to be far more liberal than conservative Protestant denominations. Its bishops often speak out strongly on moral matters such as:

	Elimination of the death sentence,
	The elimination of poverty,
	Provision of universal health care,
	Social injustices that have arisen from uncontrolled capitalism,
	Unjust wars,
	etc. 9

Comparison of beliefs:

Contrasts between Roman Catholic and Evangelical Christian beliefs are shown below. "...Evangelicals hold that the Catholic Church has gone beyond Scripture, adding teachings and practices that detract from or compromise the Gospel of God’s saving grace in Christ. Catholics, in turn, hold that such teaching and practices are grounded in Scripture and belong to the fullness of God’s revelation. Their rejection, Catholics say, results in a truncated and reduced understanding of the Christian reality." ₁

Any one-line list of comparisons, such as this one, is inevitably simplistic. Within Evangelical Protestantism there are often significant differences among Baptists, Calvinists, Christians of the Reform tradition, Fundamentalists, Pentecostals, etc., that cannot be explained in a few words.

Each of these theological beliefs can easily be expanded into a full essay. We plan to do this eventually, for many of these topics.

Theological Belief	Roman Catholic Church	Conservative Protestants
Apostolic succession	Believe that present-day ordinations can all be traced back to the original apostles.	Concept rejected as historically invalid; it simply didn't happen.
Attitude towards each other	The church considers Protestants to be Christians, but possessing only part of the truth.	Some consider Catholics to be non-Christians
Authority within the church	Vested in the hierarchy of the church.	Within the believer (soul freedom), the congregation and the denomination.
Baptism, significance of	Sacrament which regenerates and justifies.	Testimony of a prior regeneration after trusting Jesus as Lord and savior.
Baptism, timing	Usually done in infancy.	Usually done later in life after person is "born again."
Bible, status of	Historically teaches that the original writings by Bible authors are inerrant. This is being debated.	The original writings of the biblical authors' writings are inerrant.
Bible, content	The church includes the same 66 books in the Bible as do Protestants. But it also adds the books of the Apocrypha.	Most accept only the 66 books of the Old and New Testament. Most conservative Anglicans also include the Apocrypha.
Change of beliefs, practices	Debate and dialogue is sometimes forbidden -- particularly on human sexuality topics.	Relatively free discussion allowed, except, in some denominations, on matters related to homosexuality.
Church, structure	Hierarchical.	Usually democratic, except among some new religious movements.
Clergy, selection of	Appointed; all male; almost all unmarried.	Elected; mostly male; single or married.
Discipline	Pressure from the clergy and laity. In serious cases, errant members can be denied the sacraments or excommunicated.	Pressure from the clergy and laity. Various denomination have formal policies of shunning, disfellowshipping and excommunication.
Ecumenical action	The Church views the fragmentation of Christianity into thousands of faith groups to be a sin. They want non-Catholic Christians join the Catholic Church.	Some view Catholics as non-Christian. Thus they are to be treated as other lost souls, on a par with Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Wiccans, etc. Others view Catholics as brothers in Christ and engage in joint projects on social matters.
Forgiveness of sin	Achieved through repentance, church ritual, with the involvement of a priest.	Achieved through prayer to God directly without any human intercessor.
Hell	More than a physical place, hell is a state of being involving "the pain, frustration, and emptiness of life without God."	A real physical place of unbearable torture which lasts for all eternity with no hope of mercy, relief or cessation.
Homosexuality, nature of	A homosexual orientation is generally unchosen and thus is not, in itself, sinful. However, it is a disordered state. However, all homosexual behavior is sinful.	They generally downplay the concept of sexual orientation, and concentrate on homosexual behavior which they consider to be a major sin. They view homosexuality as chosen, unnatural, abnormal & changeable.
Immaculate Conception of Mary, circa 20 BCE. (Note 1) [See also, virgin birth, below]	Required belief.	Denied.
Infallibility of the Pope	in rare circumstances, members are required to believe in matters of religious doctrine and faith as stated by the Pope.	Denied.
Limbo	A place for infants who die before being baptized, and for Old Testament saints. 6 Concept is not officially taught. 8 Most Catholic theologians have abandoned belief in limbo. 7	Existence denied.
Lord's supper/Eucharist	A sacrifice. Christ's body and blood are physically present and are consumed by believers.	Memorial meal. Christ's body and blood are present symbolically only.
Mary's status	Mary's status is below Jesus', but above that of the saints. Some regard Mary as co- redemptrix with Jesus; this is not currently taught by the church.	The Virgin Mary plays a relatively minor role. Only trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior saves a person.
Non-Christian religions	Have some value for the truth that they contain. However, some rituals can inhibit salvation.	Some consider them worthless, dangerous, and demon-led.
Prayer	To God. Also may ask Mary or a saint to intercede on their behalf.	Prayer is addressed to God, not to saints.
Purgatory	A state of being in which souls are cleansed by purifying punishments before they can enter heaven.	Does not exist.
Sacraments	The means of grace.	The symbols of grace.
Saints	Saints form a major part of the religion. People can pray to saints and ask them to intercede.	Saints do not form a major part of the religion. One prays to God, not to saints.
Salvation, achieving	Dependant on faith, and church sacraments.	Dependent on faith only.
Salvation, losing	It is lost when a responsible person commits a mortal sin. It can be regained through repentance and church sacrament.	Usually, once a person is saved, they cannot lose their salvation. Some denominations teach that one can lose one's salvation.
Salvation among non-Christians	It is possible that those outside the Roman Catholic Church can be saved in spite of the errors in their religious beliefs.	Opinions differ. Many feel that all those who have not been saved are lost and will spend eternity being tortured in Hell.
Statues, venerating	Frequent veneration of statues and images as symbols of Jesus, Mary and of the individual saints.	Many consider veneration of statues as idolatry -- a violation of the "graven images" prohibition in the second of the Ten Commandments.
Truth	Mainly found in scripture, as interpreted by the church. Also found in church tradition.	Most believe it is found only in scripture, as interpreted through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit within the saved individual, their congregation and denomination.
Virgin birth (actually virgin conception; circa 5 BCE) See Note 1.	Required belief.	Nearly universal belief.
Visibility of the Church	The hierarchy of the Church, including the laity, plus the Church's Spirit, referred to as the "Spotless Bride of Christ."	Invisible fellowship of all saved individuals. Only God knows the exact makeup of the Church.

Note 1: Many people confuse the Immaculate Conception with the virgin birth. The former is a Roman Catholic belief that in about 20 BCE when Mary herself was conceived, she was without original sin. The latter is a generally held belief among all conservative and most mainline Christian denominations that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived about 6 BCE. Religious liberals generally consider both to be mythical events that never happened.

Some key theological differences:

Justification: An individual is "justified" when "they are brought into right standing and into a right relationship with" God. 3 Of all of the many points of disagreement between Roman Catholic and Evangelical Protestant belief, the mechanism by which a person becomes "justified" is perhaps the most important. Lutherans "refer to justification as 'the chief doctrine upon which the church stands or falls'." 3 The "classical reformed view of Calvin and Luther" teaches that there are two steps to salvation: 2 Each individual is hopelessly lost in sin. He/she is at enmity with God. She/he can't even understand the gospel message; it appears as foolishness to them. Thus, the Holy Spirit must first intervene and change that person's heart, so that they can begin to understand the gospel message, and develop a faith in Jesus. This is termed "regeneration" or "rebirth." When the individual uses their newfound faith to trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and repents of past sins, they are "justified." This is commonly referred to as being "saved." Salvation is a once-and-for-all change. 3 Once a person is saved, they remain saved forever. Even if the person commits a dreadful sin in the future, their salvation remains intact. The Roman Catholic position is more complex: Each infant is hopelessly lost in sin. In the past, the church taught that infants are indwelled by demonic spirits that must first be exorcised. The infant is baptized, by spreading water over its face or by total immersion. By this sacrament, regeneration and justification is automatically granted to the infant. When the person attains the age where they are responsible for their actions, and commits their first mortal sin, then the justification that they obtained at baptism is lost. Through the sacrament of Penance (confession), if they have faith, they can have justification restored. Steps 3 and 4 may be repeated many times during their life.

Grace: Both Evangelicals and Roman Catholics believe in grace ("the free and unmerited assistance or favor or energy or saving presence of God in his dealings with humanity..."). 4 But Evangelicals view grace as a direct action by and from God; Catholics view grace as originating from God, but flowing through the conduit of the sacraments. Evangelicals see salvation and justification as one-time events; Catholics look upon them as being repeatedly lost and potentially regained through the church's sacraments.

Associated essays on this site:

	"Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" between the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church.
	"Evangelicals and Catholics Together" is an organization of Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics who are attempting to cooperate. Their discussions and statements have exposed in detail the differences between the two wings of Christianity.