Differences Between Roman Catholic And Protestant Churches

The first difference between the two religions is their services. Roman Catholic services are held in sanctuaries that are richly decorated

Lastly, the only person who could call a counsil was the Pope. This last point emphasizes that the Roman Catholic Empire created laws of their own that were dictated by one sole person. Luther set out to spread his idea of true Christianity.

For my Meet the Believers assignment, I focused on Catholicism and Nondenominational Christianity. My Catholic interviewee, who I’ll refer to as John, is middle aged and was raised Catholic. My Christian interviewee, who I’ll refer to as Jane, is a young adult and was similarly raised Christian. From my interviews and attendance of worship services of both groups, several themes and concepts came to the forefront: the tensions between fundamentalism and modernism, the important conversation of gender and ethnicity, and the “true” good understood by both believers through their respective religious groups.

From the beginning of time of the early development of each religion, there were various differences between the Christian and

For example, in Document 3, it includes,"Because of the inseparable relationship between the church and politics, many of the clergy had became as corrupt as noble families paid for church offices...People were also upset by the high taxes charged by the bishops to support the Pope and his projects." This means that because of clergy wanting money, the bishops and other clergy members raised taxes to get people to pay the Pope and the other clergy. The church addressed this problem by putting it aside for later examination. The church attempted to fix the problem but it kind of got forgotten. The clergy just went on abusing their power like Nero or Caligula in the Roman Empire. The clergy kept thinking they could get away with anything just because the Pope had the power of excommunication: he had the power to not let other human's souls go to heaven and banish them from the Church. The bishop or parish priest were very important. The priest baptized you and the few people who can actually read the bible were the parish priests. They could only read it because the Bible at that time was written in Latin. That was until Martin Luther copied it into the language the others knew: a form of German. The people of the church were so important that the others paid the high taxes until they had enough of paying them so much. Then Martin Luther came along

During the period between 1538 and 1546, there was a lot of religious dispute between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholics wanted to retain their traditional practices and beliefs, whereas the Protestants believed in sola scriptura; that the Bible and other holy texts had supreme authority.

When choosing a religious service I was very limited on my choices so I was intrigued to go back to my roots and try the Catholic denomination. This denomination is the one that is most prevalent in my community and also in my social circle as well. Since I have actually been to a Catholic church as a child I thought I knew what to expect but I was shocked at how naive I was to the subject. My preconceived ideas and thoughts were that there would be a lot of getting down on your knees then back up again then saying your Hail Mary’s with not much depth to a service. Also growing up with a social group that was full of Catholics you would always hear of confession so that was something I was particularly dreading for the fact that I did not

The time of the Reformation sparked a lot of religious controversy and the Protestant churches were the child of which the controversy bore. In writing the 95 Theses, Martin Luther tried to abandon or lessen the excess ideas and doctrines that provided an obstacle to the main focus, which was God. His ideas detracted from the focus of possessions, and more unto faith. As a result of the break from the Catholic Church, the Protestants had many divergent ideas, like how Protestants believed in 2-3 sacraments, no veneration of saints, the simplicity of Protestant churches, and the biggest idea, the Eucharist. The Catholics had the beliefs of 7 sacraments, complex churches, veneration of saints, and transubstantiation. All these differing ideas helped shape the protestant church and what was then the Protestant

Another major difference is the status of a Pope. In Roman Catholicism, the Pope is the head of the church and carries down tradition of Roman Catholicism. The Pope is allowed to speak on behalf of God and has authority of the Church. Protestants believe that no one person can be the head of the Church. They believe nobody can speak on behalf of God except for the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Christ will always be the head of the Church. Protestant churches may have a pastor who serves to teach the teachings of the Bible but cannot make bold decisions on behalf of the Church.

Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Catholics once included a solitary Christian church with two focuses of force, Rome and Constantinople. Known as the Great Schism, was the official split between Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Church. The Church split along doctrinal, religious, phonetic, political, and geographic lines, and the central break as never been mended. Though the Church split because of their differences, they still had some things that were similar.

Christianity has two main factions, which are the Catholics and the Protestants. Within the Protestants group, there are quite a number of denominations. The different groups have some slight differences especially on issues regarding what one needs to do to get to the

The Catholics and Protestants were once together, therefore they are very similar but they do have a few differences. The Protestants believed that church services and the bible should be taught in a way that is legible to their people. Unlike the Protestants, the Catholics believe that it should be taught in its original form, even if they cannot understand the language. Church services with the Catholics remained in Latin, as it has in the last 1000 years (Alchin 2). The Catholics believed that their priest were special people. They believed that without their priest they could not connect with God. In a Catholic church the priest holds all of the power, not only was it impossible to

Christianity is broke in to three divisions Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. In 1054 a major break in Christianity took place, giving birth too two major sects. The major sects were called Catholic and Orthodox. In the 16 century another split became, and that sect was called Protestant. The issue of religious authority continues to be a fundamental difference and perspective between the sects of Christianity. For example, the Pope was not acknowledged by the Orthodox as a worldwide supremacy. Comparison is the Catholic's religious structure cored around the Pope. Thus Christianity has multiple sects and is far more complex.

The first picture shows a church that is full of paintings and sculptures, this is a photo of the Catholic Church. In the Catholic Church they worshiped relics and used many statues and other pieces of art. Along with the use of relics, the Catholic Church used the bible to teach and preach about God, whereas the protestant Church did not. The second picture is of a church that is mostly empty, this shows the protestant church, because they did not use relics and they focused on their relations with god.

Protestant doctrine varied greatly from the doctrines of Catholicism. The main deviance in Protestant doctrine in is the answer of how a person obtains salvation. In Catholic doctrine a person obtains salvation through good works and penance. Luther felt that there is no amount of good works a person could perform to be worth of everlasting salvation. In "Justification by Faith Alone" Luther says, "… I grasp that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith" (Luther 261). Luther's statement means that the way to obtain salvation is to believe and trust Jesus Christ and God (Kagen 357). Also Protestantism emphasized scripture over ritual. Luther attacked the catholic ritual in his “Babylonian Captivity of the Church.” He said that only two of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church were biblical. Those two sacraments are baptism and the Eucharist. The Catholic Church’s policy of selling indulgences was another important part of the Catholic Church Luther attacked. He thought the idea that a person could buy their way to salvation was utterly wrong. He went on to say that the pope was not infallible (Kagen 360). That idea went completely against what the Catholic Church believed. These were some of the ways that Protestant Doctrine differed from Catholic Doctrine.