No troubles when I was a kid, but in my adult life, more than one atheist has made it clear that, while I apparently am a very bright individual, believing in a deity means that there’s a certain level of idiocy that I subscribe to. :rolleyes: Kinda like some threads on the Dope.
I’m Catholic and married to a former Protestant, now converted to Catholicism (a decision that actually surprised me quite a bit, as I had no problem at all with a mixed-religion marriage). But after converting, my wife refused for many years to let her family know about her baptism in a Catholic church. When I asked about it, she made some vague references to having been warned by her sisters that, once we were married, I was bound to suddenly reveal my dark side by pressuring her into converting. She said she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of thinking they had been right.
But when we were expecting our first child, she was visibly upset one day after receiving a letter from one sister. When she showed it to me, I was absolutely floored at the venomous attacks it contained, all trying to convince my wife to let me have as little to do as possible in raising our child. There were the usual accusations of idol worship. Lots of pope=antichrist stuff. Even accusations of child and elderly abuse (Apparently, we call our priests “Father” as a first step in disrespecting and eventually disowning our true parents, then going on to a complete breakdown of the family structure,…). And all this from a woman who was all smiles and sweetness when we met in person.
I later found out this was not the first such letter, and read several later ones over the next ten years. I’m sure that my sister-in-law doesn’t realize that I’ve seen any of these.
In the sense that Catholic teachings don’t depend heavily on what the Bible says, then yes.
To take it further, Catholicism is heavily dependent on the human factor – it’s the Pope, not the Bible, that decrees the official stance on anything and everything. It’s up to you whether to follow it, whether in its entirety or only on certain topics.
The feeling I’ve always gotten from non-Catholic friends (evangelical Christian or otherwise) is that, to them, Catholicism isn’t very independent-friendly (which, if you’re devout, is absolutely correct). Each church has the same readings and gospel on any given Sunday, whether it’s in your hometown or on another continent. The Bible isn’t used by the “faithful” – it’s the most recent edition of the St. Joseph Missal that has the hymns in the back. There have always been rules and such set down by the Popes which should be followed if one is to be a “good Catholic”. The rules have relaxed somewhat since Vatican II, but there are still traces of some, while others have remained fixed since time immemorial.
Because Catholicism isn’t a Bible-dependent religion, it’s usually looked at with scorn and Hell-Fire-Damnation contempt by those whose church is heavily Bible-dependent.
Back when I was a practicing Catholic (I count myself Agnostic these days), I was a little annoyed that Catholicism doesn’t put much emphasis on actually reading the Bible. Considering that it’s the basic Holy Book of the faith and all, you’d expect that it would be given a lot of importance. But, in fact, you can be a good and devout practicing Catholic and never open the book. Your obly exposure to it would be the brief weekly readings at Mass, which certainly don’t cover the entire Bible — or even the entire New Testament. Serious students , of course, do read the Bible, and a great deal of other material besides.
We had a Douay bible at home on a stand, but it wasn’t read regularly or studied, as I understand is the case with many Protestant groups.*
- And with Mormons. I attended Mormon services in SLC out of curiousity, and they had a Bible-study session before the regular service, in which they went over one section in some detail.
I got teased a lot in high-school and early in college for being a virgin according to my faith. I dont anymore though, because… ummm… cough. Things change.
Nope, never have.
*Have you ever been treated negatively because you were Catholic? *
Only by nuns.
You noticed that too , huh ?
Nothing you can do about it though – love thy neighbor and all that entails .
Yeah, quite a bit growing up in a Southern Baptist neighborhood.
Later on, my first wife’s grandmother wouldn’t come to the wedding because it was in a Catholic Church.
And even now, although I haven’t been a practicing Catholic for decades, my wife still secretly believes that I will take our now-grown children some night and have them baptized.
Addressing the OP, Only in East Belfast 
.
(I’m joking by the way)
Sure, but I had real parents so my feelings weren’t easily hurt by citizen wannabe’s.
I once asked my mother why she never said a disparaging word about people (strangers in particular) and she told me how poorly she was treated as a child over religion. I think times have changed considerably.
I was called a demon worshipper once (they’re disguised as the Saints, you see).
Luckily the rest of the people there at the time were…you know…sane, and laughed the fool out of the room.
[ Straight Dope Minute ]
“For thine is the power, the glory, and the Kingdom” is neither Protestant nor biblical.
It first appears (in different versions) in the early church teaching document, the Didache, and then appears in a few later versions of the Gospel of Matthew, (although never, as far as I can recall, in the Gospel of Luke).
Fairly soon, it became a liturgical addition to the prayer (at least in the East). I am not exactly sure when it dropped out of the Latin/Roman Rite Mass, although it has remained in both the Orthodox and the Eastern Rite churches in Communion with Rome even before it was “restored” to the Latin Rite mass following Vatican II. It is interesting that the Protestant denominations have it, suggesting that it was either dropped from the Roman Rite following the Council of Trent or that the Protestants deliberately looked to the Eastern Rites to reintroduce it.
[ /Straight Dope Minute ]
Oh God.
It wasn’t anybody’s idea of a negative treatment, I mean, he did it with his best intent and all… but I had a (American, raised first Catholic and then Southern Baptist, by the time I met him sort of Independent) bf who, whenever I brought up the subject of sex, would give me this speech about how he understood staying a virgin was extremely important to me and he totally respected that, yes, totally and I could be sure he’d respect it completely and… and well, I imagine I could have hit him with a brick and stunned him long enough to get him to hear “I’m not a virgin damnit and let’s fuck!” but I was too polite 
Until the first time that happened, I hadn’t understood my friend B when she said that the only reason she stayed a virgin until the wedding night is that her hubby is non-practicing and she knew that was the one point that would make him understand how important practicing is to her. It sure seems to be a “sticking point” for some, indeed!
I found it somewhat funny to read about the US stance on Catholics, because over here in Germany, it’s exactly the other way around. If you are Catholic, you’re more regarded like a fundy would be in the States - for some Germans, saying you’re Catholic is the equivalent of waving a Chick Tract about, and that’s why you might be treated negatively. I hail from predominantly Catholic Bavaria, which is usually smiled upon by the rest of the country as being backwards and conservative. And I went to summer Bible Camp while my Protestant classmates went to the local pool, which was the reason for some derision.
Claiming Catholics were not Christian would gather you surprised looks over here, because, hey, look at the crucifix over there (we’ve had a big discussion in the media about crucifixes being displayed in Bavarian classrooms)!
As to the debate about the Lord’s prayer: In my local Catholic church in “regular” Mass we use “For thine is the power, the glory, and the Kingdom”, but only after the break where the priest says “Deliver us from evil…”. If you were praying the rosary, however, you would leave it off.
That’s a really good point.
My family is not Roman Catholic, but my mom told me that when she was a teenager her cousin started dating a catholic girl. His parents forbade him from bringing her to the house and refused to meet her or even mention her by name. His mother told my mom (her niece) that she would have rathered he even dated a black girl (of course she said ‘nigger girl’) than a Catholic.
I became an Episcopalian several years ago and the first time my grandparents visited I took them to church with me. I sensed they were pretty uncomfortable. About halfway through the service my grandfather says to me, “You’re not… Catholic, are you? This church seems kind of… Catholic.” I wanted to tell him that yes, as a matter of fact, many Episcopalians consider themselves Anglo-Catholic; but I didn’t want him to run out screaming.