# Is it a sin for Catholics to associate with non-Catholics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192 "2010-02-16T13:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/61 "2010-02-17T04:58:49Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > I don’t blame him. The altar is a raised table. I had a feeling I got the name of that wrong. The platform that the altar is on? ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/62 "2010-02-17T05:48:19Z")
I’m surprised that this thread remains in GQ in that organised religion offers no (if any) factual answers. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/63 "2010-02-17T06:39:07Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > I’m surprised that this thread remains in GQ in that organised religion offers no (if any) factual answers. I think it’s clear enough from the OP that the question is “Does Catholicism consider it a sin if … ?” There’s no reason why that cannot be answered factually. > [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > … no (if any) … 😕 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/64 "2010-02-17T07:38:50Z")
This idea in the OP comes, I think, from 2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/65 "2010-02-17T07:50:12Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > This idea in the OP comes, I think, from 2 Corinthians 6:14 > > “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” One cannot be know without knowlege of the other, right? ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/66 "2010-02-17T07:57:59Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I think it’s clear enough from the OP that the question is “Does Catholicism consider it a sin if … ?” There’s no reason why that cannot be answered factually. > > 😕 > > 😛 Sorry, but the OP, in my jaded and cynical mind was on par with “Does dogshit have issues with flies buzzing around it”? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/67 "2010-02-17T14:47:16Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > Sorry, but the OP, in my jaded and cynical mind was on par with “Does dogshit have issues with flies buzzing around it”? [moderating] This is a GQ thread, **Claude Remains** , and that post doesn’t contribute anything. Please don’t leave unpleasant droppings in threads. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/68 "2010-02-17T15:16:00Z")
From when I was doing the altar boy thing (roughly 20-25 years ago), it seemed to me that the vast majority of early-morning weekday mass-goers were little old women who probably remember Pius X as a major heartthrob. I mean, we’re talking ancient old Italian ladies dressed in black with doilies on their heads. Besides us altar boys, the priest was usually the youngest person in the church. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/69 "2010-02-17T16:17:26Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > I’m surprised that this thread remains in GQ in that organised religion offers no (if any) factual answers. There’s a very clear distinction that can be made: Religious belief: “At the consecration of the Mass, the bread and wine become Jesus’s Body and Blood.” Fact: “_ **The Roman Catholic Church teaches that** _ at the consecration of the Mass, the bread and wine become Jesus’s Body and Blood.” Religious belief: “Jesus Christ was truly God and truly man, at the same time.” Fact: “_ **Most Christian denominations believe that** _ Jesus Christ was truly God and truly man, at the same time.” Going outside religion and into the realm of the bizarre: Highly improbable opinion: “Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and various groups are covering this fact up.” Fact: “Orly Taitz and the people termed ‘Birthers’ think that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and various groups are covering this fact up.” A factual statement may be made about what some people hold as religious or other blief. Th factuality is not dpendent on the truth of the belief but on whether the statement accurately reports what it is that they believe. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/70 "2010-02-17T17:21:40Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > From when I was doing the altar boy thing (roughly 20-25 years ago), it seemed to me that the vast majority of early-morning weekday mass-goers were little old women who probably remember Pius X as a major heartthrob. I mean, we’re talking ancient old Italian ladies dressed in black with doilies on their heads. Besides us altar boys, the priest was usually the youngest person in the church. A lot of widows and other people who choose to make the church a major part of their community as well - often because they don’t have a lot of other community - kids moved out and on, spouse passed on - and a church can be a comforting and accepting place to spend your time. And churches run off those people - they are the ones hosting funeral suppers, knitting potholders for the church bazaar and doing all the volunteer tasks a church needs to have done. Even my Unitarian church is dependent on the “widow contingent” - although we don’t have a daily service to offer them ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192/71 "2010-02-17T17:33:33Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > A lot of widows and other people who choose to make the church a major part of their community as well - often because they don’t have a lot of other community - kids moved out and on, spouse passed on - and a church can be a comforting and accepting place to spend your time. And churches run off those people - they are the ones hosting funeral suppers, knitting potholders for the church bazaar and doing all the volunteer tasks a church needs to have done. Even my Unitarian church is dependent on the “widow contingent” - although we don’t have a daily service to offer them Yes, my mother-in-law was not a widow, but when she got older she was going to mass every day, and she was a Eucharistic minister, and volunteered to drive old people to the grocery store, and stuff like that. We used to joke that she was still volunteering at the point where someone should probably have been driving HER to the grocery store! But it kept her active and involved in the community. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-a-sin-for-catholics-to-associate-with-non-catholics/529192.md?page=3)