How come people ask "are you catholic or Christian?"?

because people have a preconceived notion that Catholics are lax in their faith that theirs is a lesser worship that they are less in a personal relationship with Christ however id like to reiterate and say that there are Catholics to whom Jesus is lord and saviour were taught that as basics.

there are protestants who have a poor way of representing Christ and there are catholics who do the same so its not the religion its the faith one practices

It's because the Roman Catholic Church began with Emperor Constantine in 314AD and it is different from the “first church”, the real "catholic (universal) church" , that is recorded in the New Testament, especially in the Book of Acts and the Epistles of Paul.

This Roman universal church eventualy became the official State Religion of the Roman Empire and over time the Roman Church started merging in popular Pagan customs and ceremonies by changing the names and symbolism to Christian names and symbols so that their version of the church would have universal appeal through out the Empire and unite all the people.

Unfortunately over the centuries they also added doctrines that were not Biblical and rather against the Gospel message - including purgatory, limbo, selling of 'indulgences', over-adulation of the Virgin Mary, infallibility of the Pope (who was also corrupt during e.g. the reign of the Borgias), The Patron Saint system and so on.

Other Christians disagreed ( and rightly so) with many of these new heresies and split off: the Orthodox church, the Protestant movement including the Lutherans, the Church of England, and so on.

HOWEVER..... the vast majority of these denominations, including Roman Catholics, still believe in the same basics of Christianity: the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Virgin Birth etc as outlined in the statement of belief agreed at the Council of Nicaea in the 4th Century - known as the Nicene Creed, so all can quite rightly call themselves Christians.

Some cults also call themselves Christian because they say they too believe in Jesus, but the problem is their Jesus is a different Jesus to the Jesus of the Bible, they also have their own (and very different) interpretation of terms like the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Resurrection and the Virgin Birth, so they are not really Christians at all beause they follow a different Gospel and a different Jesus.

Because most people do not consider Catholic are christians. When Catholic only means Universal. We were the first Christians and still are. But these breakaways cannot get it through their heads that that's what we are. It' s the same with them always saying we worship our Blessed Mother and the Saints, when we do not. we petition them for help in begging Jesus to help us. It's called a loosing battle of wits, and understanding. God knows who you are and you know who you are so just leave it at that, and smile like the Mona Lisa when you hear anything like that again. God bless you, Merry Christmas.

The catholic Church goes back to 1st century. Much of the doctrine Protestants now reject dates from this time, the eucharist and confession et al. Also because there is a devotion to Mary, this is taken as worship of Her which is not the case as this is a sin in the eyes of the Catholic Church. But the Bible says Full of Grace, and only two in all of Scripture has been referred to as Full of Grace: Jesus who it is said is Full of Grace and Truth and Mary Full of Grace. Protestants forget how the ark of Moses time was venerated, Mary is the ark of the new and everlasting covenant. Hence some extreme Protestants state Catholics are pagan ect, despite the fact that at one time all Christians were catholics, yet Catholics do not see non Catholics as non Christians.

Many Protestants protest against Catholicism, but consider themselves Christian.

Perhaps your questioner thought Catholics are not Christian.

Because some people still don't consider the Catholic faith as Christian. They do many things that don't agree with the Bible. Like baby baptism, catechism, etc.

I guess the only reason that people try to make a distinction is that they desire to be called Christian even though they choose to worship in man-made ecclesiastical groups rather than the Church founded by Christ and the apostles. It is curious that they would have this desire even though they reject His Church that He prayed we would all be one within. Certainly Catholic and Christian are interchangable terms but to separate the oneness of Catholicism from the plurality of non-Catholic ecclesiastical groups calling themselves simply Christian emphasizes the rebellion of those protesting against His Church and the depths to which they have fallen in their plurality and separation from the biblical " One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church". God bless! May the Lord have mercy on them!

In Christ

Fr. Joseph

Christain refers to all the religions that believe in Christ. Where as Catholics are Christians (the do beleive in Christ), the church is operated on it's own doctrine. Much different than other churches. Not a whole lot of differences.

Catholics have Saints, hold Mary in high regard. if I am not wrong, are the only religion that believe Holy Communion is the body & blood of Christ, we have Reconciliation. The Nicine Creed tells you a run down of the beliefs that may differ from you average Christain church.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

the Maker of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

born of the virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell. [See Calvin]

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,

and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;

the holy catholic church;

the communion of saints;

the forgiveness of sins;

the resurrection of the body;

and the life everlasting.

It's the most disgusting thing fundies do, in my opinion - claim Catholics aren't Christians. It's the religious equivalent of racism. Can you imagine a white person saying a black person isn't really a human being? Same idea exactly.

aiminhigh: Actually, Catholics had the original Bible, and Martin Luther took it upon himself to remove seven books. The Catholic bible came first, not later.

To be honest I have not just heard people say this I have seen this on forms too, it's ignorance. They do not ask which of the 39000 protestant denominations are baptist, Evangelical etc or Christian.