Protestants

[Murphy]

How many Aprician's are Protestants?

[poiuytrewq0987]

Not me. I'm still on the "fence" on religion. Though you think it'll be funny to see a Balkan protestant, eh? :p

[Murphy]

Not me. I'm still on the "fence" on religion. Though you think it'll be funny to see a Balkan protestant, eh? :p

Funny? No :P..

[Óttar]

Protestants are boring. They might as well just be Jews for Jesus. How does it make sense that they cast off the pope, and questionable Christian 'traditions' and yet at the same time they still celebrate Christ Mass on Dec. 25th and celebrate the sabbath on Sundays??? Luther didn't even need to start a new thing. I would have defected to Orthodoxy if I were him.

http://greecetourguide.blogsome.com/wp-admin/images/Greek%20Orthodox.jpg

http://aphs.worldnomads.com/smartin1978/685/LargestGreekOrthodoxChurch.jpg

http://www.iecclesia.com/archives/episode40/06_main_greek_orthodox_church_in_fira.jpg

http://www.paleks.com/Icons_files/Kazan%2520Mother%2520of%2520God.jpg

http://www.havelshouseofhistory.com/Dimitrios%20I,%20Ecumenical%20Patriarch.jpg

The Orthodox. They rebel against papal authority, and they still have good fashion sense! :P

[Murphy]

The Orthodox. They rebel against papal authority, and they still have good fashion sense! :P

I always turn to St John Chrysostom and history when dealing with Byzantines on matters such as this. It normally shuts them up :).

[Grumpy Cat]

Brought up Catholic. Still have respect for it because of the role of the Catholic chuch in preserving Acadian culture.

[Tabiti]

Not me. I'm still on the "fence" on religion. Though you think it'll be funny to see a Balkan protestant, eh? :p
Actually, there are some. Even in my family (Evangelicalism). It was modern in early 90's to convert to some "western" religions.

[Brynhild]

I was raised a Catholic and while I have nothing against the religion per se, I despise the dogmatic attitude that ties in with the patriarchal teachings. So in that sense, I'm a protestant. And I've always been a polytheist, so a monotheistic deity has never appealed to me.

[Wyn]

They might as well just be Jews for Jesus.

Agreed here.


I would have defected to Orthodoxy if I were him.

He made attempts to pull some of them in, I think. To be honest it has been a long while since I studied Luther-Byzantine history.



The Orthodox. They rebel against papal authority

Sort of. Not in the Protestant sense.


And I've always been a polytheist, so a monotheistic deity has never appealed to me.

I'm not one to defend Protestantism, but I imagine polytheism automatically bars one from being a member of most Protestant denominations. Except Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses, obviously...

[Treffie]

Protestants are boring. They might as well just be Jews for Jesus. How does it make sense that they cast off the pope, and questionable Christian 'traditions' and yet at the same time they still celebrate Christ Mass on Dec. 25th and celebrate the sabbath on Sundays??? Luther didn't even need to start a new thing. I would have defected to Orthodoxy if I were him.


Boring - but hard working (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic)! :thumb001:

[Loki]

Protestant Europe enjoys the highest living standards in the world, are the smartest, richest and most industrious. It could just be the coincidental similarity with the Germanic meta-ethnicity's distribution.

[Aramis]

Boring - but hard working (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic)! :thumb001:

I agree. Best example is one of their most prominent saints.

http://mjfd.webs.com/100_dollar_bill.jpg

[Lithium]

Actually, there are some. Even in my family (Evangelicalism). It was modern in early 90's to convert to some "western" religions.
My grand-grandmother is a protestant, maybe your comment explains why :D

[The Ripper]

I am nominally a Lutheran.

[Pallantides]

I'm a member of the Norwegian state Church.

[Allenson]

Sort of.

My family/heritage is of the WASP set here in America (Presbyterian/Congregational) but I am by no means a practitioner.

I've got the work ethic though. :thumb001:

[Bloodeagle]

I was raised in the Southern Baptist Convention. Let me clear the way and state that I hate going to church! :D

The word Southern in Southern Baptist Convention stems from its having been founded and rooted in the Southern United States. The SBC became a separate denomination in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, following a regional split with northern Baptists over the issues of slavery and missions.
This group epitomizes most of the (bad) in Southern white Americans.:loco:

[Moonbird]

I was baptized to a Lutheran.

[Äike]

Protestant Europe enjoys the highest living standards in the world, are the smartest, richest and most industrious. It could just be the coincidental similarity with the Germanic meta-ethnicity's distribution.

Indeed...

Lithuanian attributes Estonia's success to religion (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16643)

Lithuaniatribune.com writes with reference to weekly Veidas that the wealth gap between Estonia and the rest of the Baltic states was widening because of religion.

Explaining why Estonians have been less willing to emigrate than their southern neighbours, why they have higher monthly wages and the old age pensions (more than 20 percent higher than in Lithuania) and why Estonia’s GDP is higher than Lithuania’s by 12 percent, Lithuaian sociologist Mindaugas Degutis says religion is the major factor influencing this trend.

He said: “Estonians are Protestants and sociologist Max Weber already a hundred years ago noticed a link between Protestantism and economic development because the followers of this religion believe that they will be redeemed if they are good at work. This could have contributed to the factors that have led to the leadership of the Estonians – a faster and more successful implementation of reforms, the discipline which is characterises the Nordic countries, a political system more focused on pragmatic functioning instead of populist attitudes.”

...

I am a baptized Lutheran, but I'm not religious as I live in the least religious country in the world.

The funny thing is, when looking at non-religious countries, then Estonia is #1 with Sweden and Denmark being 2nd and 3rd. Now if you look at the European Economic Sustainability Index (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16641), then Sweden has the most sustainable economy in Europe while Estonia and Denmark share 2nd place.

Religion(or the lack of it) and the culture related to that religion strongly influence the lifestyle of people.

[Smaland]

Member of a Christian Identity church in my area.

[SwordoftheVistula]

Protestant Europe enjoys the highest living standards in the world, are the smartest, richest and most industrious. It could just be the coincidental similarity with the Germanic meta-ethnicity's distribution.

Yes, of all the religions, I think it fits the Germanic mentality best.

Also, at least the US variant has been successful in maintaining a conservative/traditionalist bent to a large degree, due to the decentralized nature of it. Not so much the state controlled churches in Europe, which have basically become another liberal social justice group. Some in the US have as well, but most people have quit attending these particular churches.

[Óttar]

Boring - but hard working (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic)! :thumb001:
All work and no play makes Proddy a dull boy. :D

[Grumpy Cat]

Protestant Europe enjoys the highest living standards in the world, are the smartest, richest and most industrious. It could just be the coincidental similarity with the Germanic meta-ethnicity's distribution.

Might be the case in Europe, but in North America, Canada has a Catholic majority and most PMs have been Catholic, and has higher living standards than the mostly Protestant United States.

[Loki]

Might be the case in Europe, but in North America, Canada has a Catholic majority and most PMs have been Catholic, and has higher living standards than the mostly Protestant United States.

True.

In my own ethnic group, Afrikaners, Catholicism is virtually unknown. It's completely foreign to us. The reason for this is because we are made up exclusively of European Protestant emigrees from Netherlands, Germany and to a lesser extent France.

[anonymaus]

How many Aprician's are Protestants?

I voted yes based on my upbringing and family, though I am obviously not a believer.

[Eldritch]

Protestant Europe enjoys the highest living standards in the world, are the smartest, richest and most industrious. It could just be the coincidental similarity with the Germanic meta-ethnicity's distribution.

Well, Bavaria, Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy are very prosperous areas too, and they are predominantly Catholic. So it just could be the latter option. Or some combination of the two perhaps.

EDIT:

Like most Finns, I "enjoyed" a bland, quasi-agnostic, nominally Christian Lutheran upbringing. However the whole issue is of so little importance to me that I couldn't even be bothered to formally leave the church until only a few years ago, when I could no longer tolerate their pathetic emasculated dhimmitude.

I mean, supposed followers of Martin Luther, who hardly delivered a single sober sermon in his life, openly applauding the spread of a religion that forbids alcohol ?!? Come the f**k on.

[anonymaus]

Might be the case in Europe, but in North America, Canada has a Catholic majority and most PMs have been Catholic, and has higher living standards than the mostly Protestant United States.

Certainly not representative of "Toronto the Good", where Catholics were the butt of many common jokes while I was growing up.

[Grumpy Cat]

True.

In my own ethnic group, Afrikaners, Catholicism is virtually unknown. It's completely foreign to us. The reason for this is because we are made up exclusively of European Protestant emigrees from Netherlands, Germany and to a lesser extent France.

Yeah. See among Acadians Protestantism is unknown. Not many converts outside, the only Protestant Acadians I know are gay and they converted because in Eastern Canada the Protestants will allow gays to marry but the Catholics will not.

Some Acadians do in fact descend from Huguenots, but I think the Catholic majority in old Acadia treated them so badly that they converted (it was illegal to practice any form of Calvinism in Acadia).

[Loki]

To be honest, since Christianity is in such a decline this Catholic-Protestant split is becoming a non-issue - except in areas like Northern Ireland, where the divisions run deeper than religion itself.

I myself am an atheist, so couldn't care less.

[Grumpy Cat]

Certainly not representative of "Toronto the Good", where Catholics were the butt of many common jokes while I was growing up.

That's just Toronto which has a Protestant majority. All of Canada has a Catholic majority, though. Not a big one, by any means, it's like a little over 50%. Pretty much everyone from Quebec on eastwards is Catholic.

[Loki]

That's just Toronto which has a Protestant majority. All of Canada has a Catholic majority, though. Not a big one, by any means, it's like a little over 50%. Pretty much everyone from Quebec on eastwards is Catholic.

Sounds like in Canada it goes along with the Anglophone-Francophone split.

[anonymaus]

Yes, of all the religions, I think it fits the Germanic mentality best.

Also, at least the US variant has been successful in maintaining a conservative/traditionalist bent to a large degree, due to the decentralized nature of it. Not so much the state controlled churches in Europe, which have basically become another liberal social justice group. Some in the US have as well, but most people have quit attending these particular churches.

Not to be left out: American Catholic churches and groups have notoriously supported "social justice."

[Grumpy Cat]

Sounds like in Canada it goes along with the Anglophone-Francophone split.

Not necessarily. In Eastern Canada there are a lot of English-speaking Catholics, and Gaelic-speaking ones as well. Most Aboriginals are also Catholic, but this is mainly because the French were the first Europeans to come in contact with them.

[Grumpy Cat]

To be honest, since Christianity is in such a decline this Catholic-Protestant split is becoming a non-issue - except in areas like Northern Ireland, where the divisions run deeper than religion itself.

I myself am an atheist, so couldn't care less.

I don't understand the Catholic-Protestant divide. Growing up I had many Protestant friends and so did my family. And I certainly was not taught to believe that Protestants were wrong and were going to hell, not by my church nor by my family. Even among religious people, it's not an issue.

Where one went to church was their own business.

[Saruman]

True protestantism is common in germanic areas and is rather a pragmatic way to deal with an irrational monotheistic faith so that it doesn't disrupt the development of society, as it usually does.
Of course I wouldn't extend this to some fanatical evangelicals...
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because
tlcE3HVRlRs ;)

[Murphy]

Not to be left out: American Catholic churches and groups have notoriously supported "social justice."

Contrary to the teachings of Holy Mother Church. The so-called "social justice" movement that sprung up after the Vatican II Council was spearheaded by Latin-American Marxist infiltrators. But even John Paul II, a Pope I am hardly the biggest fan of, did not tolerate the leaders of these movements.

Also, look at Archbishop Sheen, he was one of the faces of the American anti-Communist movement. He was a household name loved by Catholics all over the U.S. He was a true bane for these Marxist infiltrators.

[Pallantides]

I'm a member of the Norwegian state Church.

I'd like to add that I'm non-religious, but I have attended services, marriages, confirmations, funerals and other activites at the church. :)

[Murphy]

Protestant Europe enjoys the highest living standards in the world, are the smartest, richest and most industrious. It could just be the coincidental similarity with the Germanic meta-ethnicity's distribution.

Yes.. and Protestant Europe also happens to be the world leaders in the liberalisation of our socities. Abortion, mass-immigration, multiculturalism, social-marxism, the homosexual agenda..

A nationalist/preservation or whatever have you, cannot slam the social ills of his society whilst giving praise to the very roots of those ills ;).

[Beorn]

I think Protestants and the Protestant religion have just ceased to care full stop.

Gay vicar, 65, to marry Nigerian male model half his age (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1304674/Gay-vicar-65-marry-Nigerian-male-model-half-age.html)

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/20/article-1304674-0ADC40F2000005DC-405_468x694.jpg

[Grumpy Cat]

I don't know, I was once told by a Protestant that Catholics and Protestants should stick together, since most of the immigrants coming to my particular Canadian province of birth are Muslim. I think he raises a valid point.

But I was taught not to hate Muslims, either. A lot of people here do dislike Muslims, but it has nothing to do with the fact that they are Muslim, and more to do with the fact that the ones who have come recently want to society to adapt for them not the other way around. Muslims who's families have been here for a long time and have integrated we have no problem with.

In Eastern Canada, though, Protestants are more liberal. In both issues of immigration and cultural preservation and also in homosexuality.

[Loki]

I think Protestants and the Protestant religion have just ceased to care full stop.

Gay vicar, 65, to marry Nigerian male model half his age (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1304674/Gay-vicar-65-marry-Nigerian-male-model-half-age.html)

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/20/article-1304674-0ADC40F2000005DC-405_468x694.jpg


That's the English for you, not Protestants per se. ;) :p

[Loki]

In Eastern Canada, though, Protestants are more liberal. In both issues of immigration and cultural preservation and also in homosexuality.

They were not always. Most of these are nominal people, not true to their religion anymore.

[Grumpy Cat]

Yes.. and Protestant Europe also happens to be the world leaders in the liberalisation of our socities. Abortion, mass-immigration, multiculturalism, social-marxism, the homosexual agenda..

A nationalist/preservation or whatever have you, cannot slam the social ills of his society whilst giving praise to the very roots of those ills ;).

Yes, and those ideals really took off first in Protestant North America: The USA and English Canada.

[Murphy]

Yes, and those ideals really took off first in Protestant North America: The USA and English Canada.

As much as I would love to lay the blame for it all on yourside of the water, I must admit to my self that the foundations are here in Europe; in France, Germany and in England :P.

[Grumpy Cat]

They were not always. Most of these are nominal people, not true to their religion anymore.

Yeah. It depends on region, though. Like in the US, it's the other way around as someone already mentioned.

[Oinakos Growion]

I've lived in traditionally Catholic countries all my life and other than in Ireland (for other reasons, and less and less every time) it seems to me that Christian believers couldn't care less about the Protestant/Catholic divide. Emphasis has always been on "Christianity". Maybe it's a paternalistic view from the Catholic majority as in "those poor lads will come back home some day"... dunno... But I also felt that the few Protestants around are quite ok with it all, they just go to their own services and that's about it.
I don't care anyways. I'm not a Christian. Up to them and their sects.

[Grumpy Cat]

As much as I would love to lay the blame for it all on yourside of the water, I must admit to my self that the foundations are here in Europe; in France, Germany and in England :P.


I'd have to disagree there. It was the baby boomer generation in North America that brought all this shit on. They went all apeshit in the 60s and it all went downhill from there.

Even North American baby boomers admit it.

[Murphy]

I'd have to disagree there. It was the baby boomer generation in North America that brought all this shit on. They went all apeshit in the 60s and it all went downhill from there.

Even North American baby boomers admit it.

At grassroots level, yes I will agree with you. But the intellectual support for it all lies in French Humanists, English Rationalists and Martin Luther et cetera.

[Grumpy Cat]

At grassroots level, yes I will agree with you. But the intellectual support for it all lies in French Humanists, English Rationalists and Martin Luther et cetera.

And who were the favorite authors of those who wrote the US Constitution?

[esaima]

I am Lutheran, baptized and confirmed.


BTW, he paucity of religion in Estonia may make some Estonian hypernordic posters happy but i find no much reason to clap my hands:
so many Estonians say that there is an crisis of ethics in Estonian society.Or in fact everybody who wants to notice notices it: the cult of (economic) success, cult of expensive cars, new iPodes etc etc gives no space for ethics, soft values.To the values that christianity incurs.
But only harmonical society can be happy, i think.And religion may have its role to create harmonical society.

It is interesting that in the end of 80ies, beginning on 90ies then we made the singing revolution and struggled for independence, the religion was popular, if not very popular.

But then, at the beginning of 90ies we started to fetish economic success.

I posted my humble opinion about religiosity in Estonia
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showpost.php?p=220913&postcount=249

[W. R.]

I am not a Protestant but I love them: the greatest thing about Protestants is not their work ethics but their large families. You know what I mean. (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showpost.php?p=168434&postcount=1) :)

Although historically Belarus is the land of the victorious Counter-Reformation, protestantism isn't totally alien here, but its influence has significantly increased only during some last decades.

[Lulletje Rozewater]

Member of a Christian Identity church in my area.

Oh shit:D

[Lulletje Rozewater]

I don't understand the Catholic-Protestant divide. Growing up I had many Protestant friends and so did my family. And I certainly was not taught to believe that Protestants were wrong and were going to hell, not by my church nor by my family. Even among religious people, it's not an issue.

Where one went to church was their own business.

This will clarify the divide:D



Yet all the chickens of nineteenth century liberal Protestantism have come home to roost in the empty churches vacated by the spiritual descendants of Martin Luther. Biblical and evangelical fundamentalist Christians have no response to make to the agnostics and atheists that infect the liberal camp's benches, beyond an emotional appeal to accept 'the the Bible is indeed divinely inspired'.
Without attachment to Catholic Tradition, of which the NT is for all its importance, but a part, faith in what the Bible teaches, based on Bible teaching, is the crudest form of illogic that soon degenerates into Bibliolatry. And in fact the 'faith' of devout evangelicals is revealed to be based on what they fear almost as much as they fear Catholicism: human speculation. Even King Henry VIII could see this. In his Assertio Septem Sacramentorum, (Defence of the Seven Sacraments) the young king Harry ably defended the Catholic Church and the authority of the Pope against the novel doctrines of Luther, and for his pains was granted the title 'Defender of the Faith,' by Pope Leo X in October I521.
Catholics confronted by fundamentalists mouthing their preposterous accusations against the Church and peddling their 'Made in America' Take-Away religion need at least to know whence these ideas and accusations come.
All who quote Luther approvingly, should know that his mind and emotions were seriously disturbed. In modern terms we would call him a split personality. There were at least two Luthers - one of them was Catholic, and the other hated Catholicism, against which he rebelled, as he did against all authority (except that of the State). Eventually he rejected the authority of Reason.

[Óttar]

Without attachment to Catholic Tradition, of which the NT is for all its importance, but a part, faith in what the Bible teaches, based on Bible teaching, is the crudest form of illogic that soon degenerates into Bibliolatry.
How does attachment to Catholic Tradition all of a sudden make faith in biblical teaching logical? I suppose you have to dance around fires, light candles and chant in Latin to distract yourself from the blandness of "Biblical teaching." It's certainly more entertaining, I don't know about logical. :P

[Lulletje Rozewater]

How does attachment to Catholic Tradition all of a sudden make faith in biblical teaching logical? I suppose you have to dance around fires, light candles and chant in Latin to distract yourself from the blandness of "Biblical teaching." It's certainly more entertaining, I don't know about logical. :P

Did not say it,read again:D
You,obviously have never eaten Christ's body(or part thereof) and sucked his blood.:wink