RELIGIONS

In this corner of the website we will discuss particular religions and how they are related to Catholicism. Our interest is in historical questions as well as doctrinal questions.

In the chapter Islam and Christianity we explore the origin of the Islamic Religion, its beliefs, its factions, its interactions with Christianity, and its present status as a world religion. At the present time most Westerners have a very distorted view of the reality of Islam. We as a nation will be better able to cope with the terrorism problem if we increase our understanding of this rival monotheistic religion.

In the chapter on the Protestant Reformation we discuss the important historical documents that enable us to comprehend the state of mind of the various reformers and the members of the denominations they founded. John Calvin left us a book Institutes of the Christian Religion which gives us a panoramic view of his beliefs. Another important early Presbyterian document was the Westminister Confession of Faith.  Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon left us with the Book of Concord, which comprises several documents such as the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, The Smalcald Articles, Luther’s Long and Short Catechisms, and the Formula of Accord. This book had the subtitle The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Episcopalian or Anglican Book of Common Prayer provides us with their beliefs and practices. Many of the ideas expressed in these documents, which characterized Protestantism at its origins, are closer to present day Catholicism than they are to the contemporary religious groups that owe their origins to these documents. We are not aware of any comparable historical document pertaining to the Baptists so we looked over and commented on the Faith and Message posted on the Southern Baptist website.

The chapter on the Society of St. Pius X gives us some insight into this schismatic group which left the Catholic Church in 1988. More details can be found on our website www.consideringpiusx.com Finally, the chapter Conflicts and Ecumenism discusses various conflicts that arose in the Church and within religious orders down through the centuries, and approaches which have been utilized to try to heal them.