Can We All Just Get Along?

    In my past two blogs, I discussed my mother’s religious upbringing and the history behind it. My mom grew up being a Catholic, and she recently converted to a Baptist. A common theme in my mother’s religious history is denominationalism. Both religions are Christian denominations. A denomination is a branch of a larger religion that share some creeds, codes, or cultuses with its precursor including the centrality of the Bible, Jesus Christ and his saving grace, and the importance of religious freedom. (1) Denominations have often “denounced each other’s teachings” even though they share roots. (2) The Catholic and Baptist churches are a perfect example of denominations denouncing each other even though they are fairly similar. 

   My grandmother was disapproving of my mother’s and aunts’ decision to convert to the Baptist Church and even threatened to miss my aunt Gladys’ wedding earlier this year. She said that she would not attend a marriage lead by someone preaching the wrong beliefs. The animosity that exists between these two denominations is present all over the world. In 2006, Catholics vandalized a newly built Baptist church in the Middle East, because they claimed the Baptist church was trying to steal their members on top of refusing to join the Middle East Council of Churches. (3) The negative opinions for each other seem mutual. In early 20th century Texas, Latino Baptists maintained anti-Catholic attitudes for decades even having conferences dedicated to shaming Catholicism for their different beliefs. (4) The Middle East Catholic church is the most conservative of these two examples. But, they are in the Middle East; they have different creeds and codes. The Baptists who had anti-Catholic views were completely absurd. One of the main codes as mentioned before is the importance of religious freedom. They are violating this code when they express their anti-Catholicism. It is ironic that this specific code isn’t being complied with. The first Baptist Church in the US was established by Roger Williams, a man who fled from England to America “in search of religious freedom.” (5) According to both the Catholic and Baptist belief systems, everyone should be getting along. If children in these religions are going to grow up and be hateful toward people because they hold a different belief than them, the Catholics and Baptists should just shut down their churches and call it a day. Of course, not all Catholics and Baptists are unwelcoming of each other. In fact, the Anti-Catholicism among Latino Baptist in Texas settled down enormously after the Civil Rights movement in the sixties due in part to cultural integration in the region and the Vatican Council II. (6) These denominations are flexible to change, but their teachings have other consequences.

  Catholic and Baptist attitudes towards each other are not the only attitude being affected by their creeds and codes. A study conducted in 2010 examined how religious creeds affected the way a person would seek help. In the study, two groups of either Roman Catholic or Southern Baptist were asked to imagine having a gambling problem or a depression problem; the study concluded that although they had different belief systems individuals in both denominations “[viewed] gambling as a moral problem, and that the church will be seen as a treatment resource.” (7) The study also found that compared to Catholics the Baptists expected more forgiveness, which reminded me of my mom. I’ve noticed that when she thinks she’s done something bad she stresses how sorry she is about what she’s done even if it’s something small like losing her temper or something that happened in the past. But this is new to me, because my mother never used to do this. She started doing this recently after converting to a Baptist denomination. I found this study interesting, because it showed how two denominations could be so alike yet so different. Their reactions and approaches to events such as gambling or emotional dilemmas based on their creeds and codes is fascinating. My mom was never a person to talk to us about religion or make us pray at night when she was a non-practicing Catholic. Now, I can see how her religion affects her judgment. 

The Catholic Church and the Baptist church are two denominations who have denounced each other in the past. There are still a few groups who actively denounce each other, but if they are true to their religion, the communities of these denominations should get along or at least try. These groups although having different ways of working are similar in that when they are having problems they turn to their church. At the end of day, for both groups, God is all that matters. (Oh yeah, even my grandma realized this. She ended up going to the wedding!)

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1. George, Timothy. 2013. "Catholics and Baptists together: the recent synod of bishops sounded notes Protestants can sing." Christianity Today 57, no. 1: 73-318. ATLA Religion Database, EBSCOhost (accessed September 7, 2013).
2. Albanese, Catherine. America Religions and Religions. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub., 1981. p 278.
3. Lamprecht, Peter. 2006. "Clash of churches: Catholic villagers attack Baptists, vandalize church." Christianity Today 50, no. 11: 21-318. ATLA Religion Database, EBSCOhost (accessed September 8, 2013).
4. Barton, Paul. Hispanic Methodists Presbyterians and Baptists in Texas. Austin: University of Texas, 2006. p. 121-122
5. Weber, Nicholas, eds. Baptists. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Last modified September 7, 2013. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02278a.htm
6. Barton, 126
7. Yorgason, Donald, et. al. “Perceived religious support for problem gambling: does church doctrine influence help-seeking?” Mental Health, Religion & Culture, Vol. 15, Iss. 1 (2012): 87-102.

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Related to this: A bunch of religious jokes about Catholics, Baptists, and Methodists in the comments of a Christian blog: click here