There are lots of articles that could be posted that depict the roman catholic church in a much worse light than it currently is viewed.
Yet these are not posted to avoid the flame wars.
Who is "we" are you some sort of collective? I find it better to always assume others have good intentions. My mother-in-law always assumes the worst, guess who's happier?
There are lots of articles that could be posted that depict the roman catholic church in a much worse light than it currently is viewed.
Yet these are not posted to avoid the flame wars.
Please see the entry under "rnmomof7", THAT'S why they're not posted. They used to be, constantly.
Well, it does seem that certain RCs are compelled to promote their church due to it being their object of primary earthly devotion and security. That in itself is an argument against them, as is invoking apostate former S. Baptist (and likely social liberal*). Meanwhile, the church did not overall begin with Jewish or pagan leadership converting, but with the common people:
Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. (John 7:45-49)
David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. (Mark 12:37)
And it is these who leave Rome to find better pasture in evangelical churches, far more than those who cross the Tiber the opposite direction.
Those who have left Catholicism outnumber those who have joined the Catholic Church by nearly a four-to-one margin. 10.1% have left the Catholic Church after having been raised Catholic, while only 2.6% of adults have become Catholic after having been raised in a different faith.
80% of adults who were raised Protestant are still Protestant, but (analysis shows) 25% no longer self-identify with the Protestant denomination in which they were raised.
Over 75% of those who left Catholicism attended Mass at least once a week as children, versus 86% having done so who remain Catholics today.^
71% of converts from Catholicism to Protestant faith said that their spiritual needs were not being met in Catholicism, with 78% of Evangelical Protestants in particular concurring, versus 43% of those now unaffiliated.
Only 23% (20% now evangelical) of all Protestants converts from Catholicism said they were unhappy about Catholicism's teachings on abortion/homosexuality (versus 46% of those now unaffiliated); 23% also expressed disagreement with teaching on divorce/remarriage; 16% (12% now evangelical) were dissatisfied with teachings on birth control, 70% said they found a religion the liked more in Protestantism.
55% of evangelical converts from Catholicism cited dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings about the Bible was a reason for leaving Catholicism, with 46% saying the Catholic Church did not view the Bible literally enough. - Pew forum, Faith in Flux (April 27, 2009) http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/fullreport.pdf
*David P. Talley recommends the trilogy of books by Taylor Branch, who uses Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the whole community of the civil rights movement as a lens…and a door…to an invitation…to live the promises given to us. - http://www.patheos.com/blogs/catholicbookblogger/2015/04/27/the-clergy-speaks-auxiliary-bishop-david-p-talley/