Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Sobran and Pope Benedict

The Western Confucian discusses the one and only Joe Sobran. Mr. Sobran says:

The Pope has also reaffirmed the supremacy of the Catholic Church, a doctrine never denied, but certainly soft-pedaled since the disastrous Council. For some reason this has irritated many Protestants, who seem to think their sects can thrive without the strong presence of Catholicism. Incredibly, one Protestant editor has referred to Catholicism as a “denomination,” rather like Mormonism. Does he know what the word means? He might as well speak of the sun and moon as “planets.” Share

3 comments:

Ecgbert said...

Incredibly, one Protestant editor has referred to Catholicism as a “denomination,” rather like Mormonism.

That should be 'rather like the United Methodist Church' or another denomination that doesn't claim to be the one true church.

Mormonism is not only a non-Christian religion* but IIRC Mormons believe they have the one true faith (they believe they are the true Christians; we're 'gentiles') so they'd be offended at being called a 'denomination' too.

To be fair to that editor, that may well be how his church sees the Church of Rome. Mainline Protestants may be indifferentists but at least they acknowledge Rome as Christian!

Protestant churches that claim to be the one true church:

- some 'confessional Lutherans'
- some Baptists (who claim a kind of succession even though they don't have bishops)
- the Churches of Christ (part of the 'Restoration'-of-the-true-church movement in the 1800s that also begat Mormonism)

*That grew out of 19th-century Protestantism and uses a lot of Christian language, like the name 'Jesus Christ' in its formal name, which intentionally confuses a lot of people. When I was a kid I didn't know any Mormons (and still don't) and thought they were just another (conservative) Protestant denomination too.

elena maria vidal said...

Good point. I was wondering about that myself....

Anonymous said...

Odd. Sobran should know better.