What is your religious background?

vespacat

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I'm just curious which religions those here on TCS are affiliated with.

Personally, my birth certificates states Protestant, and I spent a small amount of time in the United Church growing up (CGIT) as well as being surrounded (and proselytized!) by the LDS (Mormons) having grown up in Southern Alberta.

Since moving to Toronto, I began to study Judaism out of personal interest, and did over the course of 2 years. I took classes with rabbis and Jewish scholars, and learned about Jewish law and customs. It was a wonderful, life-altering experience, although I never converted.


So, how would you "label" your faith? Please explain if I haven't included your option on the poll. I'd love to hear any stories.
 

esrgirl

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I was raised American Baptist, although I am a convinced Quaker (Religious Society of Friends). In high school I was Wesleyan- but I really didn't know anything about their theology or history- I just enjoyed the youth group I attended! I called myself an athiest for a few years in college, becoming a Quaker in my fourth year as an undergrad (I was on the five year plan
) I do not consider myself a Protestant, as historically Quaker theology has been quite different from general Protestant theology. We are much more similar to Catholics and especially Eastern Orthodox Christianity in theology- although definitely not in practice!
 

esrgirl

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Oh, and the Church of England is actually the primary "headquarters" of the Anglican Communion. In the US, and every where else, this is the Episcopal Church. The Anglican Church is Protestant!! I thought about converting to the Episcopal church at one point and I still love to worship among them. If you aren't Catholic, and you aren't Protestant, but you are a Christian you very well might be a Coptic Chrisitan, or an Eastern Orthodox Christian.
 

sar

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Originally Posted by rosiemac

Thats what i thought?, but a friend told me anything different from protestant or catholic was classed as C of E?.
I really did think that Methodist stood alone - especially as some of the oldies in my Village would NOT go to the other Church at all!
 

rosiemac

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I've just asked a co worker here and now he said the two main ones are catholic and protestant, so methodist, C of E, and any other goes under being protestant?!.

I'm a Methodist, end of!!!
 

esrgirl

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The main groups are actually Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox. Orthodox includes Greek, Russian, Hungarian, etc. Did you see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? That Church is pretty huge and has been around as long as Catholicism. There was a rather significant split, primarily based on the nature of God, Holy Spirit, and Christ, in early Church history.
 

oz'smum

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I always thought anything other than Catholic, eg, Methodist, C of E, Baptist etc etc were Protestant. But they are also all different. That's why Methodist people would go to a different church from the C of E. And Vise Versa. I don't think that Methodist is C of E as it's more a Welsh church.

I think people class them all as C of E, but they should be grouped as Protestant. I'm not 100% sure on that, but 90%.
 

rosiemac

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Originally Posted by Oz'sMum

I always thought anything other than Catholic, eg, Methodist, C of E, Baptist etc etc were Protestant. But they are also all different. That's why Methodist people would go to a different church from the C of E. And Vise Versa. I don't think that Methodist is C of E as it's more a Welsh church.

I think people class them all as C of E, but they should be grouped as Protestant. I'm not 100% sure on that, but 90%.
Thats basically what my co worker said Tricia!.

Now, will i be a methodist or a protestant?!
 

esrgirl

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The Methodists are Protestant- Protestantism is basically based on the theologies of men like Luther (who started the Reformation), Wesley (who founded Methodism), Calvin, (who founded Calvinism), and a bunch of other guys who I'm too tired to think about. Church of England, Baptists, Wesleyans, Methodists, Lutherans, AME, Church of God, Pentacostals, Presbyterians, etc etc.. all Protestant. Protestantism is more a movement of Chrisitans. Protestants are are group of folks who would call themselves "Bible believing Christians" not that a Catholic isn't a Bible believing Christian, but if you grew up in the Baptist church like I did you'd know what I mean. Being Protestant does not mean you ascribe to the same theology of all other Protestants, after the Reformation there have been a lot of splits- thus a lot of different denominations.

I am going on and on, and prolly not making sense.

Ok- Three main tenents of Protestantism-

1. The surpremacy of the bible
2. Justification by faith alone
3. The universal priesthood of all believers

Justification means God forgives you because God wants to forgive you- not because of any good deed you did on earth. Bible supremacy means the Bible is the sole source of truth. Priesthood of all believers means we are all to be active in the life of the Church- we don't need any kind of authority or intercession on our behalf.
 

esrgirl

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Originally Posted by Sar

You can see that we're all super good at RE here in the UK!
I'm in seminary, I'm supposed to know this stuff. Don't feel bad
I think the vast majority of people I know aren't quite sure about the distictions between the different Christian groups- I didnt before I came to seminary.
 
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