Distinctive Roman Catholic Church

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Religion is prevalent in today’s society because of freedom of religion, anyone can believe in any type of religion or even no religion at all. Religion is an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules that are set in place to worship some kind of higher power, in most cases a god or a group of gods. It is also an interest, activity, or belief that is very important to a person or a group of people. Many religions may have organized behaviors, clergy, holy places, and scriptures, and a definition of what constitutes a membership. The practice of a religion may include rituals, sermons, commemoration, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public …show more content…

All three main branches hold to the doctrine of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the inspiration of the Bible. But, there are clear distinctions in Catholicism. Distinctive Roman Catholic beliefs include the special authority of the pope, the ability of saints to mediate on behalf of believers, the idea of purgatory, and the doctrine of conversion. Catholics and Christians do share some of the same beliefs, the most important one being that Christ gave his life on the Cross to save us from sin, but the difference between Catholic and Christian is that each religion uses different interpretations of what the Bible teaches. While Christianity includes all churches and sects, Catholics believe that the Roman Catholic Church is the supreme authority on Earth and that God speaks through the pope. Christians are those who believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God and they include many groups. Catholics are a group of Christians led by the pope in Rome and following the teachings of the Roman Catholic …show more content…

That is, fundamentalism includes extremism so that all extremists are fundamentalists but not all fundamentalists are extremists. Unlike fundamentalism and extremism that focus on one worldview, terrorism focuses on behavior. A terrorist is someone who engages in acts of terrorism, not someone who simply plans them. A Christian or Catholic terrorist is one who commits acts of terrorism because their religion serves as justification. While a Christian or Catholic terrorist is likely to be both a fundamentalist and an extremist, it is not necessary for the individual to be both. For example, according to Atheist Revolution, “Bombing abortion clinics is an act of Christian terrorism is likely to be associated with extremism. Gay-bashing inspired by Christian homophobia and intolerance may be perpetrated by persons who would not be classified as extremists or even fundamentalists, although it is probably more likely to find members of such groups overrepresented among perpetrators” (2008). Therefore, Christian extremism can be considered to be an exaggerated form of Christian fundamentalism, which also includes characteristics outside of fundamentalism and Catholic extremism can also be considered an exaggerated form of Catholic