1. The “word for word literal” vs. “inspired but parts symbolic” question is poorly worded. You’re probably thinking about things like Genesis 1-11. But I know people who would consider Genesis 1-11 to be completely literal history yet would still agree the Bible is partly symbolic, because of the Psalms and so on. The Adam and Eve question gets closer to the real answer.
2. For Roman Catholic clergy, I think the only point here with surprisingly high support that disagrees with Catholic doctrine is the denial of hell. On the question of Scripture having errors, I believe the Catholic doctrine is there might be minor historical errors (e.g. the size of the armies in Joshua) but the core of the historical narrative is all true.
3. Psychologically, the seeming lack of faith among Roman Catholic clergy compared to evangelical or black Protestants is interesting, when they have given the most up. But maybe for that reason it’s also the hardest to leave? I would also guess that there’s a generation gap here, with older Catholic priests harboring more doubts.
EDIT: I realize I was mistaken on this point about hell -- best I can tell universalism is accepted as a valid opinion within the RCC.
I doubt you could track it in this survey (I'd bet the Vatican has this data but probably not easily available), but I bet there would be some fun cleavages if you broke it out by order
I wouldn't say picking a more nuanced option is lack of faith. As one Biblical scholar and priest I knew said, everything in the Bible is true with a big T but not necessarily true with a little t. The description of Adam and Eve and the loss of innocence in Genesis is a profoundly true account of man's relationship with God. But it doesn't mean it exactly happened as a later author existing in time understood and wrote down the story. In my mind, God can hold all these truths in parallel.
I wasn't really thinking of the Adam and Eve point in that comment -- I don't think that's a denial of RCC doctrine.
But denial of Jesus' bodily resurrection, for example, is a denial of RCC doctrine, and the numbers are still somewhat lower there.
I also don't really know where the RCC stands on missions. I thought it officially still supported them. But this survey is showing support its clergy's support missions is in line with the Mainline. Also the RCC officially claims to be the one true church, in a way that most evangelical churches do not. But in practice its clergy also seem to be more OK with people not belonging to that church -- or perhaps even to Christianity.
Yes, evangelization is still very important to the Roman Catholic Church, although it must respect people's concience and not prostletyze. I do think there is concern about trying to convert other Christians especially Eastern Orthodox or other Eastern churches with valid sacraments but not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church or even Jewish believers. That may be reflected in the responses to the question about whether everyone should be your religion. I think the emphasis is more on evangelizing those who are looking or who don't have anything.
At least for the Catholic clergy respondents, it’s worth noting that the most “strident” response does not necessarily reflect the Catholic Church’s authoritative teaching, or the statements may be ambiguous because they’re not written in theological language. For example, on the Biblical question that you highlight, a Catholic could likely affirm both (2) and (3) based on completely orthodox doctrine, e.g., regarding the New Covenant.
So, there's always room to wonder about the space between survey response and what's actually going on in somebody's heart and mind, but I think that's particularly important here with respect to evangelical pastors and their very strong "fully believe, no doubts" responses, which in your closing remarks you seem to take at face value. Evangelical epistemology leans really really hard on certainty, and on a whole edifice of truth that has to all hang together. There's not a lot of space for acknowledging doubt in that world (until and unless it becomes unmanageable and things come crashing down). I'm not the right person to say something coherent about this - but there's a substantial sociological literature on the subject; it shouldn't be hard to find. In addition to having studied some of that along the way, I've also worked with my fair share of ex-evangelicals on their way into (or through) the Episcopal Church over the years. People can have deep, deep questions and dissatisfactions, while living in the evangelical world, and just never feel safe enough to surface or name them, often even to themselves. So taking these pastors' responses as Gospel truth, so to speak, rather than what evangelicals have to say when questioned about their faith, seems like something worth a little pushback to me. Thanks for all this interesting work!!
A valid point, and the Bible acknowledges doubt: "I believe; help my unbelief!"
If a pastor can't preach on this verse, he's going to have problems. And in my experience, plenty of evangelical pastors preach on it. They acknowledge doubt.
But the question asked here was about belief in God, which is a very low bar. I have plenty of doubts from time to time on some questions, but, by the grace of God, I don't think I'm constitutionally capable of doubting God's existence. The idea that the universe and the physical laws were created accidentally by a blind idiot process for no reason isn't a notion that makes any kind of rational sense to me.
I would say that first of all I am not a Christian, I am a Jew. I do not think belief in anything and specifically belief in God is a question of rationality. When people talk about God they mean many things and often visualize God in their image rather than the reverse. It is difficult to see such things when we mostly have physical reference points for something spiritual. For myself I think about the image of Jacob as the God wrestler. But perhaps for Christians the questions are different because Jesus walked on the earth with a physical body. My wife who is a Christian has told me that the whole point of Jesus was that God wanted to know what it felt like to be human. I once heard a Catholic theologian in Chicago say that for the resurrection to have any meaning it must be a spiritual not a physical one -- adding God does not need to do tricks to impress people. But what was meant by a spiritual resurrection is beyond my understanding..
First, the concept of preaching itself. I often think of the privilege it is to stand in front of a room full of people, week after week, and talk uninterrupted for 15-20 minutes. and how rare that is. Thank you for putting that out there.
also, mainline Protestants have the largest number of 'doubters' among the clergy. And are also declining the fastest. Coincidence? I think not.
I say this as an Episcopal priest, btw. And count me as 100% sure of God.
What a great post, thanks as always Ryan. Is there any data-over-time for this? I wonder if the level of doubt in different groups of clergy has changed over time? My suspicion is that it has not but that *admitting* it has become significantly more acceptable.
This does feed into the current popular idea that society is dividing into groups of fervent hard-core believers which are all-but impossible to engage with on their group's tenets (not just religious, also political and other areas) and often much larger groups of people are unengaged / uninterested in those topics. It often feels like casual interest and active debate are both things that are dying out.
Where this concerns me the most, even as someone who is British, is the influence of some conservative religious groups in the highest halls of government in the USA in an environment where such groups are less and less likely to listen to any out-group voices.
As you mentioned towards the end I am surprised at how consistent evangelical and black Protestant clergy tend to be with each other! (Minus the last two questions of course). I don’t know that someone outside of these traditions would guess that.
This is actually a problem I’ve read that many black denominations aren’t sure where to send people for seminary because of the difficulties both with evangelical and mainline Protestant seminaries. Check out Esau McCaulley’s “Reading While Black”!
I agree — though I had picked up on this trend with some of Ryan’s earlier data.
I’m an evangelical but not that familiar with the black Protestant tradition. The best-known black clergyman of all time was of course MLK, who was famously very theologically liberal, denying the Resurrection and many other core doctrines around Jesus.
But he was atypical. Attended UTS, which is a very liberal Mainline seminary. The liberalism of Mainline clergy is reinforced by the Mainline’s liberal network of seminaries, which tend to be attached to secular private universities.
Where do black Protestant clergy mostly go to seminary? I’m not entirely sure, though I found this list of the AME’s official seminaries.
There are a lot and I haven’t heard of any of them — but that leads me to think they’re probably a good deal more conservative than Mainline seminaries and many might resemble the small Bible colleges that many small town Baptist pastors attend.
The Catholic Church is exactly where she has always been though in a very bad condition in these end times. Bad Pontificates have been there in the life of the Catholic Church from a very long time back (not only "Pope John XXIII onwards" but Pope John XXIII and before also). The prefigurations of the Popes in the Old Testament for the most part were a disaster. Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us. (Ecclesiastes 1:10). Catholic Church is indefectible in her essential form and perpetual in her existance. The Catholic Church is perpetually indefectible in her ESSENTIAL FORM Catholic = According to the whole (not parts) - Catholic Doctrine given by JESUS, Catholic Worship & Means of Sanctification - Holy Mass & Sacraments instituted by JESUS and Catholic Hierarchy established by JESUS.
Catholics have to do the will of GOD which is only possible by staying inside the Catholic Church. It is a sin of grave matter to partake in the sacrileges, blasphemies heresies, rampant child abuse and cover ups and other evils that have been and are rampantly going on in the legal structures of the Catholic Church. It is a sin of grave matter to offer masses and to assist at masses and to administer and receive the sacraments outside the legal structures of the Catholic Church (s.p.x [rampant child abuse & cover up], s.p.x resistance, sedevacantism, indepedent [from GOD and His Church] movement, false old [non] "catholics", false orthodox. THE ENDS CAN NEVER EVER JUSTIFY THE MEANS. (Romans 3:8). Catholic Doctrine (Roman Catechism): Whoever will eat the lamb outside this house is profane. It is Divine Revelation De-Fide that there has to be Bishops sent by the Pope with mission and jurisdiction until the end of time. This is one of the easiest way to know the only true Church of GOD.
And Jesus, calling unto him a little child, set him in the midst of them. And said: amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2,3)
The things of GOD are absolutely simple to comprehend. The Gospel is simple and for the childlike. What is chaos from the devil is the false complicated theses & false theological complications & excesses, through a series of false theological locks which goes into a very large ocean of the naturalism of "intellectual principles". And the naturalism of ‘intellectual principles’ by default blows open the diabolical portal of liberalism. But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3). The venomous poison of the pagan false philosophers and false teachers primarily the pagan false prophet Aristotle whose poison including naturalism could never have been allowed to be infiltrated inside the Catholic Church. The Apostles had chained the pagan false philosophers. Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy and vain deceit: according to the tradition of men according to the elements of the world and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8). The bad fruits of this are there to see from over a long period of time. GOD who desires that all men be saved can never make salvation complicated for man. It is only man who can make it complicated for himself. Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge. He will keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity, Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints. (Proverbs 2:6,7,8)
GOD will destroy all those who make evil money in His Name if no repentance is done.
No one mandatorily needs a good Pope, good Bishop or good Priest to be in union with GOD in this life and for all eternity in Heaven but only and only the never failing grace of the infinitely good, loving and merciful GOD that will always be there from Him only through His Catholic Church until the end. And His grace He only and only gives to the humble. A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalms 50:19).
GOD JESUS CHRIST is awake sleeping in His only one boat the Catholic Church during this only one end time apostasy. By His omnipotent grace which only comes through His Church having FAITH in Him is the key that brings forth HOPE in Him the catalyst and as a result of which His CHARITY the greatest of the three will be flowing through that soul for the honour and glory of Him. Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access through faith into this grace wherein we stand: and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God. And not only so: but we glory also in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience trial; and trial hope; And hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost who is given to us. (Romans 5: 1-5). For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29).
The mercy of GOD is infinite. The period of GOD's mercy is finite. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. (Matthew 4:7).
Time is moving to eternity every second.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Matthew 10:14,15).
The demonic fatima operation of the devil is freemasonic. Its message is the freemasonic "world peace" and not the Peace of GOD JESUS CHRIST. Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled: nor let it be afraid. (John 14:27). A false world peace solution to bring in the Antichrist while duping people for an earthly "restoration" during the ongoing Apostasy which is a heresy because Divine Revelation taught by the Magisterium (in the Roman Catechism) is crystal clear that THERE IS NO earthly "restoration" after the only ONE apostasy of the end times but the ultimate eternal restoration by GOD JESUS CHRIST after His return which is not far from now. Divine Revelation in relation to the end times has been and is clearly unlfolding before the eyes. Apocalypse is an unveiling. The veils get lifted up one by one. By now 2025 most have. Only the ignorant and blind will not see. The false prophet of the end times Prevost, who permitted by GOD is also the CURRENT Pope of the Catholic Church, will bring in the Antichrist not far from now.
Now Cardinal George Pell (Australia), who died, was a modernist liberal. But this is what he said about heretical fatima, which he had difficulties with, but should have known they were HERETICAL & FALSE: ”A couple of these difficulties should be mentioned. It was on May 13th [1917] that Lucia believed Our Lady to say, in answer to her question, that a local child who had died would be in purgatory until the end of the world. This seems excessive by any human standards. On October 13th, Lucia believed Our Lady to say that the First World War would end that day and that the soldiers would soon return home; in fact, the War did not end for another thirteen months.”
The date is wrong it was June 13th. This is what the false apparation states - Lucia: “And Amelia?” The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ”She is still in Purgatory.”
In her fouth [false] memoir, Lucia records the Blessed Virgin Mary as responding, “She will be in Purgatory until the end of the world.” (Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, Fatima, Portugal, 1976, p. 161.)
-GOD casts into hell those who have to "go to purgatory for many many many years". This is common sense. Lucia was one big fraud. People have been duped with this hoax from hell.
-Lucia the real one not the imposter was a fraud ! She put out a fabricated false secret using events that had already taken place & calling [lying] them "propheies", in which one was blatantly factually wrong, by taking evil advatage of the death of the other two false seers. Her mother called her a liar. Now mothers know their children better than anyone. And no mother would call her child a liar when the child was not one unless the mother was absolutely evil. And she was not.
If one knowingly accepts the false heretical apparations of fatima one is by default calling GOD a liar. One cannot claim to accept Divine Revelation taught by the Catholic Church and knowingly accept Pope Pius XII's heretical fatima apparation at the same time. PERIOD ! One is by default a heretic who knowingly accepts the false apparations of fatima. Heretical fatima destroys the heresy and schism of Sedevacantism instataneously. It espececially instataneaously destroys the Pope Pius XII Denomination (protestansts) of Sedevacantism because the Pope Pius XII Sedevacantists say that a Pope cannot approve a heretical apparation which Pope Pius XII did with false heretical fatima. Pope Pius XII the modernist, liberal, evolutionist grandson of Rothschild (freemasons) banker Marcantonio Pacelli groomed by the satanic freemason Cardinal Mariano Rampolla.
But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Apocalypse 21:8).
The ones Fearful to say fatima is false once they know it is false; the Unbeleiving who beleive false fatima after the heresies are known; the fatima IDOLATERS; the fatima LIARS and the MURDERERS who try to kill those who rightly call fatima false are on the way to Fire and Brimstone for all eternity are the UNCHANGEABLE WORDS SPOKEN BY THE LIVING GOD.
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor is the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfil?(Numbers 23:19)
People in ignorance behave as if "apparation" & "canonization" (mania) is Divine Public Revelation which is an essential part of the Catholic Church & absolutely necessary for salvation when both are NOT. All they need to be fooled is a "dressed up" "solemn" "ceremony" with an infiltrated VALID Pope. And because of this certain ones will falsely say he is not a Pope when of course he is. The gates of hell do not prevail with false approvals of apparations and false canonizations. Masses have been offered on the altars for the dead for over the centuries of which many for certain were damned souls in hell. All of them were in purgatory or heaven ? No. Canonizations & Apparations are not an essential part of the Catholic Church & are not necessary for salvation. But the hirelings inside the Church have manipulated to deceive by abusing the positions of authority in the Church in using the "gates of hell will never prevail" factor in a place where it does not apply. They have falsely assumed things to the papacy that it does not have. This is an opperation of error sent by GOD to those who do not love the truth of GOD. And all this when Pope Benedict XIV (14) when Cardinal clearly stated that Catholics can reject apparations given an [false] "approval" by a Pope when it is evident that it contradicts Divine Revelation, which is anyways is a matter of common sense. In the first place Canonizations and Apparations do not fall under the teaching realm of a Pope. They fall under the Judgement realm. Apparations and Canonizations are outside the deposit of faith and that the deposit of faith is already closed is Divine Revelation de-fide taught by the Catholic Church. Canonizations are not Apostolic. Down to the seventeenth century Clement of Alexandria was falsely venerated as a saint. His name was to be found in the martyrologies, and his feast fell on the fourth of December. But when the Roman Martyrology was revised by Pope Clement VIII his name was dropped from the calendar on the advice of Cardinal Baronius. Pope Benedict XIV maintained this decision of his predecessor on the grounds that Clement’s life was little known that he had never obtained public cultus in the Church, and that some of his doctrines were, if not erroneous, at least suspect. The only place a Pope can never err (which is only in the office of teaching) is when he 1) solemnly binds the universal Church under pain of anathema 2) with a doctrine on faith or morals contained in the already closed unchangeable Deposit of Faith (Divine Revelation). Outside that permitted by GOD Popes can always err. History has hands down proven this. The papacy (which includes papal infallibility) has been craftily weaponized for ulterior motives by enemies of the Church taking advantage of the ignorance of Catholics. The Pope is a servant of the servants of GOD. He should wash the feet of Catholics. But Jesus called them to him and said: You know that the princes of the Gentiles lord it over them; and that they that are the greater, exercise power upon them. It shall not be so among you: but whosoever is the greater among you, let him be your minister. And he that will be first among you shall be your servant. Even as the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a redemption for many.(Mathew 20:25-28). AntiChristic men have validly stolen the Papacy from a long back and have been sleeping, eating and drinking in a royal palace while working to destroy the Church from within with their partners - the controlled legal and illegal elite "spirituallity" trad (non Catholic term) groups whose common father is the Archschismatic Lefebvre and the evil ones from the world. While the poor faithful Catholics have been thrown out of the buildings persecuted whom GOD will reward a hundredfold in this life and the life to come in Heaven. There HAS to be sound Doctrine and Masses and Sacraments only in the "old Roman Rite" for Roman Rite Catholics and every Roman Rite Catholic should have access to this in accordance with GOD. Same for Catholic of the other Rite's of old.
The Fatima apparations are heretical and false apparations of the devil in the form of an Angel and the devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary. La Salette and Akita are false apparations too.
Apparations & Canonizations are not a part of the Essential Form of the Catholic Church established by GOD JESUS CHRIST. The Truths of the one and only true GOD are absolute and unchangeable.
Simple Questions to any Catholic who claims to know basic Catholic Doctrine:
Please answer 1 - 5 with a Yes or No only and 6 with Pope Pius V and Pope Pius IX or Pope Pius XII only.
1. Do you beleive the TRUTH OF GOD taught by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church that Angels cannot give Holy Communion?
2. Do you say that GOD can send an Angel to break His laws of His Church?
3. Do you say that an Angel has authority above the Pope in the Catholic Church?
4. Do you say that Doubtful Sacraments can be received? [Leaving aside the fact that an apparation cannot give holy communion. If a stranger appears in a forest claiming that he has Holy Communion to administer that is a "DOUBTFULL SACRAMENT". First of all the false seers could not know for certain if the apparation was an Angel or not]
5. Do you say that GOD can command sin? [If one says no then by default one cannot accept the false heretical fatima apparations]
Pope Pius V (from the Roman Catechism with His Papal Decree) teaching Divine Revelation to the Universal Church - Angels cannot give Holy Communion and Pope Pius IX (DOGMA Vatican I) teaching a Divinely Revealed Truth, binding the Universal Church - An Angel has no authority from GOD to change the laws of the Church in force. Pope Pius XII through the fatima apparations has stated that an Angel can give Holy Communion and also has the authority above the Pope to change the laws of the Church in force.
6. Who has imparted heresy onto the universal Church, Pope Pius V and Pope IX or Pope Pius XII?
From the Roman Catechism (Decreed by a Papal Bull of Pope Pius V) -
"PART II : THE SACRAMENTS. The Ministers of the Sacraments.
But although GOD is the author and dispenser of the SACRAMENTS, He nevertheless WILLED that they [the SACRAMENTS, which obviously include HOLY COMMUNION] should be ADMINISTERED in His CHURCH by MEN, NOT by ANGELS."
GOD has willed that the Sacraments which includes Holy Communion should be adminsitered in His Church by men and NOT BY ANGELS.
From a childs Catholic Doctrine [DIVINE REVELATION]:
Q. Is it a sin to transgress a law of the Church?
A. Knowingly to transgress a law of the Church in grave matter is a mortal sin.
Q. Who can dispense from a law of the Church?
A. Only the Pope, or one who has received from him the power to do so, can dispense from a law of the Church.
In the first place GOD will never want small children to eat food from a stranger. This is plain common sense.
Keeping the fact that Angels cannot give Holy Communion aside, the false holy communion given by the devil in the form of an Angel (false apparations of fatima) is a serious violation of more than one law of the Church in force at that time including the mandatory administering of Holy Communion under the form of bread alone in the Roman Rite. GOD cannot change His Divinely established order for His Church anymore. That Divine Revelation is closed is a DOGMA. He does not contradict Himself. GOD will never send an Angel to break HIS LAWS of HIS CHURCH ! PERIOD ! Accepting that an Angel can do things contrary to the laws of the Church in force is denying the DOGMA - Vatican I. Chapter 3. On the power and character of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff. So, then, if anyone says that the Roman Pontiff has merely an office of supervision and guidance, and not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church, and this not only in matters of faith and morals, but also in those which concern the discipline and government of the Church dispersed throughout the whole world; or that he has only the principal part, but not the absolute fullness, of this supreme power; or that this power of his is not ordinary and immediate both over all and each of the Churches and over all and each of the pastors and faithful: let him be anathema.
GOD has given the authority to His Church to make laws only and only to enforce His Divine Law for His greater glory and the salvation of souls. The laws of the Church are Divine Laws in Praxis. They are not two different things. They cannot be separated. That is why also on the other side if anything that is put out by the one holding the authority of the Church which is contrary to Divine Law is by default null and void as it is obviously no Law and cannot be commanded. This does not apply for the false heretical fatima apparations.
The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary said to the false seers on September 13 1917 at the Cova de Iria. - ”God is pleased with your sacrifices but does not wish that you wear the rope when you go to sleep. Wear it only during the day.” This is evil child abuse. It is blasphemy to say this is what GOD wants. GOD will never want this. PERIOD !
October 13, 1917 - Then growing sadder (devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary): “They must not offend Our Lord any more for He is already too much offended.”Contradiction to Sacred Scripture - And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men: and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people: and God himself with them shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more. Nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. (Apocalypse 21:3,4) and the DOGMA of the Catholic Church - 'the bliss of heaven lasts for all eternity'.
- Same for La Salette. The Blessed Virgin Mary cannot cry anymore.
The false apparation states (August 19 1917) The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Pray! Pray a great deal and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.” .
First of all there is always prayer and sacrifice going on in the Church so this is a factual lie. It is a DOGMA of the Catholic Church and plain common sense that GOD gives everyone sufficient grace to save their souls. So it is heresy to say that souls go to hell because no one does prayer and sacrifice for them. Because the sufficient grace of GOD is always given to all which is also from the merits of holy prayer and sacrifice that always happens. So saying souls go to hell because no one does prayer and sacrifice for them is false.
The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary (July 13 1917): "If they heed My requests, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she shall spread her errors throughout the world". If this [false nonsense from hell] was so important it should not have been kept a secret for a period of time to allow "Russia to start spreading her errors throughout the world" in the mean time and then be told later. There was a gap. And Russia is a very wicked and evil nation but the most diabolical of all is the satanic Dis-United States of America which is the primary nation that has spread the freemasonic diabolical evil wickedness around the world for the new world dis-order to bring in Antichrist. This is a FACT. In the first place the whole "consecration of Russia" which is a desecration, is utter nonsense. One has to be out of ones mind to beleive that a [false] private revelation, its supposed [fraud & falsely fabricated ] "secret" and a [falsity, bogus & nonsense] "consecration" will stop the ongoing New World Dis-Order (which JESUS will personally vanquish on His return not far from now) but the genuine Catholic faith (the Gospel), the Holy Mass which is the Sacrifice of JESUS at Calvary and the Sacraments which JESUS has established to conquer nations for Him cannot. People need to stop take ten steps back think about what they are saying. People have lost their minds.
This demonic apparation among other things is a work of satan to push the Mary worshipping idolatry and the bad idolatrous fruits are there to see. The anti GOD marianism which is contrary to Catholic Church doctrine on the Blessed Virgin Mary. Hyper dulia not Latria. Catholics have become pagans in relation to Catholic things.
July 13 1917 - The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary ”for only She can help you.” The Blessed Virgin Mary, who is GOD's most humble child, will never say this blasphemy. "ONLY she can help you."
The Parish Priest of the false seers had first said after interogation that it was from the devil. The Parish Priest said this "As a rule, when things of this sort happen, Our Lord directs the souls that He speaks with to give a full account to their pastors or confessors. This child holds back as much as she can."
It is a false miracle of the sun that the freemasons put on their demonic newspapers and the freemasonic Pope Pius XII falsely approved. If the sun moved in one place it has to be seen moving in all other places which did not happen. GOD cannot do miracles against His reality. People have given different reports of what they saw. It is claimed one person [Judah Ruah] said that he saw nothing and that is why he took pictures when he saw people reacting. And if those pictures that exist were taken while the "sun was moving" [falsity], only extraordinary help from GOD could keep someone calm and composed to take those pictures. Taking pictures while "the sun was moving towards the earth"?
What I find most interesting about “My religion would be the best one for all people no matter their background or current religion," is what exactly that means. I'm on the ecumenical side, with RC, Orth, mainlines, being "my religion". However, in evangelical circles (and in my denomination, the Church of the Nazarene) there is a strong current of "converting" RC, Orth, and mainlines (I've even heard Baptists needed to be converted). People often do not separate between "religion" (Christian) and "tradition", probably because we communicate it so poorly. On the other hand RC and Ortho have official stances that say that Protestants (for example) are not part of the "true" church, but don't quite put it as non-Christian (at least that is my understanding).
The data you've uncovered in this post, including the attatched previous post on LGBTQ, goes a long way toward explaning why evangelicals, especially nondenominational evangelicals, are growing by leaps and bounds, while the mainlines continue to spiral down in terminal decline. The data, all of it viewed together, speaks for itself very clearly.
I would love to know more about the “non-Christian” respondents. There is a common anti-faith argument aimed at Christians that goes something like “How can you be so sure your faith is the one true faith. If you were born into a different religion you would think that was the one true religion.” On the surface the data here don’t seem to support that notion, at least literally interpreted.
Some thoughts:
1. The “word for word literal” vs. “inspired but parts symbolic” question is poorly worded. You’re probably thinking about things like Genesis 1-11. But I know people who would consider Genesis 1-11 to be completely literal history yet would still agree the Bible is partly symbolic, because of the Psalms and so on. The Adam and Eve question gets closer to the real answer.
2. For Roman Catholic clergy, I think the only point here with surprisingly high support that disagrees with Catholic doctrine is the denial of hell. On the question of Scripture having errors, I believe the Catholic doctrine is there might be minor historical errors (e.g. the size of the armies in Joshua) but the core of the historical narrative is all true.
3. Psychologically, the seeming lack of faith among Roman Catholic clergy compared to evangelical or black Protestants is interesting, when they have given the most up. But maybe for that reason it’s also the hardest to leave? I would also guess that there’s a generation gap here, with older Catholic priests harboring more doubts.
EDIT: I realize I was mistaken on this point about hell -- best I can tell universalism is accepted as a valid opinion within the RCC.
I doubt you could track it in this survey (I'd bet the Vatican has this data but probably not easily available), but I bet there would be some fun cleavages if you broke it out by order
I wouldn't say picking a more nuanced option is lack of faith. As one Biblical scholar and priest I knew said, everything in the Bible is true with a big T but not necessarily true with a little t. The description of Adam and Eve and the loss of innocence in Genesis is a profoundly true account of man's relationship with God. But it doesn't mean it exactly happened as a later author existing in time understood and wrote down the story. In my mind, God can hold all these truths in parallel.
I wasn't really thinking of the Adam and Eve point in that comment -- I don't think that's a denial of RCC doctrine.
But denial of Jesus' bodily resurrection, for example, is a denial of RCC doctrine, and the numbers are still somewhat lower there.
I also don't really know where the RCC stands on missions. I thought it officially still supported them. But this survey is showing support its clergy's support missions is in line with the Mainline. Also the RCC officially claims to be the one true church, in a way that most evangelical churches do not. But in practice its clergy also seem to be more OK with people not belonging to that church -- or perhaps even to Christianity.
Yes, evangelization is still very important to the Roman Catholic Church, although it must respect people's concience and not prostletyze. I do think there is concern about trying to convert other Christians especially Eastern Orthodox or other Eastern churches with valid sacraments but not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church or even Jewish believers. That may be reflected in the responses to the question about whether everyone should be your religion. I think the emphasis is more on evangelizing those who are looking or who don't have anything.
At least for the Catholic clergy respondents, it’s worth noting that the most “strident” response does not necessarily reflect the Catholic Church’s authoritative teaching, or the statements may be ambiguous because they’re not written in theological language. For example, on the Biblical question that you highlight, a Catholic could likely affirm both (2) and (3) based on completely orthodox doctrine, e.g., regarding the New Covenant.
So, there's always room to wonder about the space between survey response and what's actually going on in somebody's heart and mind, but I think that's particularly important here with respect to evangelical pastors and their very strong "fully believe, no doubts" responses, which in your closing remarks you seem to take at face value. Evangelical epistemology leans really really hard on certainty, and on a whole edifice of truth that has to all hang together. There's not a lot of space for acknowledging doubt in that world (until and unless it becomes unmanageable and things come crashing down). I'm not the right person to say something coherent about this - but there's a substantial sociological literature on the subject; it shouldn't be hard to find. In addition to having studied some of that along the way, I've also worked with my fair share of ex-evangelicals on their way into (or through) the Episcopal Church over the years. People can have deep, deep questions and dissatisfactions, while living in the evangelical world, and just never feel safe enough to surface or name them, often even to themselves. So taking these pastors' responses as Gospel truth, so to speak, rather than what evangelicals have to say when questioned about their faith, seems like something worth a little pushback to me. Thanks for all this interesting work!!
From my perspective doubt is an important element of belief. Without doubt belief is quite shallow.
A valid point, and the Bible acknowledges doubt: "I believe; help my unbelief!"
If a pastor can't preach on this verse, he's going to have problems. And in my experience, plenty of evangelical pastors preach on it. They acknowledge doubt.
But the question asked here was about belief in God, which is a very low bar. I have plenty of doubts from time to time on some questions, but, by the grace of God, I don't think I'm constitutionally capable of doubting God's existence. The idea that the universe and the physical laws were created accidentally by a blind idiot process for no reason isn't a notion that makes any kind of rational sense to me.
I would say that first of all I am not a Christian, I am a Jew. I do not think belief in anything and specifically belief in God is a question of rationality. When people talk about God they mean many things and often visualize God in their image rather than the reverse. It is difficult to see such things when we mostly have physical reference points for something spiritual. For myself I think about the image of Jacob as the God wrestler. But perhaps for Christians the questions are different because Jesus walked on the earth with a physical body. My wife who is a Christian has told me that the whole point of Jesus was that God wanted to know what it felt like to be human. I once heard a Catholic theologian in Chicago say that for the resurrection to have any meaning it must be a spiritual not a physical one -- adding God does not need to do tricks to impress people. But what was meant by a spiritual resurrection is beyond my understanding..
hoo-boy, you hit home with this one!
First, the concept of preaching itself. I often think of the privilege it is to stand in front of a room full of people, week after week, and talk uninterrupted for 15-20 minutes. and how rare that is. Thank you for putting that out there.
also, mainline Protestants have the largest number of 'doubters' among the clergy. And are also declining the fastest. Coincidence? I think not.
I say this as an Episcopal priest, btw. And count me as 100% sure of God.
What a great post, thanks as always Ryan. Is there any data-over-time for this? I wonder if the level of doubt in different groups of clergy has changed over time? My suspicion is that it has not but that *admitting* it has become significantly more acceptable.
This does feed into the current popular idea that society is dividing into groups of fervent hard-core believers which are all-but impossible to engage with on their group's tenets (not just religious, also political and other areas) and often much larger groups of people are unengaged / uninterested in those topics. It often feels like casual interest and active debate are both things that are dying out.
Where this concerns me the most, even as someone who is British, is the influence of some conservative religious groups in the highest halls of government in the USA in an environment where such groups are less and less likely to listen to any out-group voices.
As you mentioned towards the end I am surprised at how consistent evangelical and black Protestant clergy tend to be with each other! (Minus the last two questions of course). I don’t know that someone outside of these traditions would guess that.
This is actually a problem I’ve read that many black denominations aren’t sure where to send people for seminary because of the difficulties both with evangelical and mainline Protestant seminaries. Check out Esau McCaulley’s “Reading While Black”!
I agree — though I had picked up on this trend with some of Ryan’s earlier data.
I’m an evangelical but not that familiar with the black Protestant tradition. The best-known black clergyman of all time was of course MLK, who was famously very theologically liberal, denying the Resurrection and many other core doctrines around Jesus.
But he was atypical. Attended UTS, which is a very liberal Mainline seminary. The liberalism of Mainline clergy is reinforced by the Mainline’s liberal network of seminaries, which tend to be attached to secular private universities.
Where do black Protestant clergy mostly go to seminary? I’m not entirely sure, though I found this list of the AME’s official seminaries.
https://www.ame-church.com/directory/institutions-of-higher-education/
There are a lot and I haven’t heard of any of them — but that leads me to think they’re probably a good deal more conservative than Mainline seminaries and many might resemble the small Bible colleges that many small town Baptist pastors attend.
Fascinating
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The Catholic Church is exactly where she has always been though in a very bad condition in these end times. Bad Pontificates have been there in the life of the Catholic Church from a very long time back (not only "Pope John XXIII onwards" but Pope John XXIII and before also). The prefigurations of the Popes in the Old Testament for the most part were a disaster. Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us. (Ecclesiastes 1:10). Catholic Church is indefectible in her essential form and perpetual in her existance. The Catholic Church is perpetually indefectible in her ESSENTIAL FORM Catholic = According to the whole (not parts) - Catholic Doctrine given by JESUS, Catholic Worship & Means of Sanctification - Holy Mass & Sacraments instituted by JESUS and Catholic Hierarchy established by JESUS.
Catholics have to do the will of GOD which is only possible by staying inside the Catholic Church. It is a sin of grave matter to partake in the sacrileges, blasphemies heresies, rampant child abuse and cover ups and other evils that have been and are rampantly going on in the legal structures of the Catholic Church. It is a sin of grave matter to offer masses and to assist at masses and to administer and receive the sacraments outside the legal structures of the Catholic Church (s.p.x [rampant child abuse & cover up], s.p.x resistance, sedevacantism, indepedent [from GOD and His Church] movement, false old [non] "catholics", false orthodox. THE ENDS CAN NEVER EVER JUSTIFY THE MEANS. (Romans 3:8). Catholic Doctrine (Roman Catechism): Whoever will eat the lamb outside this house is profane. It is Divine Revelation De-Fide that there has to be Bishops sent by the Pope with mission and jurisdiction until the end of time. This is one of the easiest way to know the only true Church of GOD.
And Jesus, calling unto him a little child, set him in the midst of them. And said: amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2,3)
The things of GOD are absolutely simple to comprehend. The Gospel is simple and for the childlike. What is chaos from the devil is the false complicated theses & false theological complications & excesses, through a series of false theological locks which goes into a very large ocean of the naturalism of "intellectual principles". And the naturalism of ‘intellectual principles’ by default blows open the diabolical portal of liberalism. But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3). The venomous poison of the pagan false philosophers and false teachers primarily the pagan false prophet Aristotle whose poison including naturalism could never have been allowed to be infiltrated inside the Catholic Church. The Apostles had chained the pagan false philosophers. Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy and vain deceit: according to the tradition of men according to the elements of the world and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8). The bad fruits of this are there to see from over a long period of time. GOD who desires that all men be saved can never make salvation complicated for man. It is only man who can make it complicated for himself. Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge. He will keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that walk in simplicity, Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints. (Proverbs 2:6,7,8)
GOD will destroy all those who make evil money in His Name if no repentance is done.
No one mandatorily needs a good Pope, good Bishop or good Priest to be in union with GOD in this life and for all eternity in Heaven but only and only the never failing grace of the infinitely good, loving and merciful GOD that will always be there from Him only through His Catholic Church until the end. And His grace He only and only gives to the humble. A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalms 50:19).
GOD JESUS CHRIST is awake sleeping in His only one boat the Catholic Church during this only one end time apostasy. By His omnipotent grace which only comes through His Church having FAITH in Him is the key that brings forth HOPE in Him the catalyst and as a result of which His CHARITY the greatest of the three will be flowing through that soul for the honour and glory of Him. Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access through faith into this grace wherein we stand: and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God. And not only so: but we glory also in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience trial; and trial hope; And hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost who is given to us. (Romans 5: 1-5). For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29).
The mercy of GOD is infinite. The period of GOD's mercy is finite. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. (Matthew 4:7).
Time is moving to eternity every second.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Matthew 10:14,15).
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The demonic fatima operation of the devil is freemasonic. Its message is the freemasonic "world peace" and not the Peace of GOD JESUS CHRIST. Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled: nor let it be afraid. (John 14:27). A false world peace solution to bring in the Antichrist while duping people for an earthly "restoration" during the ongoing Apostasy which is a heresy because Divine Revelation taught by the Magisterium (in the Roman Catechism) is crystal clear that THERE IS NO earthly "restoration" after the only ONE apostasy of the end times but the ultimate eternal restoration by GOD JESUS CHRIST after His return which is not far from now. Divine Revelation in relation to the end times has been and is clearly unlfolding before the eyes. Apocalypse is an unveiling. The veils get lifted up one by one. By now 2025 most have. Only the ignorant and blind will not see. The false prophet of the end times Prevost, who permitted by GOD is also the CURRENT Pope of the Catholic Church, will bring in the Antichrist not far from now.
Now Cardinal George Pell (Australia), who died, was a modernist liberal. But this is what he said about heretical fatima, which he had difficulties with, but should have known they were HERETICAL & FALSE: ”A couple of these difficulties should be mentioned. It was on May 13th [1917] that Lucia believed Our Lady to say, in answer to her question, that a local child who had died would be in purgatory until the end of the world. This seems excessive by any human standards. On October 13th, Lucia believed Our Lady to say that the First World War would end that day and that the soldiers would soon return home; in fact, the War did not end for another thirteen months.”
The date is wrong it was June 13th. This is what the false apparation states - Lucia: “And Amelia?” The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ”She is still in Purgatory.”
In her fouth [false] memoir, Lucia records the Blessed Virgin Mary as responding, “She will be in Purgatory until the end of the world.” (Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, Fatima, Portugal, 1976, p. 161.)
-GOD casts into hell those who have to "go to purgatory for many many many years". This is common sense. Lucia was one big fraud. People have been duped with this hoax from hell.
-Lucia the real one not the imposter was a fraud ! She put out a fabricated false secret using events that had already taken place & calling [lying] them "propheies", in which one was blatantly factually wrong, by taking evil advatage of the death of the other two false seers. Her mother called her a liar. Now mothers know their children better than anyone. And no mother would call her child a liar when the child was not one unless the mother was absolutely evil. And she was not.
If one knowingly accepts the false heretical apparations of fatima one is by default calling GOD a liar. One cannot claim to accept Divine Revelation taught by the Catholic Church and knowingly accept Pope Pius XII's heretical fatima apparation at the same time. PERIOD ! One is by default a heretic who knowingly accepts the false apparations of fatima. Heretical fatima destroys the heresy and schism of Sedevacantism instataneously. It espececially instataneaously destroys the Pope Pius XII Denomination (protestansts) of Sedevacantism because the Pope Pius XII Sedevacantists say that a Pope cannot approve a heretical apparation which Pope Pius XII did with false heretical fatima. Pope Pius XII the modernist, liberal, evolutionist grandson of Rothschild (freemasons) banker Marcantonio Pacelli groomed by the satanic freemason Cardinal Mariano Rampolla.
But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Apocalypse 21:8).
The ones Fearful to say fatima is false once they know it is false; the Unbeleiving who beleive false fatima after the heresies are known; the fatima IDOLATERS; the fatima LIARS and the MURDERERS who try to kill those who rightly call fatima false are on the way to Fire and Brimstone for all eternity are the UNCHANGEABLE WORDS SPOKEN BY THE LIVING GOD.
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor is the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfil?(Numbers 23:19)
People in ignorance behave as if "apparation" & "canonization" (mania) is Divine Public Revelation which is an essential part of the Catholic Church & absolutely necessary for salvation when both are NOT. All they need to be fooled is a "dressed up" "solemn" "ceremony" with an infiltrated VALID Pope. And because of this certain ones will falsely say he is not a Pope when of course he is. The gates of hell do not prevail with false approvals of apparations and false canonizations. Masses have been offered on the altars for the dead for over the centuries of which many for certain were damned souls in hell. All of them were in purgatory or heaven ? No. Canonizations & Apparations are not an essential part of the Catholic Church & are not necessary for salvation. But the hirelings inside the Church have manipulated to deceive by abusing the positions of authority in the Church in using the "gates of hell will never prevail" factor in a place where it does not apply. They have falsely assumed things to the papacy that it does not have. This is an opperation of error sent by GOD to those who do not love the truth of GOD. And all this when Pope Benedict XIV (14) when Cardinal clearly stated that Catholics can reject apparations given an [false] "approval" by a Pope when it is evident that it contradicts Divine Revelation, which is anyways is a matter of common sense. In the first place Canonizations and Apparations do not fall under the teaching realm of a Pope. They fall under the Judgement realm. Apparations and Canonizations are outside the deposit of faith and that the deposit of faith is already closed is Divine Revelation de-fide taught by the Catholic Church. Canonizations are not Apostolic. Down to the seventeenth century Clement of Alexandria was falsely venerated as a saint. His name was to be found in the martyrologies, and his feast fell on the fourth of December. But when the Roman Martyrology was revised by Pope Clement VIII his name was dropped from the calendar on the advice of Cardinal Baronius. Pope Benedict XIV maintained this decision of his predecessor on the grounds that Clement’s life was little known that he had never obtained public cultus in the Church, and that some of his doctrines were, if not erroneous, at least suspect. The only place a Pope can never err (which is only in the office of teaching) is when he 1) solemnly binds the universal Church under pain of anathema 2) with a doctrine on faith or morals contained in the already closed unchangeable Deposit of Faith (Divine Revelation). Outside that permitted by GOD Popes can always err. History has hands down proven this. The papacy (which includes papal infallibility) has been craftily weaponized for ulterior motives by enemies of the Church taking advantage of the ignorance of Catholics. The Pope is a servant of the servants of GOD. He should wash the feet of Catholics. But Jesus called them to him and said: You know that the princes of the Gentiles lord it over them; and that they that are the greater, exercise power upon them. It shall not be so among you: but whosoever is the greater among you, let him be your minister. And he that will be first among you shall be your servant. Even as the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a redemption for many.(Mathew 20:25-28). AntiChristic men have validly stolen the Papacy from a long back and have been sleeping, eating and drinking in a royal palace while working to destroy the Church from within with their partners - the controlled legal and illegal elite "spirituallity" trad (non Catholic term) groups whose common father is the Archschismatic Lefebvre and the evil ones from the world. While the poor faithful Catholics have been thrown out of the buildings persecuted whom GOD will reward a hundredfold in this life and the life to come in Heaven. There HAS to be sound Doctrine and Masses and Sacraments only in the "old Roman Rite" for Roman Rite Catholics and every Roman Rite Catholic should have access to this in accordance with GOD. Same for Catholic of the other Rite's of old.
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The Fatima apparations are heretical and false apparations of the devil in the form of an Angel and the devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary. La Salette and Akita are false apparations too.
Apparations & Canonizations are not a part of the Essential Form of the Catholic Church established by GOD JESUS CHRIST. The Truths of the one and only true GOD are absolute and unchangeable.
Simple Questions to any Catholic who claims to know basic Catholic Doctrine:
Please answer 1 - 5 with a Yes or No only and 6 with Pope Pius V and Pope Pius IX or Pope Pius XII only.
1. Do you beleive the TRUTH OF GOD taught by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church that Angels cannot give Holy Communion?
2. Do you say that GOD can send an Angel to break His laws of His Church?
3. Do you say that an Angel has authority above the Pope in the Catholic Church?
4. Do you say that Doubtful Sacraments can be received? [Leaving aside the fact that an apparation cannot give holy communion. If a stranger appears in a forest claiming that he has Holy Communion to administer that is a "DOUBTFULL SACRAMENT". First of all the false seers could not know for certain if the apparation was an Angel or not]
5. Do you say that GOD can command sin? [If one says no then by default one cannot accept the false heretical fatima apparations]
Pope Pius V (from the Roman Catechism with His Papal Decree) teaching Divine Revelation to the Universal Church - Angels cannot give Holy Communion and Pope Pius IX (DOGMA Vatican I) teaching a Divinely Revealed Truth, binding the Universal Church - An Angel has no authority from GOD to change the laws of the Church in force. Pope Pius XII through the fatima apparations has stated that an Angel can give Holy Communion and also has the authority above the Pope to change the laws of the Church in force.
6. Who has imparted heresy onto the universal Church, Pope Pius V and Pope IX or Pope Pius XII?
From the Roman Catechism (Decreed by a Papal Bull of Pope Pius V) -
"PART II : THE SACRAMENTS. The Ministers of the Sacraments.
But although GOD is the author and dispenser of the SACRAMENTS, He nevertheless WILLED that they [the SACRAMENTS, which obviously include HOLY COMMUNION] should be ADMINISTERED in His CHURCH by MEN, NOT by ANGELS."
GOD has willed that the Sacraments which includes Holy Communion should be adminsitered in His Church by men and NOT BY ANGELS.
From a childs Catholic Doctrine [DIVINE REVELATION]:
Q. Is it a sin to transgress a law of the Church?
A. Knowingly to transgress a law of the Church in grave matter is a mortal sin.
Q. Who can dispense from a law of the Church?
A. Only the Pope, or one who has received from him the power to do so, can dispense from a law of the Church.
In the first place GOD will never want small children to eat food from a stranger. This is plain common sense.
Keeping the fact that Angels cannot give Holy Communion aside, the false holy communion given by the devil in the form of an Angel (false apparations of fatima) is a serious violation of more than one law of the Church in force at that time including the mandatory administering of Holy Communion under the form of bread alone in the Roman Rite. GOD cannot change His Divinely established order for His Church anymore. That Divine Revelation is closed is a DOGMA. He does not contradict Himself. GOD will never send an Angel to break HIS LAWS of HIS CHURCH ! PERIOD ! Accepting that an Angel can do things contrary to the laws of the Church in force is denying the DOGMA - Vatican I. Chapter 3. On the power and character of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff. So, then, if anyone says that the Roman Pontiff has merely an office of supervision and guidance, and not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church, and this not only in matters of faith and morals, but also in those which concern the discipline and government of the Church dispersed throughout the whole world; or that he has only the principal part, but not the absolute fullness, of this supreme power; or that this power of his is not ordinary and immediate both over all and each of the Churches and over all and each of the pastors and faithful: let him be anathema.
GOD has given the authority to His Church to make laws only and only to enforce His Divine Law for His greater glory and the salvation of souls. The laws of the Church are Divine Laws in Praxis. They are not two different things. They cannot be separated. That is why also on the other side if anything that is put out by the one holding the authority of the Church which is contrary to Divine Law is by default null and void as it is obviously no Law and cannot be commanded. This does not apply for the false heretical fatima apparations.
The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary said to the false seers on September 13 1917 at the Cova de Iria. - ”God is pleased with your sacrifices but does not wish that you wear the rope when you go to sleep. Wear it only during the day.” This is evil child abuse. It is blasphemy to say this is what GOD wants. GOD will never want this. PERIOD !
October 13, 1917 - Then growing sadder (devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary): “They must not offend Our Lord any more for He is already too much offended.”Contradiction to Sacred Scripture - And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying: Behold the tabernacle of God with men: and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people: and God himself with them shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more. Nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. (Apocalypse 21:3,4) and the DOGMA of the Catholic Church - 'the bliss of heaven lasts for all eternity'.
- Same for La Salette. The Blessed Virgin Mary cannot cry anymore.
The false apparation states (August 19 1917) The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Pray! Pray a great deal and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.” .
First of all there is always prayer and sacrifice going on in the Church so this is a factual lie. It is a DOGMA of the Catholic Church and plain common sense that GOD gives everyone sufficient grace to save their souls. So it is heresy to say that souls go to hell because no one does prayer and sacrifice for them. Because the sufficient grace of GOD is always given to all which is also from the merits of holy prayer and sacrifice that always happens. So saying souls go to hell because no one does prayer and sacrifice for them is false.
The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary (July 13 1917): "If they heed My requests, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she shall spread her errors throughout the world". If this [false nonsense from hell] was so important it should not have been kept a secret for a period of time to allow "Russia to start spreading her errors throughout the world" in the mean time and then be told later. There was a gap. And Russia is a very wicked and evil nation but the most diabolical of all is the satanic Dis-United States of America which is the primary nation that has spread the freemasonic diabolical evil wickedness around the world for the new world dis-order to bring in Antichrist. This is a FACT. In the first place the whole "consecration of Russia" which is a desecration, is utter nonsense. One has to be out of ones mind to beleive that a [false] private revelation, its supposed [fraud & falsely fabricated ] "secret" and a [falsity, bogus & nonsense] "consecration" will stop the ongoing New World Dis-Order (which JESUS will personally vanquish on His return not far from now) but the genuine Catholic faith (the Gospel), the Holy Mass which is the Sacrifice of JESUS at Calvary and the Sacraments which JESUS has established to conquer nations for Him cannot. People need to stop take ten steps back think about what they are saying. People have lost their minds.
This demonic apparation among other things is a work of satan to push the Mary worshipping idolatry and the bad idolatrous fruits are there to see. The anti GOD marianism which is contrary to Catholic Church doctrine on the Blessed Virgin Mary. Hyper dulia not Latria. Catholics have become pagans in relation to Catholic things.
July 13 1917 - The devil in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary ”for only She can help you.” The Blessed Virgin Mary, who is GOD's most humble child, will never say this blasphemy. "ONLY she can help you."
The Parish Priest of the false seers had first said after interogation that it was from the devil. The Parish Priest said this "As a rule, when things of this sort happen, Our Lord directs the souls that He speaks with to give a full account to their pastors or confessors. This child holds back as much as she can."
It is a false miracle of the sun that the freemasons put on their demonic newspapers and the freemasonic Pope Pius XII falsely approved. If the sun moved in one place it has to be seen moving in all other places which did not happen. GOD cannot do miracles against His reality. People have given different reports of what they saw. It is claimed one person [Judah Ruah] said that he saw nothing and that is why he took pictures when he saw people reacting. And if those pictures that exist were taken while the "sun was moving" [falsity], only extraordinary help from GOD could keep someone calm and composed to take those pictures. Taking pictures while "the sun was moving towards the earth"?
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What I find most interesting about “My religion would be the best one for all people no matter their background or current religion," is what exactly that means. I'm on the ecumenical side, with RC, Orth, mainlines, being "my religion". However, in evangelical circles (and in my denomination, the Church of the Nazarene) there is a strong current of "converting" RC, Orth, and mainlines (I've even heard Baptists needed to be converted). People often do not separate between "religion" (Christian) and "tradition", probably because we communicate it so poorly. On the other hand RC and Ortho have official stances that say that Protestants (for example) are not part of the "true" church, but don't quite put it as non-Christian (at least that is my understanding).
The data you've uncovered in this post, including the attatched previous post on LGBTQ, goes a long way toward explaning why evangelicals, especially nondenominational evangelicals, are growing by leaps and bounds, while the mainlines continue to spiral down in terminal decline. The data, all of it viewed together, speaks for itself very clearly.
I would love to know more about the “non-Christian” respondents. There is a common anti-faith argument aimed at Christians that goes something like “How can you be so sure your faith is the one true faith. If you were born into a different religion you would think that was the one true religion.” On the surface the data here don’t seem to support that notion, at least literally interpreted.
This is really informative. I’m interested what the clergy in the diocese I serve would say.