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From: tim@unc.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Views on Religions - (nf)
Message-ID: <5347@unc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Jun-83 21:33:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: unc.5347
Posted: Thu Jun  9 21:33:06 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 14-Jun-83 06:53:49 EDT
References: uw-june.473
Lines: 34


        The church does not hold that it is necessary to be a
        Catholic to be saved.  In fact, there was a priest un-
        frocked 26 years ago for making precisely that claim, and
        refusing to recant.  Protestants are most assuredly saved
        as well.  The Church does take the attitude that Cathol-
        ics have a fuller faith than Protestants, but then I tend
        to get worried about any denomination that doesn't be-
        lieve that about themselves.

You are probably right in that this is not currently a doctrine
of the Church, although I am not completely taking your word for
it.  This isn't because I don't trust you, it's because I've
found that asking different Catholics what Catholics believe fre-
quently gets different answers.  I once had a Ctaholic tell me
that the Church no longer believed in Hell.  Hey, guess he's read
the Gospels, huh?  One might also profitably contrast your atti-
tude with that of Catholics in Ireland (and Protestants too, for
that matter).

The fact reamins that up until very recent times, the Church did
hold this view.  The topic being discussed is how religions got
popular.  The present toleration that marks the Catholic Church
is a welcome break from many centuries of rabid intolerance and
absolutism, during which times the Church was more popular than
today.

In any case, your letter shows that you DO probably think that no
non-Christian (or non-Jew) will go to Heaven.  Your acceptance of
Protestantism is nice, but to someone on the outside of Chris-
tianity it is still more evidence of your system's claim of ex-
clusive salvation.

Tim Maroney