Difference between Christian denominations

[Dominus Atheos]

What are the differences between all the Christian denominations? I never really thought about it, and always assumed they were mostly the same, but after reading the clergy martial law thread, apparently they have big differences?

I know Mormons have the Book of Mormon, but what's the difference between Baptists and say... Lutherans? Or Methodists?

[Count Dooku]

I believe Lutherans take to heart more of what Martin Luther preached during his dissent from Catholicism, while other protestant demoninations 'care' more about what happened when their particular group did while protesting the particular sect of Christianity they came from.

Honestly, I seriously doubt many Lutherans know how they are different from Baptists.

[Darth Wong]

The only really important denominational distinctions are Orthodox vs Catholic vs Protestant. Orthodox Christians have a really large Bible (lots of extra stuff that's not in the other Bibles) and a lot of hierarchy as well. Catholics have the regular Bible plus a bunch of other books, and they also have a huge hierarchy. And finally, Protestants feel that they've eliminated the institutional "middleman" between themselves and Truth, which they believe to be found in the pages of the Bible. Protestants are scattered into thousands of little sub-denominations because they all feel that they can interpret the Bible for themselves, and of course, so many of them come up with their own custom interpretations.

As for the Mormons, they go off on their own in many ways. They were founded by an American crackpot who believed that Jesus came to America and that God cursed sinful people to have dark skin, while righteous people have white skin.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

You can't generalize most Protestant denominations - whereas any Catholic Mass, anywhere, anytime, will be pretty much the same (very ossified), Lutheran denominations will all vary both in outlook (depends on their pastor), and how they proceed (sometimes the pastor will switch around the order of the Mass, not do a sermon or psalms, etc - as long as there's a Eucharist, to them it counts). The same could be said about all the Protestants - for example, the only qualifier for Baptists is that, obviously, there's a high emphasis based on adult, consenting Baptism. They're just more conservative because generally they're pre-dominant in a Conservative area and it becomes a cycle.

[ArmorPierce]

Compared to the Catholics, some Protestant churches look damn right loony. I was at a Apocolyptic church (it was called something like that) and it looked more like a voodoo ritual cult with Christianity words sprinkled on for example pre-christian days, they would have said "I feel the ghost in me!" they now say "I feel the holy-ghost in me!" and proceed to bust out in dance, have a high look on their faces and maybe start busting out in tongues. They also demand donations of money money "give away all your worldly possessions" "empty out your purses and wallets, if you have a hundred give a hundred if you have two hundred give two hundred" "The more you give to God the closer you are to him" not to mention that they sometimes have competitions with each other over who can get the most money. To top it all off they are getting donations from poor poverty stricken people whom are on government welfare and don't even make enough money to pay the rent.

[ArmorPierce]

Now that I think about it, since they are getting donations from these people that are getting their income subsidized by the government, they are in a sense funded by the government and their congregation are the collectors.

[General Trelane (Retired)]

One thing to remember about Protestant churches is that they arose (initially) out of the reformation. While Luther was instrumental in that, he only went so far. Others didn't think he went far enough and so went further. Still others thought that wasn't far enough, and so on. Hence the Protestants were splintered into numerous different sects usually centered upon certain charismatic individuals. That splintering is still going on today, and the more conservative they are, the more they condem the others.

Speaking of Lutheranism, in my next of the woods, there are the following Lutheran sects:

-Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), which is similar to the ELCA in the USA.

-Lutheran Church of Canada (LCC), formerly the Misery Synod, er, I mean, the Missouri Synod. Somewhat more conservative than ELCIC (in general).

-Apostolic Lutheran Brethren. Very, very conservative, but not very common.

-And then there are 'independent' Lutheran churches--ones that either left or were kicked out of one of the above sects, probably because of a personality cult centered on their pastor.

There used to be more, but some of them actually merged a while back. But the issue of same-sex blessings may cause some more splits.

[Quadlok]

Well, my own denomination, The Episcopal Church, is the largely liberal offshoot of the good old CofE, the Anglicans. In terms of the service really the only change from Catholicism is that Jesus isn't hanging off all the crosses and while we're still quite fond of the Saints, Mary takes a bit more of a back seat.

Doctrinally the Episcopal church is among the most liberal of denominations, so much so that it is causing significant strain within the World Communion (there are about 30 Anglican/Episcopal churches mainly founded in areas colonized by the British, all nominally loyal to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Queen, although he is much more a first among equals rather than a pope and she's even more a figurehead in this case than otherwise). Priests are allowed to marry, all who are baptized within any denomination may receive Eucharist, women and practicing homosexuals are ordained regularly, and on a whole our members tend to be relatively liberal.

Oh, and Missouri Synod Lutherans are nuts. I went to one of their schools preschool through eighth grade (these things happen when your grandfather is a priest), and they fed us all sorts of young earth creationist, religiously intolerant crap. I remember the one Mormon kid who somehow ended up going there for a while eventually left in tears because the teacher was such an intolerant bitch towards him.

[Patrick Degan]

Robin Williams once gave a wonderful description of the Anglican Church as Catholic Lite —same rituals, half the guilt.

[Tahlan]

The big difference I see between Presbyterians, Baptists, and non-denominationals is the form of worship (the song service before the preaching). Presbyterians are "high church," Baptists are less formal but traditional, and non-denominationalists are even less formal and are more modern.

As regards to the preaching, Presbyterian preachers have a script provided by the denomination's leadership. Baptist and non-denominational pastors create their own sermons.

Also, each denomination has a different spin on the "priesthood of the believer," which is the major (of many) distinctions between Protesetants and Catholics.

Then there are groups like the Church of God that are way out there. Go to a Church of God service and they are "speaking in tongues," and being "slain in the Spirit," and dancing in the aisles and pews.

[LadyTevar]

The various "Church Of..." denominations are very Pauline in nature, taking nearly all of their sermons and beliefs from the Letters from Paul. Many of the churchs are misogynic to a degree, not allowing women to hold church offices, telling them not to cut their hair and not to wear "men's clothing".

[Darth Servo]

I'd say one of the main differences is all about "How do you get to Heaven"

Catholics: doing the rituals and confessing your sins to the priest.
Lutherans: Martin Luther was big on salvation by grace through faith, but after I visited Lutheran services, they seemed like watered down Catholics to me.
Methodists: just be nice to everyone.
Baptists: big time saved by grace, works don't matter.
Mormons: a little of each of the above and obedience to church authority figures..

[Rye]

What are the differences between all the Christian denominations? I never really thought about it, and always assumed they were mostly the same, but after reading the clergy martial law thread, apparently they have big differences?

Yeah. Generally, I split them up based on how recently and doctrinally they diverged in little more than soundbyte form.

For instance, the Mormons are total heretics compared to the overwhelming majority of christian sects. For a start, they're polytheistic and have a whole extra prophetic text. They deserve their own category separate from the rest of the churches. They're also not a single sect, of course, there's various Mormon variants, (often disagreeing over things like polygamy) but they can be grouped together due to being generally similar and from the same source within similar timeframes. Mormons are also known for pissing off a lot of people by baptising the dead without the permission of families or the deceased.

Anyway, going back to the oldest churches, obviously, there's the RCC and there's the orthodox churches. Orthodox generally wear funny clothes, have big beards, have different cross symbols, but the teachings are pretty similar to what you would identify with general christian belief as outlined in the Nicene creed. The RCC, obviously, has the hierarchy and organisation of the church behind it and a bit of an addiction to ritual, guilt, and Latin.

There's the CofE/Episcopal Church, which started out pretty much because Henry VIII wanted to dip his wick in other women. It has an official organisation not dissimilar from the catholic church, but is -generally- less oppressive now and a force for the liberalisation of christianity in modern times.

Then there's liberal and conservative protestants, the conservative ends of the spectrum are the evangelicals more often than not, these are generally more an American phenomenon, pretty much the stereotype of "conservative christian" though obviously they are compelled to proselytise. The evangelicals are the goofy faith healers, the rich-as-fuck megachurches and the political meddlers. These guys are also popular in Africa, along with the RCC.

There's various cults that can be put into the fringes of the groups, like the snake handling poison drinkers and fundamentalists and christian dominionists, who are slightly more extreme than the average evangelical, but it's more of a guideline and a scale than clear delineation. The christian science sect aren't anything to do with creationism, but a fairly small group that reject earthly medicine altogether in favour of prayer.

There's also JWs, who are notable for their retarded views on blood transfusions and endless end-time proclamations that they retcon afterwards. These guys will endanger their children due to their doctrinal phobia of blood and are known for bugging people in their own homes.