[John]

As a protestant, I believe the last poster’s got it right. Mary was chosen, and that makes her blessed among women, but she’s certainly not equal to Jesus Christ himself. The real danger in venerating Mary is to forget this fact. Protestants don’t disregard ‘the first 1500 years of the Church’. First, ‘Catholic’ means universal. . .so to us it’s all Christainity that’s being talked about. Secondly, the Catholic church wasn’t responsible for ‘the Dark Ages’, the fall of the Roman Empire was. However, it could be argued that the Church was complicit in various money making deals and abuses of power including, but not limited to, the sale of indulgences, the Crusades, the Inquisition, and just generally upholding the ‘divine kingship’ principal that was prevelant throughout Europe at the time. I don’t think it’s right for you to condemn Protestants for wanting to improve the system. The Catholic Church at THAT TIME is a warning about what happens when religion gets involved in politics and economic gain. After all, we’re just human beings, and bad things happen (even in carrying out God’s word!) because of our weak, greedy natures. Finally, I’m by no means saying that this is over. . .just look at conservative (Protestant) Christainity’s role in our government today. It’s sad and pathetic.

User Detail :  

Name : John, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 22, City : Springville, State : NY, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,