Really, this is nearly addictive.
The article in question is here.
Dear Got Questions Ministries,
Firstly, I will acknowledge that I am not a Christian, nor was I raised in a very religious family, which leads to the fact that when I typed "What is the difference between Catholics and Protestants?" into my Google search engine, I was looking for honest, straightforward information as someone who really had no clue. I read through the entire article on your site, and I must ask if there is a possibility that you could revise it so it is not so blatantly and nearly offensively biased.
Your web site claims to answer all sorts of questions about Jesus, theology and the Bible, and while I understand your own beliefs must play into this a lot, as it is all based on your faith, you do not openly come out and say that this is all from a Protestant point of view, which I find rather misleading. Also, as someone searching for information, the "This is why we are right and they are all wrong" way of putting things lowers my previously neutral respect for your web site and thus all the content in it. It seems to me to be highly childish, and have no place in a web site that is advertising information.
Please, though you may disagree with Catholics or, indeed, any other religion, I ask that you treat them with respect and allow your readers to view an unbiased and fair answer. At the very least, it may earn you some respect back.
Thank you for your time,
Bethany Ward
Bethany,
Thank you for your email. I am curious, if you are not a Christian, and were not raised "religious," how do you know our "differences between Protestants and Catholics" article is inaccurate?
Most of our Catholic related articles were written by a man who was studying to be a Catholic priest, with an extensive background in Catholic theology. I have been in discussions with a Catholic priest for nearly a year...and while he disagrees with our viewpoint, he admits that our articles are accurate.
Please specify, what in our articles do you find to be incorrect, biased, or misleading?
In regards to how we identify ourselves, on our "About Us" page, we clearly state that we are "Christian, Protestant, conservative, evangelical, fundamental, and non-denominational."
On our "Catholic questions" page - http://www.gotquestions.org/Catholic-questions.html - we state, "Let us be abundantly clear, GotQuestions.org is not a Catholic ministry."
Sincerely in Christ,
Shea
GotQuestions.org
Dear Mr./Mrs. Shea,
I never said that anything was innaccurate, and if I came across as seeming to, I apologize. My problem is not that you give evidence, but that you seem to be overtly throwing biases into what I would assume should be an unbiased account for the sake of those uninitiated souls who come to your site seeking information. It's simply a matter of word choice, in some areas.
"Catholics blend justification and sanctification together into one ongoing process, which leads to confusion about how one is saved." The use of 'leads to confusion' seems to imply that every Catholic is confused about how they are to be saved. If this was true, I highly doubt that there would be any Catholics in the world any more.
"Yet even more disturbing about the Catholic doctrine of purgatory is the fact that they believe that man must or even can pay or make satisfaction for his own sins." 'Yet even more disturbing' instantly degrades the Catholic side. It is much different then saying "Catholics believe that man must (and can) pay or make satisfaction for his own sins, while we, as Protestants, believe that this is impossible and only through Jesus Christ can one be saved."
"This along with their misunderstanding of what the Bible teaches about how man is justified before God, results in a low view of the sufficiency and efficiency of Christ’s atonement on the cross." 'Misunderstanding' does the same thing as 'disturbing' does, above. Simply because a Catholic reads the Bible and comes away with a different interpretation of it does not automatically make them wrong, and it seems to imply that they are less intelligent because of their beliefs.
As for the last paragraph, I think that speaks for itself in terms of bias.
Also, I did not see the FAQ or about pages, apologies again for that mistake. I would think that is something you might want to advertise on your front page, where most people will see it.
While I understand that you are trying, by this website, to convert more people to the Protestant faith, as someone coming from the outside it seems to attack us for the possibility that we might believe differently, whatever our faith. That does not seem to me to be any Church would want to come across.
Thank you for your time,
Bethany Ward
Dear Got Questions Ministries,
Firstly, I will acknowledge that I am not a Christian, nor was I raised in a very religious family, which leads to the fact that when I typed "What is the difference between Catholics and Protestants?" into my Google search engine, I was looking for honest, straightforward information as someone who really had no clue. I read through the entire article on your site, and I must ask if there is a possibility that you could revise it so it is not so blatantly and nearly offensively biased.
Your web site claims to answer all sorts of questions about Jesus, theology and the Bible, and while I understand your own beliefs must play into this a lot, as it is all based on your faith, you do not openly come out and say that this is all from a Protestant point of view, which I find rather misleading. Also, as someone searching for information, the "This is why we are right and they are all wrong" way of putting things lowers my previously neutral respect for your web site and thus all the content in it. It seems to me to be highly childish, and have no place in a web site that is advertising information.
Please, though you may disagree with Catholics or, indeed, any other religion, I ask that you treat them with respect and allow your readers to view an unbiased and fair answer. At the very least, it may earn you some respect back.
Thank you for your time,
Bethany Ward
Bethany,
Thank you for your email. I am curious, if you are not a Christian, and were not raised "religious," how do you know our "differences between Protestants and Catholics" article is inaccurate?
Most of our Catholic related articles were written by a man who was studying to be a Catholic priest, with an extensive background in Catholic theology. I have been in discussions with a Catholic priest for nearly a year...and while he disagrees with our viewpoint, he admits that our articles are accurate.
Please specify, what in our articles do you find to be incorrect, biased, or misleading?
In regards to how we identify ourselves, on our "About Us" page, we clearly state that we are "Christian, Protestant, conservative, evangelical, fundamental, and non-denominational."
On our "Catholic questions" page - http://www.gotquestions.org/Catholic-questions.html - we state, "Let us be abundantly clear, GotQuestions.org is not a Catholic ministry."
Sincerely in Christ,
Shea
GotQuestions.org
Dear Mr./Mrs. Shea,
I never said that anything was innaccurate, and if I came across as seeming to, I apologize. My problem is not that you give evidence, but that you seem to be overtly throwing biases into what I would assume should be an unbiased account for the sake of those uninitiated souls who come to your site seeking information. It's simply a matter of word choice, in some areas.
"Catholics blend justification and sanctification together into one ongoing process, which leads to confusion about how one is saved." The use of 'leads to confusion' seems to imply that every Catholic is confused about how they are to be saved. If this was true, I highly doubt that there would be any Catholics in the world any more.
"Yet even more disturbing about the Catholic doctrine of purgatory is the fact that they believe that man must or even can pay or make satisfaction for his own sins." 'Yet even more disturbing' instantly degrades the Catholic side. It is much different then saying "Catholics believe that man must (and can) pay or make satisfaction for his own sins, while we, as Protestants, believe that this is impossible and only through Jesus Christ can one be saved."
"This along with their misunderstanding of what the Bible teaches about how man is justified before God, results in a low view of the sufficiency and efficiency of Christ’s atonement on the cross." 'Misunderstanding' does the same thing as 'disturbing' does, above. Simply because a Catholic reads the Bible and comes away with a different interpretation of it does not automatically make them wrong, and it seems to imply that they are less intelligent because of their beliefs.
As for the last paragraph, I think that speaks for itself in terms of bias.
Also, I did not see the FAQ or about pages, apologies again for that mistake. I would think that is something you might want to advertise on your front page, where most people will see it.
While I understand that you are trying, by this website, to convert more people to the Protestant faith, as someone coming from the outside it seems to attack us for the possibility that we might believe differently, whatever our faith. That does not seem to me to be any Church would want to come across.
Thank you for your time,
Bethany Ward