Christianity is a unique religion. It is a revolutionary religion. Suffering and sacrifice are intrinsic–we are taught to be patient and to put others before ourselves. We are blessed when we are persecuted and count it as woe when others speak well of us. We seek first the Kingdom of God and declare all worldly things as loss if they do not lead us to Christ. Christianity is not only revolutionary, but radical. No other word sums it up as well. Yes, we are radical. And we are also at war with ourselves. 

For those of you who haven’t met me or don’t know my story, I am a former Protestant who converted to Catholicism about four years ago. It was only after my conversion that I really witnessed the arguments between Protestants and Catholics and learned to understand that there was a divide between us. For a while, the disagreements were all I focused on. I was very set on why Catholics were right (a disputed opinion, I understand, as we’re not all from the same denominations) and didn’t give the conflict any more thought. But my mom (a Catholic-turned-Protestant-turned-Catholic-again) did, and it was talking with her that gave me the ideas you’re about to read. 

Disunity Vs. Evangelization

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Christians are called to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19). We are supposed to evangelize and call other people to Christ. But most Christians don’t pay enough attention to how our division is affecting our evangelization. Not only does our dissension run the risk of driving away would-be believers, but it focuses our attention in the wrong place. We get so caught up in preaching to each other that we don’t notice the non-believers in our everyday lives. Don’t get me wrong–dialogue between denominations is a good thing when done respectfully. But when it becomes a consuming hatred, it takes our attention off of the goal: Christ. 

If Catholics and Protestants have one thing in common (and I should know, after spending time as both), it is that we believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. If you’re talking to a Catholic (or a Protestant) who disagrees that Jesus is our Savior, then you aren’t talking to a real Christian. Yet so often, we get caught up in convincing the other side that they’re wrong, when we should be focusing on working together to reach the people who don’t even know about Jesus. Catholics and Protestants both have the Cornerstone of our salvation, but there are millions of people who don’t. Disunity and evangelization don’t work together. What differences could Christians make in the world if we stopped fighting each other and started joining forces against sin and disbelief?

Hatred Vs. Love

Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting that we end debates and discussion between our denominations. With this much dissension between us, there must be an underlying truth to be found, and conversations exploring the possibilities are a good thing. No, I’m not suggesting that we end our discourse–I’m simply suggesting that we change it. There is so much hate when it comes to religious dialogue. From my experience, it seems that people aren’t willing to listen as much as they are willing to talk. Obviously each individual is going to have their own beliefs and promote those when it comes to a debate, but what happened to loving our neighbor? When did we become so convinced that we were right that we threw out any attempt at actually conversing? 

I’m not completely innocent of this myself. It’s far too easy for me to fall into the trap of ‘Catholics are always right’. I remember once watching a Catholic review a discussion between a priest and a Protestant. The Protestant was being slightly aggressive (maybe arrogant), and I was irritated. Protestants never listened–they assumed that they were right and acted like it. Then the Catholic paused the video and said: “Everything she (the Protestant) just said was correct.” That made me stop, because even as I had been listening to her, I’d been denouncing what she’d said as false simply because she was a Protestant debating a Catholic. 

Protestants and Catholics don’t have to hate each other–and in most cases, I don’t think we actually do. I think we want to convince the other side of what we believe to be the truth, and we feel so grounded in our own faith that we’re not really interested in listening to what the other side has to say. But why does all of our dialogue have to go this way? Why does simply saying “I’m a Catholic” or “I’m a Protestant” have to bring on anger and aggression? Is there another route we can take?

Past Vs. Future

I’m going to be completely honest–I don’t know what the answer to our disunity is. I don’t know what the solution to our hate is, or how we can find a balance between debating each other and reaching out to non-believers. But I do know that the change can start with us. Our generation can make the choice to stop hating and start reaching out. We get to decide, here and now, what we want our future to look like. We can let our disunity tear us apart, or we can give each other the chance to bridge the gap and bring us back together. 

All believers are working towards the same goal. We want to bring the Kingdom of God to those around us and spread the Good News to every corner of the planet. And someday, at the end of our lives, we want to see the glorious eternity that God has waiting for us and never look away. Imagine what unity between our denominations could do towards those goals. Imagine the difference we could make. But that difference will never happen if we don’t start reaching out. I’m willing to take the risk and give unity a chance. Are you?