Catholic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Catholic - Essay Example After the death of Jesus the Christian belief became an independent faith, but a faith persistently persecuted by the Romans. The disciples of Jesus and their descendants would spread the word the gospels and the path to salvation through Jesus (Fairchild 1). It would not be until after the Romans abandoned their pantheon of Gods and adopted Christianity as their official religion that such persecution would stop. This is how the Roman Catholic Church was born (Bellitto 1-2). Its power spread throughout the lands and Rome conquered under the name of Jesus forcing many to convert under duress. It became and remains one of the most commonly practiced religions in the world. With the onset of the Scientific Revolution the belief in faith showed a bit of decline as the influence of science, logic, and rationale was embraced. However, that did not diminish the Church for long. Even today the number of people who admit that they are Catholic is higher than ever in certain states around the country. However, the number of people actually attending Church services has greatly diminished. There is a demographic change being seen in the faith, as well. Catholic congregations tend to be elderly women, middle class Caucasian families with small children, and Hispanic or Latino families. The number of young females of all age categories has heavily diminished, primarily because of the highly patriarchal interpretations of spiritual passages, there vocal position on the issue of birth control, and there diminishment of women’s rights have turned many young females from Catholicism as a religious option. However, despite these changing demographics and shifting Church presence experts remain confident that Catholicism will remain a top faith well into the future (Briggs 1). Again, as previously mentioned, experts on the subject of theology are confident that Catholicism will continue to have strong membership into the near future (Briggs 1).However, there are other opi nions that reference the fact that with the changing, globalization of the world it is imperative that all institutions, including Catholicism, will need to reform, reinvent, or innovate their perspectives to meet the changing times. If not, it is likely, that the distance between the logical, technological thinkers and those that practice religion will widen. In the next 5 years or the next decade it is likely that they will maintain their popularity, however in 25 years the world will have changed and if Catholicism, along with other faiths, are not willing to adapt to those changes it is possible that their number of believers will plummet. Teachings of the Group In the most basic explanation Catholics believe that there is One Almighty God, who created all the universe and the world we live upon and then created man in his image in a the Garden of Eden. He sent his son to be born of perpetual virgin, Mary, and then grow to become the leader who would lead them to salvation for t heir immortal souls. They believe that Jesus Christ is the means to salvation of the soul; which is extremely important to Catholics. If one is too heavy with sin they will spend eternity in Hell, while those who are free of sin and lead a â€Å"good life† will be allowed to enter the gates of Heaven. They believe that the Bible expresses truths that are not open for debate. They