By Sierra Hemingway
In the past few weeks, I have noticed that when I tell people I am a Christian they are not always understanding what I mean or they interpret the word differently than what I believe to be true for myself. So, after doing some research I was intrigued by this idea of what Christianity meansto me and others. I have been hearing the terms ‘Catholic’ and ‘Christian’ being intertwined very
often, as if they mean the same thing. I was confused with this because I am a Christian, but I amnot Catholic. I learned that Catholic is considered a type of Christianity, that it is one of 6branches of what would be considered ‘Christianity’. The other 5 branches are, EasternOrthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Church of the East, Protestantism, and Restorationism. Undersome of those branches there are even more branches. For example, Lutheranism, Reformed,Anglican, Baptist, Methodism, Pentecostalism and Anabaptist are all different beliefs under
Protestantism. Now, you may be wondering, Sierra why does this matter? And that is a fairquestion, you may not care about the types of beliefs in Christianity, but I must tell you,Christianity is not the only belief that has many branches connected to it. There are many religions in the world, and we are often told to learn about some, but not others. I think its actually very important when considering our own cultures to think about and learn about others
as well. To learn about some of these different beliefs, I want to encourage you to talk to your friends,family, and maybe even a stranger. Ask them what they believe in and why. However, this can be a heated and controversial topic so if you are going to, please go into the conversation with respect and kindness. We are lucky to live in a free country. We all have a right to be heard, every single one of us, no matter gender, race or religion.
