| Sep 18, 2008 @ 1:56 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,245
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Some think Christianity is universal across every country and that the Christian belief system here is the same as it was after 1 AD. Well let us check the numbers real time then you can all make up your own minds.
en español
The Facts and Stats on "33,000 Denominations"
by PhilVaz
Now for a few facts and stats from the actual source: World Christian Encyclopedia by Barrett, Kurian, Johnson (Oxford Univ Press, 2nd edition, 2001).
The source does refer to 33000+ total "Christian" denominations, but it defines the word "denomination" as an organized Christian group within a specific country:
“Denominations. A denomination is defined in this Encyclopedia as an organized aggregate of worship centers or congregations of similar ecclesiastical tradition within a specific country; i.e. as an organized Christian church or tradition or religious group or community of believers, within a specific country, whose component congregations and members are called by the same denominational name in different areas, regarding themselves as one autonomous Christian church distinct from other denominations, churches and traditions. As defined here, world Christianity consists of 6 major ecclesiastico-cultural blocs, divided into 300 major ecclesiastical traditions, composed of over 33,000 distinct denominations in 238 countries, these denominations themselves being composed of over 3,400,000 worship centers, churches or congregations.” (Barrett et al, volume 1, page 16, Table 1-5, emphasis added)
So we have, according to Barrett's Encyclopedia:
* a denomination is defined as existing within a specific country
* there are 33,000+ total of these "Christian denominations" in 238 total countries
These 33,000 are subdivided into "6 major ecclesiastico-cultural mega-blocs", and ordering them by denomination size we have (I am rounding up or down slightly for convenience, using year 2000 figures) :
* Independents (about 22000)
* Protestants (about 9000)
* "Marginals" (about 1600)
* Orthodox (781)
* Roman Catholics (242)
* Anglicans (168)
So the 33,000 number is from the total of these 6 mega-blocs:
22000 + 9000 + 1600 + 781 + 242 + 168 = 33,000+
That's where the 33,000 figure comes from. If you count the "mega-bloc" of "Protestants" only it is 9000 / 33000 or 27% of the total. However, if you combine Protestants with Independents and Anglicans ( [22000 + 9000 + 168] / 33000) it is 94% of the total or 31,000+ . We will see below that most (about 97%) of the "Independent" churches are indeed Protestants. Now that we have that settled, I will examine what the source says about each of these "mega-blocs." All of the information below is found on pages 16-18 (volume 1) of the World Christian Encyclopedia (2001, 2nd edition).
from Richard N. Ostling, Associated Press, 19 May 2001
World Christian Encyclopedia (2001, 2nd edition) by David Barrett, et alSince adding a religion doctorate from Columbia University to his technical background, he has spent 40 years systematizing information on world religions, a calling he discovered while assigned as an Anglican missionary in Africa. Now 73, Barrett recently culminated his oddly remarkable career with publication of the second edition of his global accounting of faiths and the faithful -- trends, details and his best estimated count of believers of all religions in each of 238 nations and territories.
Never has there been such a thorough reference as the two large volumes, running 1,699 pages, of the World Christian Encyclopedia, published by Oxford University Press. Barrett has doggedly visited most of the lands in person, collecting raw material, including national census figures and United Nations data, and recruiting the 444 specialists who feed him material. Among them: Vatican missions librarian Willi Henkel and editor J. Gordon Melton of the Encyclopedia of American Religions. Barrett's encyclopedia sought to count each human being in each religion and religious subcategory in each country as of 1900, 1970, 1990, 1995 and 2000, with projections to 2025.
The 2001 edition, successor to his 1982 first edition, which took a decade to compile, identifies 10,000 distinct religions, of which 150 have 1 million or more followers. Within Christianity, he counts 33,820 denominations.
Barrett also calculates religious populations for the Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year, standard estimates that are used in turn by the World Almanac and innumerable journalists. Such numbers are always debatable, but they're the best available. "We don't really have any rivals," Barrett says. "That's the problem."
We Accept All DenominationsTitle: World Christian Encyclopedia : a comparative survey of churches and religions in the modern world
Authors: David B. Barrett, George T. Kurian, Todd M. Johnson.
Edition: 2nd ed.
Published: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.
Description: 2 v. : ill., col. maps ; 32 cm.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Contents:
v. 1. The world by countries : religionists, churches, ministries
v. 2. The world by segments : religions, peoples, languages, cities, topics.
Independents (about 22,000 denominations)
Let's deal with these first, since this is the largest mega-bloc (22000+ "denominations" of the total 33000+). These are broken down into various large groups, and their lists and numbers span
[Edited on
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 1:58 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,245
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from the bottom of page 16, through page 17, and most of page 18. I'm not going to type all of these since the list is quite long -- much longer than any of the groupings in the other mega-blocs which are listed below in full. I will quote a major sampling of these "Independent" Christian groups, and still try to cover the whole list:
* African Independent Apostolic
* Black American Apostolic
* Filipino Apostolic
* Indian Apostolic
* another 8 groups have "Apostolic"
* African Independent Charismatic
* Black American Charismatic
* Chinese Charismatic
* another 14 groups have "Charismatic" or "Neocharismatic"
* African Independent Full Gospel
* Black American Full Gospel
* Chinese Full Gospel
* another 10 groups have "Full Gospel"
* three have something-"grassroots"
* another 20 groups have "house-church network" or "cell-based network"
* Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of The Potters House, an African-American nondenominational megachurch in Dallas, Texasfive have "Messianic"-something
* another 14 are something-"neocharismatic"
* another 12 are something-"Oneness pentecostal"
* another 18 are something-"pentecostal"
* another 12 are something-"radio/TV believers [or "network"]" (i.e. the "pastor" for these independent Christians is some personality on radio or TV)
* final 2 on page 17 are something-"Spiritual"
* then we have a couple deliverence/pentecostal groups
* Word of Faith / Prosperity groups
* a couple of "mixed traditions"
* some "Zionist" groups
* Independent Anglicans or Anglo-Catholic groups in both Catholic and Protestant directions
* Independent Adventists
* apocalyptic or eschatological ("end times") groups
* Independent Baptists
* British-Israelites
* Hidden Buddhist believers in Christ
* some Independent Orthodox groups
* independent Christian Brethren (Plymouth Brethren)
* schismatic Conservative Catholics
* Independent Congregational, Congregationalists
* Independent Disciple, Restorationist, Christian
* Independent Dunkers (Tunker, Dipper)
* Independent Exclusive Brethren (Closed, Strict)
* episcopi vagantes ("wandering" bishops-at-large, very small under 100 members)
* Independent Estonian Orthodox
* Independent Anglican Evangelical
* Independent Fundamentalist
* Gay/Lesbian homosexual tradition (i.e. so-called "gay churches" such as Metropolitan Community Churches)
* Independent Greek Orthodox
* Hidden Hindu believers in Christ
* Holiness or Conservative Methodist (non-Pentecostal)
* Independent Hungarian Orthodox
* Independent Jehovah's Witnesses
* Messianic, Jewish-Christian congregations
* Independent "Latin-rite" Catholics
* Independent "Liberal" Catholics (Theosophical, Masonic, Gnostic)
* another seven Independent Protestant or Orthodox churches
* Hidden Muslim believers in Christ
* Independent Assyrian or Nestorian
* No-Church Movement
* Non-denominational (no church or anti-church groups)
* Old Believer, Old Ritualist
* Old Catholics (i.e. split from Rome after Vatican Council I)
* Old Calendarist (Authentic Orthodox)
* various schisms from Orthodoxy, in Protestant directions
* Orthodox sect/sectarian
* Independent Friends (Quakers)
* three indy "Reformed" groups (Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox)
* more Independent Reformed or Orthodox
* Independent Spiritualist, spiritists, occultists
* Traditionalist Anglicans
* True Orthodox (Conservative Russian Orthodox)
* Independent Ukrainian Orthodox
* United church (various united bodies)
* community church or union congregation
* ethnic or monoethnic denominations
* independent evangelicals (dispensationalist)
* marginal independent Christian (Black / Third-World)
* isolated radio churches (unorganized)
* single autonomous congregations
Whew!
While the World Christian Encyclopedia does refer to "only" 9000 or so denominations as "Protestant" the source also includes 22,000 or so denominations as "Independent" and if you look at the names of these "Independent" groups above, you'll see most of them are clearly Protestant (the "Apostolic", the "Charismatic", the "Full Gospel", the house or home churches, the pentecostals, probably all the TV/radio Christians, and all the independents of other Protestant denominations listed, etc). None of these are Catholic or Orthodox, but there appear to be some renegade Orthodox, Anglicans, and schismatic Catholics among the "Independents." The largest of these Independent Christians are "White-led charismatic" (17,478,000 members [year 1995], in 2856 separate denominations [year 2000]), "African independent pentecostal" (18,943,000 members [year 1995], in 5385 separate denominations [year 2000]), and "African neocharismatic of mixed traditions" (1,500,000 members [year 1995], in 3333 separate denominations [year 2000]). These three are all Protestant (neither Catholic, nor Orthodox) and account for more than half (53%) of the 22,000 "Independent" denominations.
Another section of these "Independents" with a decent number of denominations include (ordered by smallest to largest denominations, year 2000):
* 65 Filipino Charismatic
* 70 Chinese neocharismatic
* 71 Chinese Charismatic
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 1:59 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,245
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* 78 Black American pentecostal
* 82 Holiness (Conservative Methodist, non-pentecostal)
* 86 Afro-Caribbean Oneness pentecostal
* Hackney Pentecostal Apostolic Church, Hackney, London 92 Latin American Charismatic
* 92 Anglican/Independent Evangelical
* 92 Independent Methodist
* 95 Indian pentecostal
* 96 African Oneness pentecostal
* 96 marginal independent (Black/Third World)
* 99 White-led Oneness pentecostal
* 102 Arab Charismatic
* 133 Black American Oneness pentecostal
* 133 Independent Disciple, Restorationist, Christian
* 136 Independent Reformed, Presbyterian
* 158 Zionist African Independent
* 167 Korean pentecostal (mixed traditions)
* 177 Indonesian pentecostal
* 208 New/Old Apostolic, Catholic Apostolic (Irvingite, an Anglican / Presbyterian / Adventist sect)
* 221 Brazilian/Portuguese pentecostal
* 225 ethnic or monoethnic denomination
* 226 White-led Full Gospel
* 236 Nondenominational (no church or anti-church)
* 271 Independent Baptist
* 281 Latin American grassroots
* 281 Filipino neocharismatic
* 300 Brazilian grassroots
* 343 Afro-Caribbean pentecostal
* 439 African Independent Spiritual
* 475 Indian Charismatic
* 609 African Independent Charismatic
* 644 Latin American pentecostal
* 805 single autonomous congregations
* 813 White-led pentecostal
Adding up these Independent denominations we get 8,497 which is another 39% of the total of 22,000 "Independents." All of these are clearly "Protestant" in theology as well -- charismatics, pentecostals, evangelicals, methodists, reformed/presbyterians, full gospel, "nondenominational", baptists, and Oneness pentecostals (note that Barrett includes "mainline" Oneness groups in the Protestant mega-bloc, not in the "Marginal" mega-bloc). So that gives us 92% ( = 53% + 39% ) of these Independent groups accounted for as Protestant. The rest (the remaining 8% of the 22000 denominations) are smaller than the above, and the majority of these are Protestant as well.
The only other large "Catholic" independent group is 435 "denominations" labeled "Conservative Catholic (schism ex Rome)" or those "radical Traditionalist" Catholics in schism with Rome which I'll admit appears to be a large number (considering there are only 242 total "Roman Catholic denominations" -- see below). However, looking at the total numbers of Roman Catholics in the world (over 1 billion) this dwarfs the relatively small numbers (i.e. 4,518,000 members [year 1995], in 435 "denominations" [year 2000]) in these schismatical groups. And at least Catholics know who is in "schism" whereas a Protestant evangelical, fundamentalist, charismatic or pentecostal (i.e. all the above groups which claim to follow the Bible) can't be in "schism" to the Bible, since the Bible by itself doesn't tell us who is in schism.
Another way to determine the percentage of Protestants/Anglicans in these Independents is to count and exclude the "Catholic" and "Orthodox" ones -- i.e. groups which appear to have come out of or split off from the Catholic Church or Orthodox Churches, and apparently still claim to be in some sense "Catholic" or "Orthodox" and are non-Protestant / non-Anglican. These are, ordered from largest to smallest denominations, year 2000 numbers:
* 435 Conservative Catholic (schism ex-Rome), the biggest group of these already mentioned
* 32 Independent Russian Orthodox, second largest
* 30 Orthodox sect/sectarian
* 27 Liberal Catholic (Theosophical, Masonic, Gnostic), questionable what this means, but I'll include them
* 26 Old Catholic (i.e. split with Rome after Vatican Council I)
* 25 Old Believer, Old Ritualist (the "Old Believers" are a Russian Orthodox sect)
* 24 Independent Ukrainian Orthodox
* 23 Reformed Orthodox (uncanonical)
* 16 Reformed Catholic (retaining Roman Catholic claims)
* 8 Old Calendarist (Authentic Orthodox)
* 6 True Orthodox (conservative Russian Orthodox)
* 5 Independent Serbian Orthodox
* 5 Latin-rite Catholic
* 5 Independent Assyrian or Nestorian
* 3 Independent Romanian Orthodox
* 2 Independent Estonian Orthodox
* 2 Independent Greek Orthodox
* 1 Independent Bulgarian Orthodox
* 1 Independent Byzantine rite
* 1 Independent Hungarian Orthodox
* 1 Independent Macedonian Orthodox
* 1 Independent Moldavian Orthodox
These are all found on page 18. Adding these up we get a whopping 679 which is 3% of the 22,000 "Independent" denominations. That leaves us approximately 97% of the Independents as Protestant/Anglican, with a tiny number of "Marginal Christians" (i.e. 8 Jehovah's Witnesses breakaway groups, and a couple "mind science" cults). The "Irvingites" on page 17, although called "New Apostolic, Catholic Apostolic, Old Apostolic," are actually an Anglican / Presbyterian / Adventist, i.e. Protestant sect, neither Catholic nor Orthodox.
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 2:01 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,245
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Now someone please tell me how universal and identical all forms of Christianity are universal in this country and others.
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 2:09 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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beckyiv42000
Posts: 14,576
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 I thought that the Protestants protested and formed a NEW religion hence the name
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 2:35 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,245
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Martin Luther never intended to form a new religion his goal was to reform the existing Catholic hierarchy from having their own prostitutes, lending money at outrageous interest rates and selling different rights and blessings to those in power.
But then according to the bible and biblical sources the people and cause that Jesus preached against to the Jews was the Jewish hierarchy that was just as corrupt back then as the Catholics became.
Then to in present times TV evangelist and fundamentalist in the hierarchy of Protestant churches are guilty of the same thing. 
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 2:36 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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beckyiv42000
Posts: 14,576
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Yash those who have control of the masses more often than not, are in power because of corruption 
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 2:38 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,245
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 Power corrupts absolute power is a very dangerous thing. Fortunately God made me do it in this country does not make a insanity plea legal.
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 2:40 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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hammertime
Posts: 14,071
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Yash,
Why'd you stop posting? I thought you were going to post all 33,000 of them with explanations for each one.
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 2:42 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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beckyiv42000
Posts: 14,576
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hammer  sheesh wasn't that enough ?...
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 2:47 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,245
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Give me a few years! 
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 2:56 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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beckyiv42000
Posts: 14,576
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Power corrupts absolute power is a very dangerous thing.
Power corrupts... absolute power corrupts ...absolutely 
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 3:35 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,245
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Yes it does but the exact saying eluded me when I posted so I add libbed!
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| Sep 18, 2008 @ 6:33 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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jamminjerry
Posts: 4,085
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were there any that had the word "christ" or "christian" in the title? like Appalacian Christian Center". or "Church of Christ"? i am sure that most of the protestant churches feel they represent Christ aka Jesus. perhaps just the name of the church should give rise to caution. since my bible is published by "the world publishing company", i am very cautious of its content. we be jammin 
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| Sep 19, 2008 @ 12:19 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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yashaenka
Posts: 8,245
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For one I have no idea how many bible versions are in print but I do know this the bible is the most published book there is followed by the Tao Te Ching as the 2nd most published in the most languages.
The problem in the various publishing house as to versions of the bible is just which language it was translated from. The first version was in ancient Greek the Aramaic and the Roman language of those times.
The problem with that is various dialects even in those times had a problem understanding one another even in the same language.
I remember trying to understand a person from Texas, from the South or the East as a American. We all spoke English but had our own words that differed between various dialects. Now consider from Ancient Greek to many other languages and then into English centuries later. What language was the English version translated from?
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| Sep 19, 2008 @ 3:41 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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jamminjerry
Posts: 4,085
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i'm gonna guess you missed my post. it is easy to do when one has the proverbial blinders on. so, again i ask, of all the pseudochristians you have mentioned in your rant, how many have the word Jesus or Christ in the name of their church? and if the name(s) Jesus and/or Christ appears in their name which of them truely place the words of Jesus above all the other words in my bible. of course we be jammin
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| Sep 19, 2008 @ 3:43 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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jamminjerry
Posts: 4,085
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i love this game!
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| Sep 19, 2008 @ 7:43 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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MisterMatt
Posts: 88
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Yes it does but the exact saying eluded me when I posted so I add libbed!
I figured that was the case. lol
It is true that there are many translations of the Bible. You are also correct in your observation about the specifics of the individual translations. I am impressed with your knowledge of such matters. There are some Christians who are unable to understand this truth.
Having that been said, it is still remarkable how well nearly all the translations stack up against each other.
Power corrupts, there is no doubt. Take the Catholic church for example. There power over nations and rulers was/is incredible. Sorry don't mean to offend my Catholic friends, but it is true.
As to which religion wields the most control in modern society in relationship to controlling people and government I must submit that is the Muslims (no offense intended). But perhaps that is a separate topic.
MM
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| Sep 19, 2008 @ 8:25 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there?
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jamminjerry
Posts: 4,085
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yes that is no doubt a different forum for discussion. i wish to assume that the words christian and protestant are synomyous. perhaps i am wrong? logic implies that i am. if i was correct there would be further discussion on the topic christian v/s protestant. we be jammin
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| Sep 19, 2008 @ 8:37 PM |
How many different Prostestant denominations are there? |
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BandTMom
Posts: 38,059
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i wish to assume that the words christian and protestant are synomyous. perhaps i am wrong?
Yes, you are wrong. There are many denominations that are christian, but not Protestant.
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