[Sasquatch]

Originally Posted by Pie Man 360

All religions have divisions. islam has its 3 major divisions like Sunni etc.

You may be referring to the conflicts between the Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq, but the Kurds are Christian. If there's another "major division" or denomination of some type, I don't know much about it.

Originally Posted by chocobo07

Do you go to a public school where they don't teach it? What religion are you? O.o

I'm Christian. I was Catholic as a child, but got out of it prettymuch as soon as I started looking into my own faith and coming up with doubts in Catholicism. I did go to public schools, but they didn't teach anything about religion (other than a few small bits of history and such), so everything I've learned about Catholicism has been from the Catholic Church or from my own research.

Originally Posted by Saracen

you seperate catholicism from christianity because it is shaped by man. christianity was created by man. nowhere does jesus propose a new type of religion. in fact most of his messages were (moral) common sense and being taught by many men all over the world.

Actually, Jesus did say, many times, that the only way to Heaven was faith in Him. Not just that, but the New Testament many times rebukes ancient Jewish traditions. I've heard people say that Jesus didn't try to start any new religion, and it's simply not true. Tell you what, you tell anybody else of any monotheistic religion that their Messiah has come, and see if they think you're just "teaching".

the term christian was given to his disciples and followers by people who did not believe in him.

The term "Christian" was given by Christians themselves, meaning those who follow Christ. "Christ" means "Messiah".

also, criticism of catholic traditions is pointless. many people have their own ways of getting closer to God.

"Their own ways of getting closer to God", I have no problem with. But when "their own ways" include things that are contradictory to God's teachings -- as do many of Catholic "ways" -- that's when it starts conflicting with Christianity.

you should also remember that the apostles wrote the much of the New Testament after the occurences at a time when Christianity was heavily influenced by regions they were spreading it to.

Umm... No. Most of the New Testament was written immediately following the life of Jesus. If the New Testament was written to be spread or not persecuted, it wouldn't have been written at all.