Whats the Difference Between Protestants and Catholics?
Usually when Dan Brown writes about the Church he is describing the Roman Catholic Church, often known as Catholicism. However, readers should know that there are other expressions of the Christian faith. In addition to numerous smaller groups, there are two other major branches. Eastern Orthodoxy, which became an autonomous body in 1054, and is found mostly in the eastern Mediterranean and eastern Europe, counts some 300 million members worldwide. The branch known as Protestantism has existed since 1517, a symbolic date upon which Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the University of Wittenberg, one of the triggers of the Reformation. Today there are some 600 million Protestants worldwide. These compare to Roman Catholicism, which counts a little over 1 billion members, which is half the total number of Christians, and one sixth the world’s population. Of course no one is neutral about the differences between Protestants and Catholics. Here, we will be content simply to
