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by ImaCatholic2 on May 26th, 2008
Proselytism is the use of unfair and coercive methods, --that is to say, those which apply pressure--to convince a person to leave his/her religion and join another.
Evangelization, on the other hand, is giving witness to God as revealed through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit in a simple and direct manner. It includes the renewing of humanity, witness, explicit proclamation, adherence with the heart, entry into the community, acceptance of signs, and apostolic initiative. It means to carry the good news to all areas of human life and through its influence transform from within and renew humanity itself, but without pressure.
Most Christian Churches including Catholicism practice evangelization not proselytism.
With love in Christ.
by koldkanuck on May 26th, 2008
Jeehozaphat,I meant jehovah.
by jsvascular on November 25th, 2009
Seems that some definitions could give proselytize a bad name. Regardless, seems that some religions with a large following in the west, such as most Christian sects, include attempting to convert 'non-believers' as a standard activity. Moslems as well seem to promote converstion. On the other hands, a regimented attempting to convert does not seem to be part of Hinduism, Judaism, Jainism, Buddhism, nor among atheists.
by david.orlins on June 15th, 2011
I'm not sure what dictionary you are using (Christian Political Dictionary, ie:b.s.). Proselytize means to convert or attempt to convert. Christianity promotes, no, requires proselytism. All versions of Christianity from Catholism to Mormon proselytizes. Islam also proselytizes. This is why the ridiculous bumper sticker "Coexist" makes no sense. These religions believe all people should be the same religion. We cannot coexist with this mindset. My religion is THE religion, etc.
Most other religions do not proselytize including Judiasm. The rest of us believe that if you try to live a righteous life and be a the best person you can be, God or whatever greater power you believe in will look favorably upon you.
What is a church pulpit used for?
by Answerbag Staff on April 23rd, 2010
| 7 people like this
how can anyone experience anything when they are outside time and space?
by Tahuti on February 7th, 2012
| 1 person likes this
Does it ever hurt you when people who aren't Christians are called "ungodly"?
by AnonymousGirl on February 8th, 2012
| 3 people like this
Should church's use blessed water for the soup at the shelters ? Wouldn't alot of atheists be eating him then ?
by Ryan_U on February 7th, 2012
| 2 people like this
What would make you feel like somebody is abusing his or her religion? Why?
by AnonymousGirl on February 7th, 2012
| 3 people like this
You're reading Aside from Christianity, what other religions proselytize?
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Comments
Ok, here are definitions from six different dictionaries (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/proselytize). Where in any of them does it saying anything about coercion being connected with proselytizing? From looking at the dictionaries, it appears that the only real difference in meaning between evangelize and proselytize is that evangelize applies specifically to Christianity whereas proselytize is a more general term for trying to convert someone to your way of think whether it be religiously, philosophically, or politically.
by Glenn Blaylock on May 26th, 2008
Here is the description of proselytism from the Joint Working Group between the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches (who together represent about 3/4 of all Christians in the world): http://www.providence.edu/las/proselyt.htm
by ImaCatholic2 on May 26th, 2008
Actually I would question whether this group really represents 3/4 of all Christians in the world (at least in this matter). In order for them to truly make that claim, then those three quarters of all Christians would have had to read that report and agreed with how they used the word "proselytize" and its derivatives. How many of them do you really think have actually done that? I would think that the number of people who have actually read that report is rather small even among the clergy, let alone the general populations of those churches. I would think that the vast majority of Christians would tern to a dictionary to determine the meaning of the word.
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Please don't get me wrong here. I am not trying to pick on you. It's just that I get rather annoyed when people take perfectly good words and change their meanings on me as seems to be the case here. I realize that languages change over time, but that does not mean that i have to like it. ;-)
by Glenn Blaylock on May 26th, 2008