Hey I was thinking about your post about how religion is a set of practices within a given context, and so (as per the example you used) the Islam of daesh differs a lot from the Islam of liberal Arabs in the USA. And I was wondering if you feel that would apply similarly to a much more centralised religion like the Catholic church, which has a central figurehead that sets the tone of the religion worldwide?
yeah obvsies with the more specificity that you define what you’re talking about the more specific claims you can make. so you can talk much more substantively about ‘catholicism’ than you can about 'christianity’, and then in turn talk more substantively about 'the catholicism of the catholic church’ than about 'catholicism’, and then in turn talk even more substantively about 'the catholicism of the catholic church in poland’, etc. but obviously then as ever we must return to our material analysis and understand the behaviour of the church as informed not by 'catholicism’ but by the church’s (many many!) material & economic interests, around which 'catholicism’ as practiced within the church’s orthodoxy was shaped
catholicism is also a really interesting example of how “religion as it is practiced” doesn’t always line up with “religion as orthodoxy / religion as belief” imo, because contemporary catholicism is kind of infamous for like… how heterodox its followers are despite the church having a head priest and official hierarchy.
cafeteria catholics, sedevacantists, weirdo tradcaths who are like “the pope IS the pope but I REFUSE to acknowledge Vatican II,” etc. etc… even if the clergy is more or less on the same page, lay followers are all over the place. all of which I imagine the Vatican is Rather Frustrated By, but since they’re not really in the business of regularly persecuting heretics or excommunicating people anymore (not that they necessarily could even if they wanted to, at this point) it just sort of persists regardless
The Catholic Church regularly reminds its Mexican members that Dia De Los Muertos is in fact paganism and that you should really just come in on All Saints Day the day afterwards.
