Culture

Non-Catholic

Does it seem weird to anyone that many members of the Church refer to those of different faiths as non-Mormon, but never refer to themselves as non-Catholics or non-Jews, for example?

Published by

Kim Siever

Queer Mormon poet with radical political views. I have been married 27 years, and we have 6 children. Sunday school president. Served in the Utah Provo Mission.

6 thoughts on “Non-Catholic”

  1. No. It’s simply a function of the conversational context. If I’m talking about the Church in some way, then membership in the Church becomes relevant, and I mention that someone is a non-Mormon. If I were having a conversation regarding the Catholic Church, I would probably make mention of who’s a Catholic and who isn’t. I would almost certainly refer to myself as a non-Catholic if discussing Catholic matters.

  2. It doesn’t seem that strange to me actually. It’s human nature to think and talk about the world in relation to one’s own organizations and beliefs.

    Also to be more specific don’t Jews and Muslims refer to non-members of their faith as gentiles?

  3. I do refer to myself as a non-Catholic (I’m a bit of an RC junkie, so I have these conversations from time to time). I don’t *introduce* myself as such, lol, but in the context of talking about the Roman Catholic church, I clarify that I’m an outsider to the faith and that DH is an ex-Catholic of the E&C variety.

    I don’t think I’ve ever had occasion to utter the phrase, “I’m a non-Jew.” But I bet my little sister has. She’s fascinated by Judaism in much the same way I am with Catholicism.

    ::Shrug::

  4. Actually, I can think of at least two conversations in the last few months where I’ve specifically referred to myself as a non-Catholic.

  5. When I was studying modern Hebrew, I would often introduce myself not with the phrase “non-Jew” but by saying, “I’m not Jewish.” I also have said “I’m not a Hare Krisna” and “I’m not Catholic” with some regularity. The whole non-X construction is really odd, though.

  6. It’s context, I agree. When I’m moving in Catholic circles I often refer to myself as ‘non-Catholic.’

Comments are closed.