Yusuf Estes (born Joseph Estes, 1944) is an American preacher from Texas who converted from Christianity to Islam in 1991. He claims to have been a Muslim Chaplain for the United States Bureau of Prisons through the 1990s, and to have served a delegate to the United Nations World Peace Conference for Religious Leaders held at the U.N. in September [...]
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church. This is the largest Christian church, with approximately 1.3 billion baptised Catholics worldwide, as of 2016. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilisation. The church is headed by the [...]The word Catholic meaning 'universal' was used as early as 107 AD
In 380 AD, Catholicism became the state religion of Rome. A calendar of feast days was set: Christmas - to mark the birth of Jesus; Easter - to mark the death and resurrection.
Early Catholics were taught Christianity by the priests, nuns and at Catholic schools - and not through Bible study. The priests role was to pass on Christian beliefs and practise to his congregation. The priest acted as an intermediary between God and the people; as mankind was regarded as inherently sinful.
Catholics were discouraged from individual Bible study and pushed towards conforming with traditional Church teachings.
In 1909, Pope Pius X first encouraged Bible study. For the first time, Catholics could now study the Bible for themselves and Catholicism returned to being a 'religion of the book' for the people
Jesus was a Jew and the origins of Christianity are as a reform movement within Judaism. In contrast to this, the Catholic Church believes Jesus' mission was not only for Jews but the whole world.