Do Some Christian Denominations Look Down On Others?

An Atheist writes:

Be honest, do some christian denominations look down on others? Do people look down on others for their denomination’s beliefs. Is the Catholic church taken less seriously after all the scandal it’s going through?

My Response:

Of course people look down on others… Christians are human beings after all. Who you look down on is dependent on who you are and where you stand.

I was raised in the LCMS (a conservative Lutheran body) and in the LCMS we looked down on:

The ELCA (a less conservative Lutheran body) for not following the whole book of Concord
The Reform folks – for having weak sacramental theology and trying to fit God into reason
Catholics – For denying salvation by Grace alone through faith alone
Mormons – for denying the Nicine Creed
Pietists – For letting their feelings dictate their beliefs
and pretty much everyone else… you name it

Then I joined the “Evangelical Covenant Church.” They weren’t nearly as openly hostile to everyone, but we still looked down on people.

We looked down on the reform people – for their overly wrathful soteriology
Conservative Christians – for not ordaining women
Literalists – for making the Bible into a stick to hit people with
Dispensationalist – for their terrible eschatology
People who watch Fox News – beacuse it’s fun to feel smarter than others
and we looked down on anyone who wasn’t involved in social justice

Now I’m a Catholic. We look down on everybody else for not being a part of the “Church Jesus Established” but in particular we look down on:

Christians who don’t use the liturgy
Other Catholics that don’t emphasis the same church teachings that we do
Other Catholics that don’t venerate the same Marian apparitions
Other Catholics that don’t pray the same novenas
The Orthodox for their ecclesiastical pissing matches
Other Catholics that like the Ordinary form of the mass more then the extraordinary… and vice versa

Yep… we look down on each other A LOT. It’s a sin, and one I guilty of.

Lord have Mercy

Do some Christian denominations look down on others?