[cntrmmbrpsswrd]

The reality of the Catholic Church and its history is far and away divorced from the teachings of Jesus. Like the OP, I was also raised in a devout Catholic household, and while, yes, there is plenty of talk of love, there is, and traditionally has been plenty of fear-mongering.

You need to constantly be on the look out for Satan and his temptations. There's a laundry list of things you shouldn't do or think about. If you do, you should feel guilty and repent. God is always watching, so be good.

Every individual church is different, and your mileage will vary, but I found them to be similar to office spaces in the level of bickering and gossip as their best, and deeply dysfunctional institutions at worse.

I would also disagree that Christianity was the first major religion of purely love when Buddhism had been around for centuries and had the practice of forsaking one's own enlightenment in order to save all being from suffering.

[gunapologist99]

I am not Catholic, but I have studied the history of various religions, and it's pretty clear that the RC Church definitely deviated from the teachings it claimed to follow, for literally centuries. In fact, for centuries it was actually illegal for lay people (people who weren't priests/clergy) to read the Bible, and it was forbidden to translate it into other languages. There are many such examples, such as the selling of indulgences (buy salvation instead of it being free).

But: just because that Catholic Church deviated from its own teachings doesn't mean that at least some of those teachings weren't correct. Teachings like "love one another" resonate in any language.

[boredhedgehog]

> there is plenty of talk of love, there is, and traditionally has been plenty of fear-mongering.

Which is perfectly consistent. The idea is that love is better than fear, but fear is still better than lack of contrition. Accepting this fear as an intermediate step, instead of immediately expecting perfection, is an important psychological step.