PROTESTANT BOOK ASSAILED FOR LINKING POPE, DEVIL.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Roman Catholics and some Protestants are denouncing a book published by a major Protestant evangelical denomination that claims the pope is in league with the devil. ``God's Answers to Your Questions'' likens the papacy to the beast in the book of Revelation, an ally of Satan in the world's final days. The Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church (abbreviated "Adventist"[2]) is a Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished mainly by its observance of Saturday, the "seventh day" of the week, as the Sabbath. publishes the book and distributes it nationally door to door. ``That the seventh head (of the beast) represents Antichrist Antichrist (ăn`tĭkrīst), in Christian belief, a person who will represent on earth the powers of evil by opposing the Christ, glorifying himself, and causing many to leave the faith. , or the papacy, there can be little doubt,'' the book asserts. The book's conclusions have no biblical basis, said Catholic clergy and lay officials and a Protestant Bible scholar. William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , said he often sees anti-Catholic literature but was surprised to see it coming from a major denomination. ``For this to come from the Seventh-day Adventists Seventh-day Adventists: see Adventists. and not from a splinter group makes this offense particularly egregious,'' he said. ``This raises the ante and makes it all the more serious.'' ``It's typical anti-Catholic bigotry,'' said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the United States Catholic Conference. George Reid, head of the Biblical Research Institute The Biblical Research Institute (BRI) is a service department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church with the three stated functions of research, apologetics (defense of the church's beliefs), and service to the church. of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, said the book merely follows the lead of such Protestant Reformers as Martin Luther and John Calvin. ``We still believe that it's the reasonable way to understand these prophesies, arising from the text itself and not political correctness,'' he said. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is based in Silver Spring, Md., and traces its origins to William Miller of New Hampton, N.Y., who predicted that the world would end in the 1840s. The Church says it has 9 million members worldwide. The book is published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association For the magazine formerly known as the Review and Herald, see . The Review and Herald Publishing Association is one of two major Seventh-day Adventist publishing houses in North America and is the oldest institution of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. in Hagerstown, Md., one of the denomination's main publishing houses. Richard Coffen, vice president for editorial services at the publishing house, said he did not know how many copies of the book had been distributed. |
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