The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) is a nonprofit, nondenominational Protestant

apologetics Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics an ...

ministry with an internet and radio outreach. It is involved in evangelism, including full-time support for several foreign missionaries. It is based in the United States and was founded in 1995. Matthew Slick currently serves as president of the ministry. The ministry is registered as a 501(c)(3) organization and is headquartered in

Nampa, Idaho Nampa () is the largest city in Canyon County, Idaho. Its population was 100,200 at the time of the 2020 Census. It is Idaho's third-most populous city. Nampa is about west of Boise along Interstate 84, and six miles (10 km) west of Meridian. ...

Organization

In November 1995, Matthew Slick compiled his sermons and notes together onto computer, and created a website for the Christian Research Ministry. By 2000, Slick claimed that his website was receiving 14,000 visits per week. He created a ''Christian Apologetics Notebook'' presentation in a three-ring-binder format, which offered material from the website in a printed medium. Slick says he has sold over 3,000 copies of the ''Christian Apologetics Notebook''. He also compiled the website material for sale in CD-ROM format. CARM offers several online dictionaries, including a theological dictionary compiled by Matt Slick and others, in addition to discussion forums. The organization's stated motivation is "to equip Christians with good information on doctrine". In 2004, CARM made available a free resource called the ''Dictionary of Theology'' for the

Palm OS Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is pro ...

system. The website also provides Protestants with pre-formatted "cut-and-paste" arguments to use in online forums with

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

, relativists, Muslims, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics and members of other groups.

Beliefs

CARM is a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

ministry, involving several different branches of Protestantism. For example, CARM's official position is that the

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

interpretation of Christianity is "within orthodoxy," but does not brand itself a Calvinist ministry, claiming that both Calvinists and non-Calvinists write articles.

Reception

Columnist

Cal Thomas John Calvin Thomas (born 2 December 1942) is an American syndicated columnist, author and radio commentator. Early life and education Thomas was born in 1942 in Washington, D.C. He attended the American University for his undergraduate educat ...

Tribune Media Services Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media S ...

comments, "Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (the Web site carm.org) has created a useful chart that shows the conflicting claims of classic Christian belief and Muslim doctrines. It is worth studying, whatever one's faith." ''Christian Parenting Today'' notes that the website of CARM provides "lists, definitions, and descriptions of cults", to assist parents and children with identifying controversial groups and movements. The

Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (OCRT) is a group in Kingston, Ontario that is dedicated to the promotion of religious tolerance through their website, ReligiousTolerance.org. History of the group and its website Bruce A. Robins ...

says of CARM, "This is a very large web site. It is rated by Hitbox.com as the most visited counter-cult website, and about #14 in the list of most-visited religious web sites." '' The Gazette'' recommended CARM as a resource for information on

. Writing in the '' South Florida Sun-Sentinel'',

Pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

Bob Coy of

Calvary Chapel Calvary Chapel is an association of evangelical churches, maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. Beginning in 1965 in Southern California, this fellowship of chur ...

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

characterized CARM among "excellent resources… that will allow those who are seriously searching to discover faith is more fact than fiction." In the book ''The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ'', Roger Overton, a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

ger and graduate student at

Talbot School of Theology Talbot School of Theology is an evangelical Christian theological seminary located near Los Angeles. Talbot is one of the nine schools that comprise Biola University, located in La Mirada, California. Talbot is nondenominational and known for its ...

, recommends CARM as a resource, calling the organization's website "an informative site dealing with topics from the defense of mere Christianity to exposing the problems in cults and other religions. Go to the CARM website for the straight facts such as a list of the prophecies

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

fulfilled or archived incriminating statements by

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(Mormons) and

The Watchtower ''The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom'' is an illustrated religious magazine, published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Jehovah's Witnesses distribute ''The Watchtower—Public Edition'', along with its compa ...

( Jehovah's Witnesses)." Thomas Nelson's ''Safe Sites Internet Yellow Pages, The 2000–2001 Edition'' describes the organization as "A Christian ministry promoting Christian truth with articles on doctrine, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses,

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

, atheism, and more." The book recommends the organization's ''Theological Dictionary'' as among the "Best of the Christian Web", saying it "Defines many Christian and theological terms."

Criticism

Catholic

The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry has been subject to intense scrutiny since its inception, especially from

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

sources. Critics claim that CARM, in its attacks on Catholicism, presents either a

straw man A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false o ...

version of Catholic teaching or misrepresents it completely, as well as being unreceptive to correction from Catholic sources. Matt Slick's position on whether he believes Catholics are Christians is unclear. Slick has written that some Catholics are Christian, but that Slick believes the official teaching of the Catholic Church to be

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

. Slick has also written that because Catholics reject the Protestant doctrine of

sola fide ''Justificatio sola fide'' (or simply ''sola fide''), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, fr ...

, this makes Catholics "non-Christian." Many respected Catholic sources have provided specific responses to older articles on the CARM website, thus prompting accusations by both Catholics and non-Catholics of CARM recycling disproven arguments to substantiate their claims of heresy on the part of the Catholic Church. CARM is often criticized for ignoring corrections from Catholic sources and persisting in the same teachings about Catholicism, even when disproven, leading some leading apologists to brand Matt Slick and CARM as "false teachers."

Use of the term "Roman Catholic"

In her book ''Voices of Diversity: Multi-Culturalism in America'', Mary C. Sengstock, a sociologist from

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

, describes the CARM website as one of those continuing a tradition of religious prejudice, because it puts forward the view that Catholics are not Christians, citing Slick's essay "Are Roman Catholics Christian?" CARM frequently uses the term "

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

" as opposed to "Catholic" in referencing Catholicism. "Roman Catholic" is not the official name preferred by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

or bishops in full communion with the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

as a designation for their faith or institution.McClintock, p. 71, quote: "The name oman Catholic Churchmay be found in a number of Roman Catholic writers, and is generally used in the constitution of those states in which the Roman Catholic Church is recognized as one of the recognized or tolerated State churches. It is, however, not the official name used by the authorities of the Church who rather dislike it, and substitute for it the name 'Catholic' or 'Holy Catholic' Church. The name 'Roman Church' is applied, in the language of the Church, to the Church or diocese of the Bishop of Rome." While in most contemporary contexts using the term does not bear any animosity, the term originated as a

pejorative A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...

during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

. Respected

ecclesiologists In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership. In its early history, one of the ...

note that the term is most commonly used today by

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

media, and advocate against using the term "Roman Catholic" to refer to the entire Catholic Church.

Trent Horn

In 2017, Catholic

apologist Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...

Trent Horn of

Catholic Answers Catholic Answers is a Catholic advocacy group based in El Cajon, California. It describes itself as the largest lay-run apostolate of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States. It publishes ''Catholic Answers Magazine'', a b ...

criticized the popular nondenominational Protestant belief of centering faith on a "personal relationship with

" by referencing an article on CARM written by Matt Slick and Tony Miano. In his article "Protestant Traditions You Won’t Find in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

," Horn argued that Protestants like Slick and Miano, who favor praying the

Sinner's Prayer The Sinner's prayer (also called the Consecration prayer and Salvation prayer) is an evangelical Christian term referring to any prayer of repentance, prayed by individuals who feel convinced of the presence of sin in their lives and have the ...

, favor practices not found in the Bible, such as asking

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

for forgiveness of sins and making Jesus one's "personal Lord and Savior." Horn concluded that considering these facts, even Protestants must be willing to admit that the doctrine of

sola scriptura , meaning by scripture alone, is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of aut ...

is untrue. CARM did not issue a response, instead choosing to restrict their article from the public. As of December 2020, the article is still restricted. In March 2020, Horn wrote an article for Catholic Answers entitled "Answering the Most Common Objection to the

Deuterocanonical Books The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East to be ...

," a response to a 2009 CARM article by Ryan Turner. In this article, Horn provides a response to CARM's "first and primary objection to the authenticity of the deuterocanonicals." As of December 2020, no response from Turner or CARM could be found on the website.

Ferris Murdock

In March 2019, Catholic apologist Ferris Murdock of ''How To Be Christian'' responded to Matt Slick's article titled "Sola Scriptura." In this article, Slick provided an interpretation the Bible verse 2 Timothy 3:16 to support his view of sola scriptura. In a video posted to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

entitled "Christian vs. Protestant on 2 Timothy 3 ound 1: Slick Moves" Murdock provided a logical rebuttal of the entry, claiming that Slick had misinterpreted the verse. Murdock further explained the Catholic belief of why sola scriptura is untrue in the video. As of December 2020, neither Slick nor CARM have offered a response to the video. Slick's writings appeared again on ''How To Be Christian'' in May 2019. The article in dispute was entitled "What does the Bible say about purgatory?" in which Slick argued that his interpretation of 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 rejected the existence of

purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

. In a video entitled "Christian vs. Protestant on 2 Corinthians 5:6-8," Murdock provided a logical rebuttal to Slick's article, arguing that Slick's interpretation of the passage was incorrect. Murdock also provided an explanation of the Catholic position on purgatory. As of December 2020, neither Slick nor CARM have offered a response to the video.

Mormon

The Scholarly & Historical Information Exchange for Latter-Day Saints accuses the site of rehashing old anti-Mormon material.

Publications

* * * *

References

External links

* {{Opposition to NRMs Calvinist organizations established in the 20th century Charities based in New York (state) Christian charities based in the United States Christian countercult organizations Christian websites Meridian, Idaho Christian organizations established in 1995 simple:Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry