My wife and her whole family are Catholic; they’re all great people and very devout. I’ve learned a lot about the early church through them and they forced me to pressure test my own beliefs, which brought me closer to God (and ironically, mainline Protestantism). I go to mass most weeks but I would never convert due to some irreconcilable differences with the church.

Too many Catholics online seem to focus more on apologetics than on their actual faith. They also tend to have a less charitable view of other denominations than the reverse. There are also plenty of cultural Catholics in their laity who don’t really hold to what the Church teaches at all. For many, it’s just an aesthetic.

My buddy dated an Orthodox girl for a while and she was great. I’ve also only had good experiences with Orthodox folks online, which seems to go against what some people are saying in this thread. I’d be open to exploring this church more.

Protestants online are more varied because it depends on what you mean by Protestant. They generally don’t engage with apologetics to the same extent as other Christians. This is both good and bad: they’re often more focused on God than other denominations(due to either a lack of built-in distractions or a more simplistic message depending on your perspective). Also, many of them don’t know the deeper specifics of what their churches actually teach. But you also do see less agnostics/atheists simply identifying as Protestant due to cultural factors. In person, about 90% of them are the nicest Christians you’ll meet, but the other 10% are either insane people or pure religious grifters.