[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Most Catholics also think you get to heaven by works, and not Jesus.

Not entirely true. Catholicism says one achieves salvation through faith in God *and* good works. To me (and again, although I grew up in the RC tradition, I am not a believer), Salvation by Faith Alone sounds like a cheap cop out.

Ignoring the fact that I find it offensive to think that any loving God would *require* worship as a condition of salvation, why are deeds irrelevant? Sounds to me like most Christians think that if they show devotion (and be sincere about it), they need to do nothing else to be worthy. What ever happened to the concept that actions speak louder than words?


going through a preist for forgiveness and not directly to God

The similarity if the direct connection with God to Islam is not lost on me.

Catholocism in general seems focused on cerimony, and not scripture IMO.

Catholicism is much more ritual-oriented, but scripture is hardly ignored.

I guess my general antipathy to religion stems from the judgmental nature of practitioners. The "I'm right. you're wrong" mentality. As if salvation (if there were such a thing) would be dependent on accidents of birth and mindless minutiae.

Long before Abraham, Lao Tzu wrote "The Way that can be named is not the true Way." Later, The Buddha said "There are many paths to the top of the mountain."

Spiritually, not only have we not improved on these bits of wisdom, but we've gone way downhill.