Why being a Catholic is better

Pat Robertson V. The Pope:

Pat Robertson told the people of Dover, Pa., that God would punish them for ousting advocates of intelligent design from their school board. "If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected Him from your city," Robertson said, adding, "And don't wonder why He hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin." Meanwhile, the pope declared that the universe is an "intelligent project" created by divine love. Advocates of ID hailed his remarks as an endorsement.

More here. I think Intelligent Design is stupid. Luckily the Cathlic Church broadly endorses evolution, although every once in a while they say something kooky like the above. Don't get me wrong. The catholic church has been reactionary on every subject, and pretty medieval on everything throughout history (Although they were quite comfortable during the actual 'Medieval' period. Of course they ruled most of europe then. Question: were the cathlics progressive before the year 1000?). But sometime after WWII they accepted the enlightenment and now during mass we sing about a loving God to cheesy guitar music instead of hearing about fire and brimstone and eternal hell for those who look at the uncovered ankles of their shy female schoolmate. So the Pope is generally friendly now (except to gays. and sometimes jews. And occasionally tasteless american prime-time cartoon shows). Osama Bin Laden wants to live in a cave and worship like his religious forefathers did 1400 years ago. If a man wants to live in a cave with only a goat and a rifle for companionship I don't ask questions. More power to him, but occasionally he wants to come out of his cave and commit genocide against myself and people who worship a slightly different variant of the same God. That's where I take issue. Pat Robertson is somewhere in between. Not destined for a cold corner in Hell where he'll spend eternity the victim of the aforementioned goat's unpleasant vengeance, like Osama. No, Pat is just mind-bogglingly stupid. He doesn't want to turn the clock back 1400 years, he just wants to go back to some fake ideal of American piety and propriety that didn't actually exist back in the 1950s. And, after all, his power as a televangelist would be pretty diminished if we were all living in caves. So: Return to simple life, ability to kill all those you disagree with, women as slaves, omnipotent and unquestioned God...wow, all these things sound unsurprisingly like the lifestyles of our primate grandparents. I would love to point out the irony of this to my pal Osama, but he's got a gun and he's been alone with that goat for a looooonng time...