This is a separation of church and state issue, PERIOD. Don't bring my personal religious beliefs into this to try and make a point. You wouldnt like it if I brought up Mormonism and and said I thought it was a joke. Dont you wonder about a church founded by a guy, found guilty of several charges of fraud and swindle, suddenly being shown golden tablets that only he can read behind a curtain. Then, when they get to the point where people are doubting and want to see the tablets, they disappear? Add in the whole wooden submarines, etc it gets about as rational as Scientology with its volcano spirits tormenting us.
Notice that I wasn't questioning Catholicism itself, but your adherence to it. So no need to attack Mormonism here, especially when you apparently know so little about it. First, while he was involved in around 200 legal cases, there was only one minor case where it's even debatable if he was actually "convicted." And let's not forget Christ was convicted by the Sanhedrin. Second, 11 other people saw and testified to seeing the gold plates. Third, as for the "wooden submarines," which I assume you mean the Jaredite barges, we have no idea what they were constructed of, as it's never specified in the text.
I am a progressive Catholic, or what religious conservatives might refer to as "cafeteria catholicism" like you stated. I dont let the church (or any other religious institution) dictate what I should or shouldnt believe in, if somebody chooses to then to each their own. I believe in Christ and choose to worship him in my own way. I dont go out of my way to hate on Catholicism, never have. Sometimes one just has to use common sense instead of following something blindly. The fact is the institution of the Catholic Church has basically made up many of the rules they adhere to today as time went on, things that are not even in the bible. Like the rite of confession (twelfth century) to papal infallibility (came in 1870).
Fair enough but I would say, going by your statement above, that it pretty much negates the point of even having a church. Heck, you sound almost like the early Protestants.
