[chesley]

No offense to the Catholics on this board, or the Pope, for whom I have a lot of respect, but I prefer the protestant method of relying on the Scriptures.

Ignoring the theological justifications for now, it's simply that the Catholic Church, like any other institution, can be infiltrated by the ungodly. There have been in the recent past a number of liberals in high positions, especially say, proponents of "liberation theology".

And in the more distant past there were a number of evil men who held the position of pope.

If the Southern Baptists, my church, ever goes liberal, I can leave it with no twinges of conscience, same as I would the Republicans if they became the left-most party. I would do it now, in fact, if there were a more conservative party with a chance of winning a general election.

[Glenmerle]

No offense to the Catholics on this board, or the Pope, for whom I have a lot of respect, but I prefer the protestant method of relying on the Scriptures.

Same here. Jesus criticized the Pharisees in part for elevating tradition to the level of Scripture. And he taught others by saying, "It is written," not "We've done it this way for 500 years."